Today we were abruptly brought back to the real world. The first of our two week Spanish-intensive course began today at the Universidad Austral.

Waiting in the lobby for class to start

Universidad Austral

It’s a private university created about 20 years ago in the San Telmo neighborhood, one of Buenos Aires’ oldest “barrios.”

We wanted to be sure we could get to the university on time so we left over an hour before we had to be there. The trip only took 20 minutes. One of the great things about living in downtown Buenos Aires is there are usually multiple buses you can take to get to the same place and they are rather quick. The two times I’ve taken a bus so far, I haven’t had to wait more than two minutes.

Street mural across from Universidad Austral

While it’s nice having such fast bus service, you have to be on your toes, or the bus is more than happy to leave you high and dry. I was the last one of us to get on, but didn’t step on fast enough for the bus driver, as he began to take off. I quickly hopped aboard. Don’t expect the driver to ask if you’re getting on.

After class we stopped to get some genuine Argentinian food made by the king. Burger King. Yeah, yeah, I don’t plan to go there often, but how many times do you have a chance to eat your Burger King along a river walk?

Steakhouse burger with Spanish pronunciation below

Along the river that used to serve as a docking port. Now invaded by tourists.

I wonder if Grant Hill is getting any royalties for this.