Feliz Dia del Amigo!

I recieved this email from my program:


Hola a todos,

This Monday July 20th, don't forget to say "Feliz Día del Amigo" to
all your Argentinean friends.

The "Día del Amigo" is a very important cellebration in Argentina.
The idea for Friendship Day was started by an Argentine teacher, who
lobbied to turn the anniversary of the first moon landing into an
international day of friendship. The Friendship Day was officially
recognized by law in 1979.

Día del Amigo is often a good excuse for a friendly gathering, getting
in contact with old friends, buying presents for them, etc. Since it
is not a public holiday, the gatherings usually take place during the
evening. Most restaurantes will be full this Tuesday and people need
to make reservations several days in advance.

In recent years the "Día del Amigo" has turned into a very popular
mass phenomenon. Next Tuesday the mobile phone networks are expected
to collapse for several hours due to the big number of calls and SMS
sent.


kind of cool!!


I got my cell phone today, but can't use it until I buy a phone card, which I am going to do this afternoon. From the states the number is +54-9-11-32963354. As I recall from trying to call Kersti the + is either 0 or 00...but I could be wrong. I am also on skype, and my skype name is julia.miller25

I somehow got internet reception in my room last night and skyped with my friend Nikki which was fun. Thanks dad for the camera and Kersti for the microphone!! I might be moving out of this residence. I realized it's mostly people on a 1 or 2 month program and seems a bit like a hostel. The doors don't lock and there is lots of noise, etc. It seems perfect for staying a shorter length of time, and as I talked about with my adviser, I would probably be much more comfortable in an shared apartment somewhere else. She actually asked me, "why did you think you even wanted to live there???"

Anyway--my day has been great so far!! Also had fun last night, went to some bars...nothing crazy. Even though I slept only 3 hours before my orientation at Universidad de Belgrano this morning, I am somehow still standing and not drooling on myself. The weather was SUNNY today and I got a much better feel for the city. There is a beautiful plaza near my building called Plaza de Mayo, and today there were lots of people milling around the neighborhood which was a nice change from the really quiet (and grey) weekend.

Off to do some errands, including the biggest bookstore in Latin America, called El Ateneo. Apparently it is one of the most beautiful in the world as well, and if you want to see some photos here is a link:

http://images.google.com.ar/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aes-ES%3Aofficial&hl=es&q=el+ateneo+buenos+aires&btnG=Buscar+im%C3%A1genes&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

(I just google image searched el ateneo buenos aires if the link doesn't work)


Feliz dia del amigo!
xx

and of course those kisses are going on your right cheek, per Argentine custom (: