Well, I finally made it! After a long day of traveling with an hour delay in Dallas, TX. I have made it to my home stay, unpacked, met my family, and am settling in! So much has happened since my last post only two days ago.. where should I begin? I have to say through my entire day of traveling I have only came across friendly people, both of my "seat buddies" on the plane were very friendly. First, it was a Neroscientist dad from Michigan and then on my flight to Argentina it was a 20-something year old girl from Argentina that studied English in London so we got to talk. She helped soothe my nerves, she was very friendly and was open to answering my questions! I actually found out that she lives in the same area in Argentina that I am! Small world. Well, after the hour delay in Dallas, Texas due to removing luggage from the plane because two people could no longer be on the flight, we took off and it was a smooth flight. I took my Advil PM and slept a decent amount! The food on the plane wasn't too bad which I was very thankful for. After landing I was officially all on my own. I stepped onto a foreign land, not completely knowing the language and not knowing a single sole. There was no going back now! So off to immigration and customs. Everything went smoothly, as I got to immigrations I handed my passport over and the man working the desk asked "habla espanol?" (speak Spanish?) and I told him "estoy aprendido" (I am learning) so what does he do? He proceeds to talk in Spanish- I can successfully say I navigated, with some difficulty, through immigrations only speaking Spanish- woot! Then I was off to get my luggage, and I flew right through customs and found CEA waiting for me. I was greeted with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek (everyone does that here... hugs and kisses you on the cheek, I have gotten a lot of those already.) Then we were off to drive about 45 minutes to drop off one other student at her residence and then it was my turn. I get to the building that I will be living and the doorman puts me on the elevator and says they will be up on the 9th floor waiting. I get off the elevator to find that there are two doors and of course I knock on the wrong one... oops! I finally found where I was supposed to be and the mom gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek, welcomed me, and showed me around the place- holy cow its big! I then find out that there are actually four other U.S students living here with me and possibly one more to come to share my room with me. After unpacking and hanging out with Gaby and her two sons for awhile (Gaby lives here Mon-Friday with her 8 year old son and her 4 month old son- ahhh baby! and she helps around the house.) Finally, about 3:00 our time, two of the American students came so I finally get to meet them and speak some of my own language! (the family knows very little English- I now fully understand what a language barrier is!) I am now sitting in my room, with my balcony door open because it is nice and warm here with a breeze. It has already been fantastic and it hasn't even been one full day! I will now hang around the house more until dinner around 9:00 pm (they eat really late here) then off to bed because I have orientation tomorrow morning. I am so blessed to be here and so excited to see what is yet to come. Talk to you all soon! Adios!

Tomorrow is the big day! My dream of studying abroad is actually coming true. Ever since I heard about the idea of studying abroad I knew it was something I wanted to do. I can definitely say I have a bad case of wanderlust; I want to travel the world more than anything else. I have been to three other countries outside of the US and I plan to make that number grow and grow throughout my life. Tomorrow I leave for Buenos Aires, Argentina to live with a host family. I will be completely immersing myself into a new culture and I cannot wait. I will be studying Spanish at the University of Belgrano while also being forced to truly learn the language I have been studying whether I want to or not. I do not know how much English my host family knows, but I will soon find out. All of my classes will be in Spanish... and well, it may just be easier to say that everything around me will be in Spanish. Many people have asked me, “are you nervous?” or “are you excited?” so you may be wondering these questions also. For those who are wondering, my answer to both is yes. I am both excited and nervous, however I am definitely more excited than I am nervous. I will be honest, I don’t think it has even fully hit me that I am going to live in another country for four months but I most definitely am! Maybe it will hit me while I am on the plane or when I land in Argentina. I just cannot believe one of my biggest dreams is finally coming true. I am so blessed to have this opportunity and I am so thankful to those who helped make this happen, especially my parents. I still have a lot to do before I leave tomorrow but it cannot come soon enough! I have to say that I am definitely not looking forward to the thirteen hours I will spend in the air, but it will all be worth it. What helps me look past the long flight is that it will be about 75 degrees when I land. I cannot wait for this adventure of a lifetime to begin and I plan to share my adventure with all of you. Adiós América y Hola Argentina!