Thinking about Buenos Aires

Well the truth is I've been thinking about Buenos Aires for a long time. When I accepted my NYC consulting job back in February, they told me that I would have the option of delaying my start date until January, 2009, my head swelled with ideas of how to fill the time. I ultimately decided to buy a round-trip plane ticket to Argentina, leaving tomorrow, September 15th, and returning on December 5th, giving me just under three months to live down there.

I have no idea how I'm going to spend my three months.

However, having lived for the past four years in three-month increments (gotta love that quarter system), three months seems like a really manageable period of time for, anything, really. Furthermore, I had a similar experience already in Barcelona for my study abroad. My program there consisted of 12 hours of class a week and an pre-arranged apartment for me and my friend from Stanford who was with me. The way I see it, this will basically be the same, except I will a) be on my own, and b) will have to find my own place to live, and c) need to figure out what to do with my time.

None of the statements above seem insurmoutnable, and thus, I'm about to get on a plane to see for myself. I'll make friends, I'll find an apartment within the first week or two (staying in a $11/night youth hostel in the meantime), and someone will be happy to let me volunteer my time in their organization. After 16 years of school and constant jobs and structured time, I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to fly a little bit by the seat of my pants, and really take life one day at a time. The best way to do that, it seems, is by having no idea what tomorrow will bring.

Now--why Buenos Aires? Well the more I've thought about this question, the more perfect Buenos Aires seems to be in my mind. I can bucket the reasons into three categories:

• Geographically, Buenos Aires is on a continent to which I've never been, and we're coming into their springtime which is apparently the nicest time of year.
  
• Financially, you can still get about three Argentinian pesos to the dollar, and I don't plan to have any income while I'm there. If I can spend US $300 a month on rent (which is typical), and $3 on a steak, I should be able to finish three months without even killing my signing bonus.
• Most importantly, Buenos Aires is great from a cultural perspective. It is said to be safe, liberal, cultural, and full of exciting things to do. BA boasts one of the largest Jewish communities outside the U.S. and Israel, as well as a thriving gay population. I'll also get a chance to practice and refine my Spanish abilities, hopefully feeling a sense of fluency by the end of my time.
  

Although initially the plan was to have no plans at all, I have started making connections, and look forward to networking my way to a few more. I connected with a Jewish family through synagogue friends, and hopefully they can help me find a place in the Jewish community. Plus I've found a few friends--two from middle school, and two from college--who are already in BA with missions similar to mine. But I'm still unprogrammed, and will remain as such. I'm bringing books, and I hope to write a fair amount, and all in all experience a way of life that I can pretty much guarantee I'll never get to experience again.