Lessons Learned

I don't remember which number I left off on, and I don't feel like fighting with the Internet to go back and check, so let's call it...

#5. Mate: delicious, energizing, comforting, but does not help you focus.  Exhibit A: me, drinking mate; the pile of homework next to me that I've been "working on" since I woke up four hours ago.

#6. Everyone in Buenos Aires has a dog.  EVERYONE.  I've observed this since I got here: dog-walkers with packs of leashed dogs of varying breeds, dog crap all over the sidewalks (yeah, everywhere).  But today I saw a few paseaperros with easily 18 dogs in tow.  Some big, some small, but all walking in perfect formation.  And whenever the walker/owner stops in a store or a cafe, they tie the dogs outside, where they all wait calmly, staring at their person until they return.  I've even seen dogs not tied up, sitting outside the pharmacy just waiting for their person.  They're really well-trained in that respect.  It makes me miss my stupid, crazy dogs.

#7. Punctuality is nonexistent.  Professors roll into class twenty minutes late and don't seem to mind if you do the same; meetings don't really have a start time; 10:00 means 10:15...convenient when the colectivo is running late, but annoying when you arrive on time and have to wait.