"'Tienes?' Well that just sounds odd. I prefer 'Tenés.'"

I took another hiatus. Clearly. So much has just been happening. It's hard to actually experience life if I feel like I have to remember all the important, amazing, spectacular things to write down. Alas, I try. I try.

Three more weeks. It's crazy. I'm going to say it, so be prepared: I, Briana Avery, speak spanish. Now, am I fluent? HELL NO!! But can I hold a conversation? Can I understand what is said to me? Can I function in a spanish speaking nation? HELL YES!! Check that off the list!

Recently, I've seen so much. Taken the colectivo more, spent time with different people, gone to CÓRDOBA!!! Traveled into the mountains, saw a mini Igazú Falls, and gorgeous lakes in the valleys. The realization that I will soon be parting is just insanity. I feel like I've been here for such little time and for a lifetime simultaneously. I honestly do not remember what it is like to function in the States, or New York. What? Ordering food in english? What? Not kissing people as a form of greeting? What? Not talking about myself using "yo" "soy" "estoy"? What is this?! Transitioning back is my biggest fear. (My english has suffered... a lot)

I love Buenos Aires, but I can't lie, I miss home. As I write, I am listening to the smooth voices of a track some of my friends from home made. Hearing their voices both makes me long to be home with them, to be experiencing what they are, instead of this weird, out of body thing that is Argentina. I almost want to go home because I feel like I can be so much more productive, useful there. Here, I am living for myself for the first time in my life, and its hard. Every day, I go through the motions, acting carefree like the rest of the NYU population, but I'm not. I have other things on my mind. I know how important my goals are and I know what I need to do. Being here just seems like a pause in my life. Necessary? Yes. Hard, almost painful? Definitely.

New York is another issue though. Almost senior year. Almost done!! Going back in August no longer means living in the same building as my friends. Or even the same barrio. We're all spread out, not to mention minus one. The past 5 months have changed the meaning of so many things. I will now have to manage, maybe even meld, two distinct groups of friends, from the village, to Brooklyn, to midtown, to Queens, to UWS and not to mention myself in Tribeca, and three of my favorites being abroad. I just have to develop a new way of adapting.

Cosas que yo extraño (Top 10):

1. Taco Bell
2. Cottage Cheese
3. Ebbie Webbie y Monte Carlo Di'Vinci
4. Ranch (ahora, sé que existe en Buenos Aires... tres meses despues..)
   
5. Starlite
6. My shoes that I couldn't fit in my suitcase : (
7. Mi cama
8. BORDERS!!
9. Black people (legitimate concern. Google ethnic break down of Buenos Aires)
   
10. People

Three more weeks!! Lets make em goood!!!