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Well, this is the third time I have attempted to publish this entry about the past weekend. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that this one will work.Friday Night: Went to the ballet with about 20 intercambio students to see Carmen. I had a very good time (even if I did fall asleep during the first act) - it was the first ballet I can remember (not that I have seen many) where I understood what was happening onstage. Afterwards, Angelika, Maud, Anya, and I went to the birthday party of Jimena (it was a costume party but we didn’t have costumes) at La Estancia, a bar in Nueva Cordoba. I spent the evening dancing with Maud - what a fantastic girl - too bad her boyfriend was coming to Cordoba the following day!Saturday: Took the steering bar of my disassembled motorcycle to Jose (who, of course, has a friend that can fix it) - spent probably 2 hours with him drinking mate and talking business. Returned home around 2 PM to find Otto, Pablo, Regi, and Leandro preparing an ASADO. What a fantastic surprise - 3 hours later and the majority of the wine and meat was gone. Afterwards, went to Parque Sarmiento with Pablo and Leandro to drink mate and talk under a shade tree - the park was absolutely packed as rumer had it that the weather was about to change. After my second round of mate for the day, we returned home to find Luciano and his friend waiting…so what did we do? Went back to the park to drink more mate! Saturday Night: Had my first experience at Casa De Colon - a 20+ intercambio student apartment. What a fantastic place. Drank some fernet c/coca and talked with Jasmin (Brazil/Germany Carolina (Mexico and Aurelie (France) during the course of the night. The cold and the rain set in at some point while I was there and I ended up walking 20 blocks home in the rain. Did I get sick? Yes and no - I had a stomach virus the next day but not from the alcohol or the rain (maybe the mate?). Sunday: Was supposed to be the day for Campus Rock but the festival was postponed until Monday night. I took a taxi with Daniela, Angelika, and Sebastian (Brazil/Germany) out to the festival grounds only to find out about the postponement. In the process of discovering this, the taxi driver proceeded to rip us off by charging us 40 pesos for the trip (two different types of taxi drivers here: one that charges by mileage and one that charges by time/meter). We argued but to no avail (Angelika had taken the same trip the day before for 12 pesos). Bienvenidos a Argentina! Oh well, no worries as Daniela, Angelika, Nikolai (French) came back to my house to eat pizza, play cards, drink some box wine mixed with Pritty Lemon, and hang out with some of Leandro’s friends (Pablo, Martin, Flaco, and Andreas - Pablo’s intercambio student). We all ended up watching a french movie - Monsier Ibrahim - which was (I hate to say it) typically french i.e. depressing (jejeje).Monday: Classes in the morning and then went to Campus Rock with Daniela, Angelika, and Sebastian (along with other Germans…well, Daniela is from Austria). The concert was fantastic until I lost my wallet or had it stolen. Not sure which as I was packed in with everyone else jumping around (my original thought that the Argentine passion is only on display during futbol matches was wrong) and, at some point, realized that both my wallet and my coin purse were missing from the front pocket in my pants. I didn’t have anything super-valuable in there: 40 pesos, my ISIC card, my phone number list, and a copy of my passport/health insurance. Luckily, I put all of my credit/debit cards and driver’s license in my room. Regardless of whether they were lost or stolen, I should have used more caution - I have heard countless times not to take your wallet to the soccer matches or the concerts here - plus, if they were stolen I made it easier to identify myself as an American by holding my digital camera up over my head to record some video (not everyone in Arg. has a digital, hence, I made myself a prime target to have more money). The concert, though, was great - the excitement and passion here is contagious.Observation: CR was held at Siglo XXI (one of the many universities here in Cordoba). They sold beer, fernet c/coca, and hamburgers on the campus inside the venue whereas, during Volapalooza, for example, we (i.e. Campus Entertainment Board - the group I was a part of that organized Vol.) had to police the students for not bringing alcohol to the event forget about us selling it - that wasn’t even an option. I will add one more point - the vast majority (95%) took buses from the center of the city to the campus for the concert (i.e. noone was driving after the show). Regardless, the attitude here towards a variety of things is much more open in that personal responsibility is taken for granted as being the norm here, not the exeption - Bienvenidos a Argentina!As for the title of this post, when I look back on the past 8 days, I have had a motorcycle accident, broken my camera, and had my wallet stolen or lost. Not the best week but, without a doubt, it could have been worse. I have been blessed - everything works out for me in the end.

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