My Address

Some people have expressed interest in knowing my address...

Here it is:
Sarah Bluestone
CIEE-FLACSO Program
Ayacucho 555
Buenos Aires, 1026 Argentina

It takes about 3 weeks to receive a letter or postcard
but i would love it

the new digs

so i moved into my homestay last night. Im living with a woman named Mati. Shes in her late 20s i would guess, very very lovely lady. Its a pretty small apartment but adorable in a really nice neighborhood of the city. This morning her boyfriend picked us up and drove us around the city showing me around. He is also very nice. We ate choripan for lunch on the river. Its a sandwich with a pork sausage in it. I guess im jumping right into the meat eating. It was 4 pesos which is like $1.25. Crazy cheap.
This afternoon we got a little history lesson of all the old famous buildings and then I walked around with some people. So many cute stores everywhere. Im really excited to explore more of the city because i really feel like a tourist right now. Its all pretty overwhelming but Im excited for this city to feel like home.
I miss you all, send me emails!

I have arrived

hello friends
i have arrived in buenos aires. It was an extremely long journey and they lost one of my bags (hopefully to be returned tomorrow) but i am here.
I haven really done much yet because ive been here for less than 12 hours, but i felt the need to say i am here and safe.
we move in with our host families tomorrow, so i am sure i will have many more exciting stories to come

Getting Ready...

Hello all-
Because of an unexpected but delightful visit from Jackworth Smith, I have left all of my packing to today as I am leaving at 1pm tomorrow! I can't really believe that I am actually leaving already, it seems as though my summer only started. The scariest part is that I will be doing homework again in under 2 weeks. I am not very happy about that.
I do have a few very exciting things to look forward to:
1. Arriving in a new city: this is very exciting for me because I feel like I haven't visited a new city that I really loved in a while. I am not trying to have too high of expectations but from what I hear Buenos Aires is awesome.
2. Meeting my homestay lady: I got an email from her the other day, she seems very nice and young, still in school. It seems as though she may feel more like a roomate than a mother, which I am actually quite excited for.
3. David Bluestone: my dear brother is coming to visit me on August 10th, very exciting
4. Ben Master: my wonderful friend from oberlin is currently studying in santiago, chile and I am planning on visiting him sometime in august.
5. Bridget Moriarty: my fellow buenos aires adventurer will be arriving at the end of august for the semester

I will be traveling to South America tomorrow....at last...

Check back often to hear about my trip!
...and email me, i will most likely be lonely at the beginning

Swine Flu and Coin Shortages

I am nearing in on the two week mark of my departure to buenos aires and I have been getting increasingly more excited.

However, in the past two days, two pieces of information have come to my attention that both worry and intrigue me.
This first is the slightly serious and slightly worrisome SWINE FLUE OUTBREAK
Apparently in the past week there has been a huge swine flu outbreak in buenos aires, shutting down schools, killing 44 people, and forcing everyone into face masks.
You can read more about it here

I'm honestly not that worried because my dad hooked me up with tammiflu, which basically cures it if you take it as soon as you feel symptoms.

The second event is quite interesting to me. Apparently, there is a huge coin shortage in buenos aires right now. Because public transportation (an integral aspect of the city) costs less than the lowest bill value (and because coins are very useful) there are extremely long lines for coin machines.
You can read about it more here
my favorite aspect of this crisis is that the bus companies sell their acquired coins to other bussinesses at marked up prices...pretty smart i think

so if you have any argetine coins...let me know