When is Brian coming home??

I am beginning to receive many questions about when I will be returning to the states. It makes me happy to know that so many people apparently are pretending to miss me. I also find it funny how a lot of people just pretend like they know when I am coming home. I have heard several different dates. The River Rat website seems to think I will be returning around December 15ish, while others seem to think just before Thanksgiving in the States.

So, when am I returning?? The truth is that I don´t even know. My program officially ends the 29th of November, but my classes end before than. Depending upon how well, I do, they might end even sooner. However, most of the people in my program are staying through part of December because we don´t have to return for anyting until Christmas. My first thoughts are, what day should I return?? The 29th?? Maybe. Sooner?? highly unlikely because I like it here.

I have been thinking, what if I stay a second semester?? I have already cut off all of my jobs from home, I am already here which would save money on a flight if I ever wanted to return, and I would learn a lot more spanish. There are a few people who have been here since February, and a few people who are going to stay until June. I would like to do the same.

The problems... Well, I would probably have to stay in school an extra semester to finish my degree. Then again, isn´t college supposed to be the best 6 years of my life?? Looks like I am still ahead of schedule. Another problem... MONEY. I would have to get a job here, which apparently I can do, I just need to talk to the right people. Other potential problems are, how Saint Mary´s is going to respond. Will all my credits transfer?? Will I still be considered a student their?? Do I have enough student loans??

There are a lot of question marks, that I still need to work out. I do miss my friends and family, and of course things like baseball and taco bell, but I can return to that in June. The biggest question right now for me, is... Is it possible for me to stay?? I have narrowed it down to, if I can get a job, and change my flight for fairly cheap, then I can stay.

So...When am I coming home?? I do not know!! I will be home sometime, whether it is the end of November, sometime in December, or June is all a mystery.

Random: The love of my life = Food not Flor

There are a lot of beautiful and sweet girls in this country. Some of them may be falling for me or maybe not. I don´t really know or care, but there is one that is definately falling for me. I made the mistake of practicing my pickup lines with a girl who I would rather not see too many more times. Her name is Florencia which in short we call her Flor. The spanish word flor means flower in english, so I told this girl..."Sos la ´Flor´ en el desierto de mi vida". In english that means "You are the flower in the desert of my life". But I was being clever because her name is Flor hahaha. Somehow she got my number and keeps calling me.

I have grown acustomed to the food here. There is nothing like a lomito completo. A lomito completo is a sandwhich with egg, tomato, meat or chicken, among other wonderfully delicious things.

The pizza is different but pretty good. They have green olives on them and usually consist of ham and cheese with really good crust. The crust comes as no suprise as the bread here is always fresh.

I don´t really drink pop, but the coke here is so much better than in the states. What is even better though, is that almost every kiosko sells a variety of fruit juices. Jugo de Durazno (Peach Juice) is amazing. They also have pear juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, etc. There is also mate, which is kind of like a green tea. Somebody described it as looking like marijuana once (I thought that was funny). It is perfect for sharing during class or whenever. It is just something to do. Vamos a tomar un mate. We are going to drink a mate.

For breakfast I usually eat criollos (pretty much bread, but really good). I always put dulce de leche on them. Dulce de leche looks kind of like caramel, but is not at all caramel. It is way better and amazingly good.

A really good food for any occasion is an empanada. Empanadas are little tortilla like things rolled up with meat inside. I don´t know how to explain except for that they are really really good.

And the best food of all is the asado. The United States does not have real steak. The steak here is so good, that I go crazy if I go a few days without one. I don´t know what they do to it here but it tastes so much better than anything I have ever had back home.

I am really just bored right now so babbling about the greatness of Argentina. I don´t always realize the culture differences in front of me. However, I do realize the difference in FOOD, but I still love food.

