How To: Miss the Bus??!?!!??!!?!?!

Wow hello friends, this is a surprise post that comes to you very shortly after the last post because I have some wisdom to impart, maybe. Or maybe it's just an example of what not to do. Who knows. But either way, read about our misadventures into Omnibus territory!

So, as I previously mentioned like two days ago, my friend and I were planning on taking an impromptu trip. We booked our bus tickets to Córdoba, and it was going to be a super exciting time! And so I printed out the tickets like a good little person, and we packed up all our stuff and took the train to the bus station.

Our bus was supposed to leave at 9pm, and we got their early at like 8pm, so we had plenty of time. And then we waited. The way it's supposed to work is that they put your bus company up on the screen, and then you find out where the bus comes in to the terminal. So we found some seats and watched patiently for our bus to appear on the screen. But it never did.

We waited and waited and I went to ask a security guard if she had any information for us, but she wasn't very helpful, and then we saw a bus with our company name on it pulling away from the station. At first we joked, like, Hey, what if that was our bus? And what if it's leaving without us?? But then the panic set in. WHAT IF THAT WAS ACTUALLY OUR BUS AND IT ACTUALLY LEFT WITHOUT US???

So we went upstairs to where the ticket offices are, to try and find the company that sold us our tickets. There are over a hundred of those little booths up there, and we ran around them trying to find the right one, only to discover that it was CLOSED. WHO DID THIS.

So I went up to this lady at a booth close to the one we needed to see if she could help. And I was like, "Hey so I know this isn't your company, but do you have any information about this bus?" And she responded, "This isn't my company." LADY. I TOLD YOU THAT. LITERALLY THOSE WERE THE FIRST WORDS OUT OF MY MOUTH. So she told us to go somewhere else, but I think she was lying, because she just told us to go further down the hall to find a booth that was open, but there were not any more booths for our company. So we asked another random booth for help. And they sent us to another company. And they sent us to the information desk. And the information desk guy said, "This bus left."

And I hate him.

But then he directed us back up to another booth that he said could help us, but they said they couldn't help us so they sent us back to a previous booth and by this time we were 6000 mad and also tired and sweaty from running up and down this gigantic hallway, and we got there to this booth and IT WAS ALMOST CLOSED AND WE WERE SCREAMING. (Not really, but I'm trying to add more excitement to this. We would have screamed if it was socially appropriate, but we didn't want to draw more attention to ourselves than we already did.)

And the people in this booth were like, You fools, we're trying to leave, it's like 10pm and we want to go home and you don't even look like you belong here but fine we'll help you you can have tickets for tomorrow night at the same time for free, because it's technically our fault that you missed your bus because we call our bus something completely different from what your ticket says, and since tickets are completely void of any useful information we might as well not lose all our business by alienating the international students who come here to have a good experience. That's not really what they said, but I know that's what they were thinking.

But so the good news of this story is that we're hopefully leaving tonight at the same time. So we only lost one day of our trip, but hopefully we'll still have enough time to do a bunch of fun exploring and stuff! So we took the train back to our homes and stopped at a bar where I drank my actual first alcoholic drink and we made up scenarios in which this evening could have been worse. That was good and therapeutic.

In other news, the best test of your Spanish abilities will come after you've had this evening, and you end up back in your room in your apartment, and your host mom wakes you up at 7:30am demanding to know what happened, and you're in your pajamas and you can't really see because it's dark and you're not wearing your glasses, and you can barely explain what happened to you English because it's been a very long day. "Hello brain, what even is conjugation in the Spanish language? I think I just said that we got ran over by the bus, but I'm not even sure about that."

PS: I guess food

• All I've tried new is this drink, that is apparently Malibu with orange juice and cherry flavoring

PSS: Here is Xander, excited for his train ride to the bus terminal. We'll try again today Xander, we'll try again

What Day Is It?

Buenos días, amigos y amigas y amig@s???? Okay, I'll stop writing in Spanish now. So you don't have to complain about not knowing things.

