El Día del Tigre

Writing something in my calendar for next month, I saw that "Independence Day" was printed on the 4th. "No," I thought, confused. "Independence Day is the 9th."

The 9th is Argentina's Independence Day. Yeah, I think I'm acclimating.

I've been hanging out with some people from Spain, which has thrown off my castellano (the type of Spanish spoken here) pronunciation. But I'm still speaking Spanish, which is the ultimate goal.

Today I went to Tigre with my friends (all of them, actually. I didn't check my phone at all because anyone who might have texted me was with me today). Tigre is a community north of Buenos Aires, one hour por tren. The reasons for going to Tigre were lost on me, because our trip consisted of an hour-long train ride there, a half-hour boat ride down the river, a 20-minute walk beside the river, and then a five- or six-hour lunch. Followed by a walk, a boat, and a train back home. However simple the trip was, each element was fun and novel in its own way. The weather was perfect and the company even better.

I have this preconception fixed in my head that Europeans are so much cooler, more cultured, and more sophisticated than Americans that they automatically think less of us, even on an individual level. So I'm vaguely surprised that the Europeans I've been hanging out with are so friendly and nice. It seems to mean so much more coming from them, however silly that idea is. Regardless, they're a fun group and I'm so glad I met them.

I didn't take many pictures because everyone else seemed to have a camera, so I'll pull theirs from Facebook to post here as soon as they go up there.