El Día de Los Estudiantes Internacionales

My sunburn from my previous vacation could not have come at a worse time. On Saturday the University put together a lunch for all the international students. Tickets cost 25 pesos for lunch, a tango show, and a horseback riding show. I received one free ticket for a member of my family. I invited my host mom Irene, and Luis snuck in after lunch without paying.

All semester my tango class had been preparing for this day as we were going to perform for everyone. My horseback riding class had also been preparing for a demonstration. As Saturday approached, I had not wore shoes in over a week because my feet were very swollen. Somehow, Saturday morning, I managed to squeeze my feet in some shoes and made it look like I could walk without a limp.

The members of my tango class and I met early to rehearse our routine. After rehearsal, we all put on our nice clothes. The girls wore dresses with heals, and the guys wore black pants with a white button up shirt.

Our families and friends arrived and were served drinks and empanadas as appetizers. Once they got settled in and seated, we began our first dance. We walked out in our sexy walks and performed a dance. Then immediately after the tango, some of us performed another dance called the Ranchero. The Ranchero was more of a group dance. Both dances were extremely fun. I was happy that I was able to perform even though I could barely walk.

After the dances, we all sat down and had lunch. We socialized and got to know everybody´s families and friends. After lunch, it was time for the horseback riding show. Again, I squeezed my feet into some shoes and began mentally preparing for a painful ride on a horse.

We all moved outside where the instructors had set up a short course for our routine. We started by walking a lap on our horses. Then we trotted and did two little jumps. Finally we galloped and did two more jumps; this time a little bit higher. After all of us beginners finished, a girl from Argentina showed off her talents. She was a lot more experienced than us; however, she was the only one to fall off her horse. Her horse fell, thus making her fall too. It was kind of funny to see a horse running wild on campus. She got right back on her horse though and jumped about a meter in a half in height. It was quite impressive.

After the horseback riding show, we moved back inside for a writing contest. Some students had prepared stories from their experiences in Cordoba. They read them and were judged on things like the funniest or best written. Only 4 people participated, so everybody won a prize. I did not participate in the contest because well lets be honest... I am too lazy to sit down and write a story. If I could have just got up there and improved it, I would have.

After the contest, I returned home with my family where I rested my feet for the rest of the night. My friends went out salsa dancing, but I rested for the first time in four months.

If you would like to see the video of our dances there is a video of both on facebook. I do not know how to upload it onto my blog, but I may try to figure it out when I have more time. Unfortuanately my camara died after two pictures on Saturday, so I do not have all that many pictures either.

More Iguazu...Brian Goes to the Hospital

I slept wonderfully on my back until about noon or one in the afternoon. The worst part was when I had to wake up to pee. I could barely move, but had to climb down and back up to the top bunk.

When I woke up, my feet were huge. There was no way I could wear shoes, and the worst part is that I did not have sandals. I went to the bar area and played a bunch of games. I was quickly talking with every guest of the hostel. I had become the most popular person there, thanks to the fact that I was bright red with the biggest kankles anyone had ever seen. I do not recommend anyone try this, but burning really bad is a great way to initiate the conversation with all the girls.

The girls that I traveled with began worrying about me. They found some ice cubes, and began rubbing them on my feet to try and reduce the swelling. It did not work because the ice cubes melted instantly. My friends told me that I did not have a choice; they were taking me to the hospital. We all piled into a taxi and went to the hospital.

The hospital was the most run down place I have seen in Argentina. We walked in and there was not even a place to sit or a window to ask questions. I wandered my way to a back room where all the nurses were. They all stopped and stared at my feet. Then they looked at each other in amazement. They brought me around a corner and began applying white cream called Platsul A all over my body. During the half hour I was at the hospital, every nurse came around the corner to see the fool who burned in the sun. The nurses prescribed me 400g of Platsul A and sent me on my way looking like a ghost full of white cream. I officially looked even more ridiculous and made more friends at the hostel.

