It starts out as a big mystery. You have to figure out everything, from where to go and how to get there to how to speak the language well enough that if you get lost or confused, you can ask somebody for help. It is at first like an extended vacation. Everything is new and exciting, there is so much to explore!
Then, you start to figure all of that out. You visit all of the main attractions, you figure out how to speak and understand the language, you eat all of the new and "exotic" foods. It is no longer vacation, it is your life. At this point, walking around like a tourist is no longer appealing. At least, not for me. At this point, I am not a tourist in this city. I live here. So I want to spend my time doing more meaningful things than walking around with a camera.
Then there is the nightlife. For many Americans who come to this city, the nightlife is the main attraction. In Argentina, as in every country in the world except for the United States, the drinking age is 18. Buenos Aires is full of nightclubs, they get a lot of big name musicians and DJs here, and it is easy to get sucked into the vicious cycle of going out every night, staying at the club until it closes around 5 or 6 am, sleeping all day, then going back and doing it all over again. I am not going to lie, I have gone to my fair share of clubs while I have been here. Ever since I was a freshman in college and went to my first Pretty Lights concert, I have loved dancing to electronic music, and the electronic scene is huge here. Although, unfortunately, the music is not nearly as good as Pretty Lights most of the time. But after a while, like walking around with a camera, going to clubs gets old too. It's the worst feeling when you wake up and the sun is setting and you realize you slept through all of the daylight. I like to be outside in the sun, so I decided the nightlife here is not for me. The clubs don't start getting good here until around 2 or 3 am, and then you are compelled to stay until 5 or 6 am (or even 7, depending on the club), and as I said, it's a vicious cycle.
So, I stopped going to clubs. I stopped walking around like a tourist. And I was faced with the problem: what do I do now?
Of course, this entire time I have had to go to class. They don't call it "Study Abroad" for nothing. But, I am taking 4 classes which are each 2 days a week for an hour and a half. So, 4 days out of the week I have class for 3 hours a day. That leaves 3 whole days of nothing and a lot of free time on the days I do have class.
Basically, I had to get a hobby. I started going swimming at the pool by my university, I started going running in the park. Even doing that I was left with a lot of free time. So finally, I worked up my nerve and went to a climbing gym.
I brought my climbing shoes here thinking it was a good idea, but I had just bought them before I left for Argentina and I have never really been a climber, so the idea of starting to climb in a foreign country was, to say the least, intimidating. I checked out 2 different gyms in July-ish, but I wasn't motivated to return. But this Thursday, I decided to go for it again. I went to the gym close to my university and realized that despite running and swimming, I am not in good shape. I think the immense amount of free time in which I don't do much at all has something to do with this. So, I went climbing again yesterday and I realized it is a really good way to utilize my free time while being active. It's too easy to get lazy, become inactive, and gain weight while studying abroad. Climbing doesn't seem like an extremely active sport, but it definitely is. I have so little upper body muscle that I can't even climb the bouldering walls at the gym (which are all slanted inwards, making it more difficult), I have just been trying to build muscle traversing from one end of the wall to the other.
I wish I would have started doing this three months ago, but you live and learn. This isn't an extended vacation, this is my life! Now I only have 9 days left in Buenos Aires and I'm just figuring out how to live a healthy life here.
You live and learn.
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