Time is going by very fast here, and in the last month or so, I've done a lot of things! I'm really enjoying the Argentina life, and the big city, and the adequate public transportation. I've tried some new drinks, I've tried some new foods, and I've gone to some new places, and my time here is already more than half over! Wow!

Nothing super major has happened since the past about my exciting trip to Mendoza. I've just stayed around Buenos Aires exploring and finding new things to do with my friends. But this week I'm going on a trip to Córdoba, and then next week I'm heading up north to the giant waterfall called Iguazú. So I should have more exciting stuff to write about then!

For speed-reading purposes, because I know you are all busy and doing important life things, I will create a list here of all the new things that I've done, with maybe some small elaboration. Ready, set, go! :

• April 29: Went to get real person pizza and found a giant graffiti portrait of Frida Khalo, the artist, and then went to a polo game! Uruguay vs Argentina! (Argentina won, it was like 14-3)

• April 30: Went on an adventure to a club where there was supposed to be this interesting musical thing, but we got there too late, and the line was too long and we didn't go in, but I stood in line for a very long time and watched people get drunk, so that's an accomplishment
• May 3: Discovered that if I tell people at restaurants my name is Mia instead of Jen, I get a lot fewer weird looks and people don't have to ask me how to spell my name, and then spell it wrong anyway
• May 5: Saw 37 dogs on my way to school. Also, in less exciting news, I went to a play at Teatro Nun for my literature class, which was pretty fun! I mean, not fun, because the topic was very sad and hard to think about, but important and interesting is perhaps a better way to put it. Then we went out for drinks at the cool bar with no ceiling
• May 7: Traveled to La Boca, a very tourist-y part of the city with cool, colorful buildings and walls, and lots of handmade stuff to buy, and also just regular stuff to buy. Also ventured out to the Mexican Heritage Celebration to get yummy tacos, despite the pouring rain

• May 9: Visited the planetarium where there was supposed to be a Full Moon Party, but alas there was not, and we sat on a rock and talked to this really weird guy speaking a mixture of English, Spanish, and Portuguese
• May 10: Went to an "orchestra" performance, but the performance actually consisted of four accordions, five violins, a cello, a bass, a piano and fancy lady singer
• May 11: Went to the giant book fair and received a copy of the Argentinian Constitution for free!!
• May 13: Went to an orchestra "performance" but it was actually a rehearsal, but it was free so I can't complain very much, but I can complain a little. Also ate ice cream, so that is important
• May 17: Went to Teatro Ciego, where they put you in complete darkness and then play a musical album through surround sound speakers. We listened to Queen, and I was a fan. We're probably going back sometime!
• May 19: Ate fancy ramen in a restaurant in Chinatown, then took the most terrifying bus I've ever been on to the Parque de la Memoria, or Memory Park, that is a memorial for all the people who disappeared during the dictatorship. There's a giant wall with many missing names, because people still haven't been identified. Took an equally terrifying bus home

• May 21: Went to the giant bookstore that used to be a theater! We found many exciting books, but we're going back at some point to buy coloring books, because we're not real adults. I'm not 21 yet. I can still buy coloring books if I want to
• May 22: Decided to go on an impromptu journey out of Buenos Aires this weekend. Leaving tomorrow, it's fine

Okay, wow, I think that's it! So many things that I did! Hopefully I'll have even more exciting things to share with you guys after my trips coming up. And hopefully I get some good pictures, because my good camera is feeling sad about not being used very often. It'll get better, I promise camera, I promise. 

PS: Comida (That means food in Spanish) (Also, it's including many beverages this time too)

• Seafood ramen - new because it included crayfish and scallops, neither of which I've had before
• Mexican chicken tacos
• Rye bread
• Lemonade vodka
• Fernet - a kind of minty alcohol that is very strange
• Rum and coke
• Apple moonshine
• Mint and ginger mojito
• Rapiditos - Matilde makes these because she bought a bunch of tortilla shells. They're basically a tortilla shell plus whatever else she feels like adding to it, it's a weird time
• A hamburger with bacon and eggs
• Asado chicken

PSS: Here is Xander with my new best friend, and probably his new best friend too: