Saturday, September 14

Today I slept in late because I had been tired basically all week. I showered and got ready, and then I packed my suitcase for our trip to Argentina. It took me a lot longer than expected, and when I finished we all sat down to have lunch. When we were done, my mom drove me over to my friend Cata’s house. It was her dad’s birthday, and so they were having a giant family party and she invited me over to meet everyone. Her family is the sweetest! She has a bunch of cousins who are about her age, and we all sat around and talked for a long time and they were all really nice and welcoming. We laughed so much. I really like hanging out with Cata.

She is so sweet and she always makes an effort to include me. She is definitely one of my best friends here. My mom came to pick me up around 7, and then we went home and got ready for the family friend’s birthday party. We were supposed to leave for Argentina during the night after the party, but the pass in the mountains was closed because it was snowing, so we had to wait until the next morning. When we arrived, the house was absolutely packed with people. We talked for a while with some people that we knew, and then I went to find Nacho and Maxi because I was bored. They were playing soccer, and so I played with them, but I wasn’t really into it. It’s kind of awkward when all your friends are guys and you have the option to play soccer with them and be really awkward and bad and feel like you’re holding them back from having fun, or you have the option to go hang out alone with the parents. I was saved from the awkwardness when I met another girl Pazi, who was my age and also didn’t know anyone at the party. We stayed together the whole night and talked a lot. She was super sweet and wanted to know a lot about my exchange. I had a good time talking to her, but by 2, I was really tired and happy when my parents told me we were going home. When we got home, Maxi and I watched a movie for a while and then we went to sleep.