I was not going to let my little set back keep me from having fun. I rested a little bit and then headed downtown for dinner. We went to an outside restaurant where I sat without a shirt. It was okay because it was dark. We hung out awhile downtown and then returned to the outdoor bar at our hostel.

The next morning we packed up all our stuff and boarded a 22 hour busride back to Cordoba. During the bus ride, we watched movies, the girls lathered me up in lotions, and I did not hurt that much. Outside our windows we realized huge forest fires. I am not sure how safe we were as we were pretty close to the fires. Later it stormed hopefully helping the fires. We eventually arrived in Cordoba where I returned home for a few hours before going to class for the day.

Again for the courtesy of those reading, I am not uploading photos.

Day 2, The Destruction of Brian (and an Asado)

The second day that we were in Iguazu was a beautiful day. Our hostel was very big and very tropical. There were two pools outside with a patio and bar. Inside there was a bar with pool tables, metagol, pingpong tables, a kitchen and a movie lounge.

We could have returned to the falls again for the day, but the girls wanted to lay by the pool and swim a little bit. This seemed like a fine idea, and it was for a while. We hung out by the pool and occasionally jumped in. After a half hour, I thought of the wonderful idea of putting the sunscreen that I had brought with on my body. I put some on my arms, stomach, chest, legs, and face. I even got a girl to rub down my back. Note, that I never put anything on my feet. After another half hour the girls went inside to cook some lunch. I told them, that I would be right behind them. Unfortuanately I sat down with my headphones on. Two hours later, I realized that I had been sleeping with Mr. Sun.

The Cataratas is to the north in Argentina, which means closer to the equator and a stronger sun. Even with the sunscreen I had applied, two hours of sleeping was not going to help much. I woke up, and realized that I was burned, but I had no idea how badly. By night it was evident that it ws going to be bad.

The hostel put together a huge asado for all its guest, mostly all whom spoke english. It was 30 pesos all you could eat, and free drinks until the huge bowls ran out. Oh yeah, there was a show too. It started out with a Brazil guy jumping around with a drum yelling jibberish. Then some girl with a short skirt came out and danced. After a while we were all dancing with the girl and doing things like the limbo.

After dancing, I realized that my feet were hurting a lot. There were still free drinks, my friends and I took care of them. It was then, that I thought, maybe I should hydrate myself with water. I switched to water (the only smart thing I did all weekend). Some of my friends went out to a boliche later, but I did not due to my sunburn. I stayed and hung out with my other friends at the bar outside by the pool.

It was a great day, with one mighty stupid mistake. I was still content and having fun. Little did I know that sunburn continues to burn even after the sun is down. As I became aware of this, my friends did too. They began taking photos of me and laughing histerically with me. For this, there are photos of my new red skin. For the courtesy of those reading this blog, I chose not to post them. The photos posted are before I got fried. If you would like to see them, check facebook or email me at bmsmit05@smumn.edu. I would be glad to show you. The rare thing about all of this, is my arms and face did not burn at all. My chest, stomach, legs and feet were cooked well done.

Viaje a Las Cataratas de Iguazu

The wonderful thing about living in Argentina is that everything is cheaper (Except for McDonalds). It is really cheap to travel and have a good time. My friends and I took another trip this past weekend. There was a holiday Sunday, but the president made monday the day of celebration to give everybody a day off from work. For this, we had a long weekend and took a vacation.

I skipped my one credit joke of a class thursday and my one class friday. Apparently only 3 people showed up to my class on Friday as we were all traveling around Argentina. My friends Ferron, Ashley, Chelsea, Brenda, and Erika boarded a 22 hour bus for the Iguazu Falls. Another group boarded a different bus later in the day.

My group arrived early Friday morning. We showered and went straight for the Cataratas (Falls). Since we are technically living in Argentina right now, we got huge discounts to enter the park. We paid 14 pesos oppose to 50 pesos.

We also bought a ticket for a jeep ride and a boat ride for 150 pesos total. The jeep ride was "rubbish". I learned this new english word from the British tourists. It was really stupid and a waste of money. After the jeep ride we all boarded a boat.

