Hello! And welcome to my blog about all things Buenos Aires. I arrived here last Friday with 10 other GW students participating in the first ever "International Business in Argentina" program. After a weekend of orientation and a full week of classes we are finally starting to get a hang of the city. Another big leap in the familiarization process is that the Subte, the BA equivalent to the DC Metro, is working again after the 10-day-long strike, which resulted in the million (literally a million people) daily commuters who usually use the underground transit further clogging the city's streets and bus systems on their way to and from work.
After the three day orientation which included information about school and life in BA, a city bus tour, and some incredible food, the 10 of us met our host families and were taken home! Someone mentioned that they felt like puppies at a pet store. "Pick me! Take me home!" Needless to say we were all taken home. I met my host mother, Liliana, who lives alone about a 20 minute walk from school. She, like many people here in BA, is of Italian decent and even speaks some Italian. In fact, Italians make up almost half of Argentinas overall immigrants historically. This happens to be super convenient because my father is from Italy and Liliana knowing the language helps seal the gaps in my Spanish, allowing us to have a conversation without me having to rely on English. I have enjoyed practicing my Spanish while getting to know her better, and got to meet some of her family members who live in the suburbs. The other night after dinner I brought us back some gelato and we watched the Argentina version of American Idol on the couch as she caught me up on all the drama between the judges. It was awesome!
School has been a great opportunity to meet Argentine kids my age. I currently only have a Spanish class and a 4 week long Intro to IBUS class taught by GW professor Fernando Robles. I feel incredibly lucky to be fulfilling my International Business course requirements while actually being in a foreign country and getting a more direct view about how the lessons can be applied. There is also a subculture of American expats who moved here to escape the rat race and see something knew. Some are also freelancing over the interwebs and taking advantage of the exchange rate by getting paid in dollars and spending peso's. The current official rate is around 4.5 pesos to the American dollar, but it is common to get 6.3 unofficially, which is often referred to as "el mercado gris," or the grey market. Not quite black, but not totally legitimate either. I hope to meet a few of the Americans living here and ask them about their experiences adapting to the Argentine way of life. Expect interviews! I also hope to provide update's on the subtle differences in culture that I notice here. 
All in all, even through the dead of their winter, the city's warm and enchanting vibrance endures and shines through whenever possible, whether in a bar where two men argue over the weekend's soccer match, or in a child's delight as he bites into his after-school snack of an "alfajore" (pictured), oozing with dulce de leche, a source of Argentine national pride. I am super happy to be here and to be filling you all in with slices of my journey.
Until next time, adios!
-Giordano Sordoni