From Bmore to BA

SO I leave 2 weeks from tommorow. I’m starting to get really pumped, but also a tad bit nervous. What the Hell am I getting myself into!?!?! I was totally cool before Barcelona last year…but I guess that was “a different story altogether” (just like the shopkeeper and his son). Barca just sort of fell into place…and came right after a crazy semester at school. This is more of a drawn out process…I wouldn’t mind just jumping on the plane tommorow, but hey, then I might not be able to take advantage of those business class seats [thanks mom and dad ]. Anyway, it’s all good, and I know it’ll be a blast. In my usual fashion, I’ve left everything to the last minute, so it’ll be nice if I can get all of my shit together in time (I still don’t have housing past a week in a hostel). If not – hey, at least the experience will be more interesting – especially if I’m homeless.

I’ve been doing some thinking about this blog, too. Although my primary intent is to entertain you with my trials and tribulations as I try to make my way through South America with nothing but my charming good looks and piss poor spanish, I decided I’d be so kind as to periodically drop some knowledge on ya’ll. Basically, instead of just visiting my webpage to kill 5 agonizing minutes at work, you may actually learn a few things. Possible topics include, but are not limited to everything from Jewish life in Argentina to the science behind the Brazilian Bikini wax. So, open up your mind, take a deep breath, and prepare to be schooled.

I’ve got just a few weeks until D-Day arrives (knock on wood). Until then, I’ll be engaged in a mad rush to gather up all of the necessary supplies, tie up the loose ends, and watch as many episodes of Sportscenter as humanly possible. It’s hard to believe that what started out as a crazy idea back in February – born in large part, probably, by total disillusionment with *the job search* – has almost come to fruition. Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve got.

Living in a foreign country, I won’t have access to ATMs of my local bank – which matters because if I try to take money from the ATM, not only will I be charged by my bank for withdrawing money outside of the network, but I could be subject to those nasty surcharges tacked on by the ATM itself. Remember, I’m a poor broke bastard OK! Although Citibank has some ATMs in the city, and apparently, even a few branches in Buenos Aires, it seems to be alot easier to have my money in an internet bank account. There are a few advantges of the particular one I chose, USAA. Of course I haven’t actually used this bank yet, so I can’t speak for certain that it actually does it all it says it does, but here’s the idea: no ATM withdrawal surcharges; reimbursement of ATM-issued surcharges; no monthly fee; free checking/checkbook; 100% protection; instant internet transfers; incredibly competent customer service, blah blah blah.

Lucky for me there are daily nonstop, direct flights from Washington DC (Dulles) to Buenos Aires on United. The best part is, I was able to use my parents’ long-accumulated and never used USAir miles for this flight (thanks Mom and Dad), because USAir is partnered with United. Not a bad deal at all. As far as I know, only DC, Miami, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta (hmm…that’s funny, I think I know people in all of THOSE cities…) have direct nonstops to Argentina, so I lucked out on this.

Another issue is that I’ll be arriving in Argentina on a 3-month tourist visa, even though my plan is stay for 10 months to a year. How am I planning to do this, you may ask – short of bribing the customs agent, what is a poor gringo to do? (In my filthiest, New Jersey-Italian accent): well, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. To renew your tourist visa for another 3 months you can either pay a fee, or exit and re-enter the country within the 3-month period. From what I gather, the more popular option is the latter – Uruguay is just across the river from Buenos Aires, so you can take a boat to Uruguay and return to Buenos Aires for a tourist visa renewal all within a day. While you could also do the exit-re-entry thing through one of the other neighboring countries, it’s not as easy. The Chilean border is at least a 14 hour bus ride/1 1/2 hour plane ride away…To enter Brazil Americans need a special visa, which has to be pre-approved and costs about $150 USD…The same deal applies for Paraguay (special visa for Americans, plus a fee), not to mention it’s many hours away from Buenos Aires. Guess I’ll be seeing alot of the fine country of Uruguay.