On the boat, we came around a corner and we saw the falls. It was the most amazing thing I think I have ever seen in my life. I cannot describe it, but it looked like paradise. We stopped the boat to take pictures in front of the falls. Then we took the boat directly underneath the falls. I almost forgot to put my camara back in a special bag to keep it dry. We got soaked, but it was unbelievable.

After the boat ride, we hiked to the top of the falls. Along the way we took many pictures. I cannot describe what it was like. We saw different parts of the falls including a part called "La Garganta del Diablo" or The Throat of the Devil. Finally we left for the night just before the thunderstorms rolled in.

We took a bus downtown and went to a restaruant. During dinner the storm knocked out the power so we had to finish eating in the dark. We returned to our hostel, checked in and hung out for a while before going to bed. Day one was Perfect.

Stay tuned for Day 2 and the destruction of Brian.

Brian Created his Birthday Party in Seven Days

He created the birthday party in seven days. On the seventh day he rested. I slept from 10 am to 4 pm. Then I moved to the couch where I watched movies all day. I went to sleep at 10 pm and woke up the next day at 11 am.

Little did I know that on day 8 the party would continue. My profesoras birthday was Saturday the 4th, so my friend Bekah brought a cake and pop to class to share. We had a mini birthday party in our spanish class. We celebrated Lili, and my birthdays.

My birthday was one for the books. I could not have dreamed it any better. I might have to have another party when I return. You are all invited.

Day 6 Continued...Oktoberfest

After returning from Trekking all day, I quickly showered and took a bus from my house to downtown to meet up with some girls. I was extremely late and the girls were getting angry. We met up downtown and boarded another bus that took us to Villa General Belgrano. It was a two hour bus ride. I had been to this town once before. My first week in Argentina I went here for a festival to celebrate Independence Day. This time we were going for Oktoberfest.

We arrived at Oktoberfest around 11 pm. We went to the festival part, but it was winding down. We saw a short pagent where some couples danced tango. It was pretty cool.

It was very cold outside, so we went to a restaraunt. We were very tired as well. We wanted to meet up with 11 of our friends who had been there all weekend, but they were all tired from they day and went to their hostel to sleep. The Oktoberfest part closed at 2 am.

We eventually met up with two members of the other group, (Luckily for me they were both guys) and we went to a couple boliches. One was outside and one was inside. It seemed as if, Oktoberfest would be the ideal way to celebrate the last day of my birthday week, but it was terrible.

The festival had closed, it was cold outside, we had nowhere to sleep, and my friends would not keep their english voices down. As usual it was me and a group of girls (until the two guys showed up later). Their loud voices in the streets drew all the drunk Argentinans to us. I felt very uncomfortable, so I decided not to drink anything. There was one moment where a couple of us heard the people next to us speaking in spanish plotting a way to steal the girls` purses. Thank goodness we speak spanish too.

To keep it short, it was a terrible night, but I still had fun dancing. I did not sleep and returned to my house at 10 in the morning. I know I am always a target here, but I try to down play my risk by speaking spanish. My friends decided that they did not care, and that was very frustrating for me.

Day 6 of my Birthday (Trekking)

Day 6 was Saturday, and it started nice and early. I had gone to sleep at 5 in the morning the night before and was up by 8:30 in the morning. The international program at my school had set up a day of trekking in the Sierras for the day. We met at the university at 9:30 in the morning.

We boarded a bus, and took it to an area called Rio Ceballos. We got off the bus and began trekking through the mountains. Our first encounter was a barbwired fence. It was not a very big one so it was very easy to climb. We all climbed it including one of the tutor`s Matias who had a broken arm. We really did not hike too long, but we crossed small streams of water, climbed over rocks and (Mom don`t read this line)almost fell off a couple of cliffs (not really that close though). Eventually we found a place next to a little water fall to camp out for the day.

We built a fire to prepare for lunch. While the fire was being built we formed 4 teams of 4 people. We played different games and the team that won the most games would win 4 bottles of wine (one for each member of the team). We played a game pretty much identical to bocce ball, except with wooden discs kind of like frisbees. My team kicked but in round one. Unfortuanately the other game we played was a scrabble like game, where we got random letters and had to make as many words as we could in one minute. Each letter was worth a different amount of points. We did a round in english and a round in spanish. My group sucked at spelling so we got killed.

We played another round of each against a different team. Again we killed in the bocce ball game. We lost by one point in the scrabble game, but I pointed out afterwords that the other team cheated somehow. They had a "Q" during the english round without a "U" but by the end of the minute, they no longer had a Q. Oh well. The rules got really screwed up and somehow the team that we beat won the bottles of wine.

After the games, we ate Choripan for lunch with pop to drink. I had way too much to eat. After lunch some people went hiking some more, while others played in the little river. A couple of the leaders started playing the guitar and singing songs. We drank a mate and listened to the music. A little while later, we got a huge soccer game going in the smallest playing field ever. I had the play of the day. This girl Tina kicked the ball as hard as she could towards the goal from about two feet in front of me. It smashed off my face leaving my face full of mud from the ball. I saved the goal though. Of course my team lost, when my friend Brad kicked the ball off of Tina`s knee right into our own goal.

Later, we packed up our stuff and hiked back to where we began. We caught a bus and returned home. We had to wait a short while as three people had wondered off and were missing. We found them though.

Day 5 of my Birthday Blast

Day 5 of the week of my birthday was not so much about me. I took a parcial during the day. I hope I past. For the night, my host cousin was celebrating her 15th birthday. When a girl turns 15 it is called a Quinceañera. It was the biggest birthday party I have ever seen. It was the sweet 16 times 16.

I decided that this was a great way to experience the culture a little bit more. I told my family that I wanted to go even though it was the Friday night of my 21st birthday. Quinceañeras are a really big deal, so we had to dress up for it. That is right, me in Khaki`s and a saco or dress coat. I did not need a tie though.

The party was held in Carlos Paz, which is a very pretty city about a half hour drive from Cordoba. It is in the mountains and near a river. The party had a DJ with a dance floor. A separate Quinche (cabin like building) with more free wine than you can imagine. They had an unlimited suply of liters of pop. They had servers walking around with free sandwiches and empanadas. They played slide shows on a big projecter between all the dancing. Almost every family member and friends of the family were at the party. Almost all of the friends of my cousin who was turning 15 were there too.

I was standing at this party listening to the music as the dancing got started, thinking to myself. If I were 15 years old, I would be in heaven right now. There had to be ATLEAST 50 girls around the age of 15 dressed up in very beautiful dresses. Unfortuanately for me I was 21 and 1 day. I felt apart of the old crowd as I was drinking wine with the moms. And what do you know as the night went on, I was dancing with the moms too. It was a little more legal than dancing with the 14 and 15 year olds. I did meet a cousin of mine who is 23. She studies english and is going to go to Texas in December to study. She left fairly early though, leaving me sharing champaigne with the older folks again.

It was a great experience, and I am happy for the opportunity to experience this kind of party. My family let everyone know that it was my birthday the day before, so everybody wished me a happy birthday as well. My family and I returned to our house at about 5 in the morning. Day 5 was a success with a lot of partying.

The Last From This Party...So Enjoy

I am Sure You Want Some More Pictures

My host mom wanted to dance. Eventually I gave in. She is in the pink.

More Pictures from my Birthday Asado

Day 4...My ACTUAL Birthday

I AM FINALLY 21!! I am finally legal to drink alcohol...oh wait I have been legal since the 4th of July. Okay now I am legal in the states. Yesterday I had class in the morning and afternoon, and then I celebrated my birthday at night with my Argentino family and some friends. I had to keep it somewhat calm yesterday because I had a midterm exam today.

