I went to see Coldplay last Friday and it was incredible. The show was fantastic but that wasn’t what was so incredible about it.
The concert was in the same stadium that the River soccer team plays and it is huge. The seats were steps, which didn’t seem strange at first. But as the stadium began to fill up, I realized that there were no aisles for walking. So in order to go to the bathroom for example you needed somehow find a way through the crowd, with no pathway, while on a steep inclination. Very exciting! And the soda and snack venders did this unbelievable well.
For interlude music, someone played “I’m a Hustler Baby,” by Jay-Z. I was one of two people who knew the song, maybe three.
Right before the concert began the crowd became very lively. They all chanted “ole ole ole ole, ole ole!” There was a ton of energy. All the sudden, the left side of the stadium started a wave. It was really cool. They whole stadium did the wave about 4 times before getting bored. During the concert, Chris of Coldplay suggested we do a wave with our cell phones. It looked like the stars. AMAZING! Definitely, the Argentines won over the U.S. in crowd spirit. It was impressive.
There is no alcohol served at these events.
The other thing that stuck me was how musical the crowd was. There was a moment when the band went back stage before the encore. The whole crowd started singing a common thread to a song they liked in order to draw Coldplay back on stage. It was awesome. In my experience, people just scream or chant the name of the Artist.
This whole concert felt different.
After the show, I was talking to my friend about this and I began to think, especially in Chicago, we have so many concerts. Everyone plays in Chicago. Here in Argentina, it is much more special when someone comes to play.
We came to the conclusion that it felt different because there was more excitement and maybe even a bit more appreciation.
I found myself on a list of Buenos Aires Blog. Really cool.
http://bloggersinargentina.blogspot.com/
But I began to get an immediate sense of worry in the pit of my stomach because they state that I am a daily Blogger. I was but I am not anymore.
When I first arrived, I had the time to Blog daily (I was basically on vacation) but now that I am settling into a life here, it is becoming impossible. It saddens me to say, that my vacation is over.
In order for me to stay here, I have to get a ton of different papers from Chicago, from here and then bring them all to another place so they can tell me go somewhere else.
Thankfully, my dear friend Wendy, and many others have already gone through this process and have been able to give me step by step instructions.
I haven’t gotten to the point where I have had to physically do what I stated above but that is the process. This is what I will be doing if I plan to stay here.
So right now, I watch a little girl who speaks Spanish (Spanish/English), I help prep and cook food in a kitchen (Spanish/English) and I speak to professionals (doctors, economists, managers) in English. I go to a private tutor 3 times a week and study on my own, as much as possible. And, of course, I have a social life with friends who I speak Spanish with and English. I am very tired but happy.
I still am Blogging and I have a lot of great topics for the future. The adventures are not over, in fact, this is just the beginning. STAY TUNED!
Yesterday, I went to Colonia in Uruguay.
You take the ‘Buquebus’out of Buenos Aires, http://www.buquebus.com/cache/HomeARG.html . It is located off of Cordoba, just East of Av Leandro N. Alem. The Buquebus is a company that has boats that travels daily back and forth to Uruguay and Brazil. They also have buses to other locations. They offer VIP and regular boarding. The VIP looked nice but if you are just going to Colonia, on the rapido ride it’s only an hour. In regular boarding they have a nice little cafeteria with sandwiches, postres, café and beverages.
The weather hasn’t been that great in Buenos Aires lately. So the boat ride was very rough. On the way back people were screaming because we were rocking so much. Since you can take your cars on the boat, all the men were staring out the back of the boat worried about their autos.
In Colonia, the main attraction is the historical area. Old houses, a light house an old war fort built of brick with a canon. There are a variety of restaurants and a couple shops. Not much happening. It is perfect for a short day trip with friends or nice romantic get-a-way for the weekend.
People stop at the stop signs. In fact, 2 or 3 cars stopped without a stop sign on a main street for my group. I felt like I was in a small town in California.
All ages and types of people ride motor bikes and you can rent them for the day. It you ever wanted to try it but were afraid, this would be the place to do it. It is very safe here.
Be careful of live music while you are eating at a restaurant. They might charge you for entertainment, even if they only play one song and go on break. This is what happened to us.
Don't exchange your money. Everyone takes AR pesos and many places even take U.S. dollars. It was a hassle because we exchanged.
Amongst my friends, by the time we left, we were all dying to get back to Buenos Aires. For some reason, after a while, there was something eerie about this town. But we all definitely have some really fun memories.
It was a typical rainstorm in Buenos Aires, very strong and very quick.
We all sat around and watched as the rain poured into the streets. Within a half hour the street outside looked flooded. I began to get nervous because I know the drainage system isn’t that good in Buenos Aires and began to imagine that everyone in the city was experiencing this. People were walking past the restaurant with their shoes in their hands and the garbage had begun floating down the street. The water was rising fast.
All I could think was ‘if it doesn’t stop raining we won’t be able to leave this restaurant.’
All of the sudden, water began to flood the restaurant. Everyone tried to stop it but there was little you could do. The water was going through the doors and even worse was pouring, not kidding, pouring into the basement.
I have lived through a flood before in Chicago. But I have never been in a structure while it was flooding. It was intense. It was strong. There was a current.
It stopped raining.
We all left the restaurant into the forceful water, with debris up past our knees. As we came to a main street, I looked down in either direction and noticed that the rest of the city seemed fine. That was when it dawned on me, that we were in a flood zone.
We were having an intensively different experience then the majority of the city. As we found dry land, I looked up to see crowds of people looking on into the zone that I just came from.
Everyone had their cell phone out taking pictures, many had real cameras.
I am kicking myself right now because since I have been here, I have always carried my camera. Yesterday, I left it at home. Live and learn.The photo above is not mine but it is an actual photo of where I was last night.
More importantly, to all the homes and businesses that have been affected, I hope for a speedy recovery.
