I've decided that the best way for me to communicate with all of you in the States is to post my letters on the internet due to the fact that for the entire university there are a grand total of three computers on which one can access Hotmail. My only other option would be to sign up for a university account, which runs on MS-DOS (I don't believe I have ever in my life seen a DOS based email program.) Anyway, it's actually easier to post my letters on the internet than to write letters via Hotmail.   Don't worry though, I can read them, only sending them seems to be a problem.

Now, on to more interesting stuff. Buenos Aires is an incredible city. It is much larger and more cosmopolitan than any other I have ever lived in. It makes DC look like a suburb. The neighborhood where I live is called Belgrano (in the upper right of a map if you wish to look it up). It is in the medium to upper price range for housing, which are almost entirely apartment high-rises. The building where I live is about half a block from the main drag (Avenida Cabildo) and is in the medium height range, that is to say I live on the third of twelve stories. Avenida Cabildo is very similar to Crossroads Mall or Pentagon City in that it is essentially a multiple mile long mall. I can buy anything I could possibly need from that street.

As many of you know, I'm living with an Argentine host family. They're an elderly couple about the age of my grandparents with two grown daughters who live elsewhere now. I'm sharing a room with a guy named Jim who's from Maine and is also studying at the same university as me. He's pretty cool and we get along well. Getting to know the Argentines is a bit of a job, but then I've only been in class for a week.

Speaking of class, I'm attending the Universidad de Belgrano, which is about a ten-minute walk from the apartment. So far things seem a bit chaotic. I've gone to five classes and four of them have been moved, the time has been changed, or they don't start this week like all the rest of the classes. It's been a bit frustrating, especially because I've been trying to figure this all out with the department people in Spanish. Speaking of which, my Spanish is coming along very well. I can't claim to be fluent yet by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell I'm improving. Mostly I'm studying Argentine politics and history (no big surprise to most of you) but I've also got a class on Argentine culture and one on economics. I think that I'm going to get into a Tango class as well. It would be a crying shame to come all the way here and not at least make an attempt to learn Tango.

I've had the opportunity to go wandering about the town a bit. My two big excursions were to a neighborhood called Boca (the birthplace of Tango) and the site where all of the immigrants disembarked when arriving in Buenos Aires. The neighborhood today is pretty much run down and the port is generally not operating. However, I found the place to be quite picturesque due to the style of painting the houses in brilliant solid colors and also because there was a plethora of murals adorning the buildings. On the left is a good example of the Boca style.

My other big adventure was to the Cemetery of Ricoletta (another neighborhood). This particular cemetery is completely surrounded by a high brick wall and encloses one of the most surreal places I've ever visited. No one is buried in the ground in this place. Instead, they all have a mausoleum, generally with a New Orleans style iron-lace door in front of a glass door and inside are the coffins on shelves. Generally a family will have a mausoleum and multiple family members will be in there together hob-nobbin', each on his own respective shelf. It's rather scary to see all of the coffins, especially because in some cases the mausoleums are falling down, the doors are coming off, and you could more or less just walk in a sit down for a chat with some guy who's been dead 100 years or so. This place, however, is for the elite of Buenos Aires and one has to have a fair amount of money or fame to make it in. Such famous types as Sarmiento (president of Argentina and famous South American author), Jos� Hernandez (author of Mart�n Fierro the national book), and the ever-popular Evita Duarte de Per�n can be found there. I've included a few pictures of the place for you all to peruse.

All in all, I have to say that there's plenty here to see and do. I do miss you all, and no Josh, I have not yet taken advantage of the fact that Cuban cigars are legal here.

I hope all is well for everyone in the States.

Love,