I with a lot of help from my host mom, planned an Asado at my house. My host mom kept asking me all these things about what I wanted, and telling me that I had to do all these things...like inviting people. Well, I didn´t really come through, but the asado turned out fine.

I told some friends at school during the day to come to my house for some Choripaneas. Those are sausage like meat wrapped in bread. They are way different than hotdogs. Some of my friends were like, no we cannot, others had class. I was a little worried that nobody would show. My host mom had told me not to have too many friends over.

Later in the day my host mom asked me how many were coming. In all honesty, I had no idea. I had told about 15, but figured more than half of them would not show. I guessed and said 5 to 10. Well lucky for me almost everybody I wanted to show up made it. We had about 9 of my friends show. It was the perfect size.

The planning part. I got home around 7 o clock. I had told my friends to come around 8:30 or 9. Well I realized when I got home that I had nothing ready. My host mom dragged me to the store and we bought 5 liters of cerveza, some coca cola, a lot of chorizos, chimichurri (the best sauce you will ever have) ketchup, chips, among other things. As I was at the supermarket, I was beginning to worry that nobody would show up, or too many people would show up. This reinforced to me the reasons why I HATE planning things.

Also, at the supermarket, a friend called to ask how to get to my house. I was left with the wonderful task of trying to explain where to get off the bus. Luckily he took a taxi making it easier. Another friend got off the bus too soon, making it even more difficult to explain where to go. Luckily we figured everything out. Again I realized how much I hate planning things, especially when the name of my street is Tupac Yuponqui and I live on dirt roads that do not go through.

Anyway, A lot of my friends were able to make it. My friend Chaz brought me a gift...Bailey`s, my friend Erika brought some cerveza, my friends Amber and Marissa brought a cake and some other really super sweet tasting dessert. Due to this fact we had plenty of sweets and beer.

We socialized, listened to music, drank a little beer and a little pop too, and had a classic asado or barbacue. Everybody sang happy birthday to me in two languages. We played futbol tenis or soccer tennis, we danced cuarteto, and of course we had cake. Some of the girls decided to put some of the cake in my face. Then there was a mini food fight that my host mom encouraged. She made sure we took lots of photos too. Lots of photos of EVERYTHING!!

I received a gift from my host family. They bought me a CD of Carlito La Mona Jimenez, the Cordobes who invented the Cuerteto dance. They also made a big sign for my bedroom door that read Feliz Cumpleaños Brian (Loco). Loco is my nickname here because I tend to be a little crazy I guess.

The party lasted until a little past midnight, as I did have to get up the next morning. It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday. It was calm, but exciting at the same time. I felt like I was at home. I am sorry, that I was unable to talk very long with my real family, but I was having way too much fun at my party. I hope you all had a drink for me. I tried to pour one for all my friends and family back home, but when my friends here realized I was about to pour part of a beer on the ground, they stopped me.

Day 5 of my week long birthday has started with me taking an exam. The rest will come tonight as I am going with my family to a 15th birthday party in a nearby city called Carlos Paz.

Day 3 of my Birthday Extravaganza

Last night at midnight was the offical start of my 21 birthday. My buddy Brad and I came up with a plan a couple hours before about what we were going to do to celebrate. We informed as many people as we could and met in downtown Cordoba at 12am.

Only a few were able to make it as it was a Wednesday night and many of our friends have exams this week...including me. I also have a problem of planning ahead too. Howevever, we were able to make something of the night.

My host brother Jero, Brad, and I met downtown first and walked to La Cañada, which is a couple blocks of bars. We went to some bar that did not really even have a name. Jero and I drank the first beer together. Then my tutor Pancho and two other tutors, Niko and Matias showed up. We ordered some Fernet with Coke to celebrate my cumpliaños. Around 2 am we walked to the boliche Montecristo to go out dancing. We had a bunch of free tickets to enter as well. We all entered for free and began drinking some more. Some girls that we invited called and met us at Montecristo later. We also met some girls at the club.

After many hours of dancing some girls told the bartender that it was my birthday. He gave a us a free bottle of champaigne (Spelling??). We danced until the boliche closed around 4 or 5ish. Then, the plan was to go home, but Jero, two girls we had invited out with us and I went to an "After" where we danced a little bit more.

I finally returned to my house around 7:30 in the morning. I slept for an hour in a half and was able to wake up for my horseback riding class. I told myself that I was not going to miss class on my birthday, and I stuck to it.

As for Day 4...well that starts really soon, so I need to go figure out what I am doing tonight. I think I am having a barbaque sort of deal. Pictures are not working on my blog right now, but I will try to get them up as soon as I can.

Contact Information

My mother informed me that a lot of people were wondering how to get a hold of me. My email is bmsmit05@smumn.edu. Otherwise if you want to spend a crap load of money or if you have a long long distance plan, you can call me on my cell phone here at 011-54-9-351-678-9017. Its completely free for me, so I dont mind. Just dont leave a message because I dont want to pay to listen to it haha.

Day ONE of my Week Long Birthday Party

I have figured out some solutions to my anger problem from last week. Well only the Birthday part. Why only celebrate for a day?? Lets celebrate all week. Monday, I was sitting at the table in the Cantina at school, and Brad wrote down a plan for me. He also always tells me that I suck at planning...I can`t believe such a lie. Anyway, he planned out my week. Monday night was simply con el viento or with the flow.

We finished our Tango class at 8:30. Thanks to a local holiday here (only in the city of Cordoba) we did not have class on Tuesday. That made Monday a perfect night to go out.

A group of us walked to an arabic restaurant to eat, but it was closed. We ended up taking a bus to Mariachi (a mexican restaurant that we have all grown acustomed to liking even though it has consecuences later). After dinner we ran into some more of our friends drinking at a kiosko across the street. They went to eat while we walked down the street to the Contender. I am becoming a regular at the Contender which is a bar with many pool tables. The others met us later.

At Contender, we started celebrating the fact that its my 21 birthday. Therefore we started drinking. We played a lot of pool as well. My friend Meagan was on my team. We beat my friends Ashley and Brad twice. Well once they lost because Ashley hit the 8 ball in, but she was so happy because she "got it in the hole". That is all she kept yelling. More and more of our friends kept showing up at Contender. Later, after we were all a little drunk already, we decided to go downtown.

We took a Remis and started searching for some boliches. There was a huge line for El Sol, so we continued on to Social. Ironically you had to be 21 to enter Social. Very funny because I was two days short of my 21st birthday. Of course my ID says my birthday is 10/02/87 which here means the 10th of February. I did not need to try that trick though. I said that I did not have ID because it was too dangerous to carry my passport around. The bouncer asked my age and I said 21 of course because its my 21st birthday celebration. There were no more questions, so we walked in. This boliche was free also.

Around 5:00 am we got tired of that boliche, so we left for a different one. We went to Consecuencia. Unfortuanately we had to pay for this one. I did not have any money left because I had spent it all on alcohol. Thankfully my friends loaned me some money to get in. We drank and danced some more until 7 in the morning.

At 7, three of us shared a taxi home. With my luck I was the last one to be dropped off. The others left me what they thought was enough money to cover it. A short distance from my house, I had to ask the cab driver to let me out. I paid the cab with everything I had and walked 15 minutes to my house. I arrived home at 8 in the morning and went to sleep. I would say that day one was a good start to my birthday fesitivities.

Day 2 I rested in my house, watched Jim Thome break my heart yet again, and then watched a movie with my brother and his friend. As for Day three...That is today. I hope all goes well tonight... because tonight at midnight, I am officially 21 (that is 10 oclock in Minnesota).