It’s hard to believe I have less than a month left in Argentina. “Time is fleeting,” as Riff Raff says in Rocky Horror Picture Show, of which I saw the Spanish version on Tuesday.

My whole experience in Argentina has been a roller-coaster ride with a lot of uphill. I have so many great memories that will last my lifetime. As much time I have been here, I could spend at least a couple months more.

I am anxiously trying to scratch more activities off my bucket list, hit up as many cute cafes as possible and spend as much time with my friends before I leave.

Now that I have been in Argentina for a few months, I feel like I am finally past the tourist stage and am more of a local. I no longer do as many touristy activities, and I feel as though I’ve discovered local hangouts in which tourists don’t have time to go to or have no idea they exist. Here’s a bunch of different activities I’ve been doing recently.

With ISA, I watched Orquesta Fernandez Fierro perform. They were basically a darker and smaller version of Trans Siberian Orchestra, where instead of Christmas music they played Tango music.

The show was beautiful and portrayed a different side to Buenos Aires.

I also spent an afternoon in Fería de Libros next to Plaza Italia in Palermo. Buenos Aires had an international book fair in which different provinces of Argentina and different countries set up booths with books from that country. Many different publishing companies also set up booths with its books available for purchase. It was amazing, of course. And if you know me, you can imagine how much time I spent there. Luckily, I didn’t go too crazy and only bought two books.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A couple months ago, I made a friend while we were sitting in the university. We immediately bonded over our love of food and the fact that we are both named Jessica, are from Ohio and are studying journalism. Our similarities were uncanny, and since then we have been hanging out every weekend. Jess and I (it sounds like I’m talking about myself in the third person. I promise she’s not my alter ego) love going to restaurants and pigging out on food.

Here’s a picture of her and me in a Mexican restaurant. Paints a picture of how crazy we are about food, right?

Whenever you see pictures of great, delicious food, you can assume I ate it with her. The slideshow below portrays a relatively normal night in which we ate a ton of food— sushi, gelato and tacos as a finale. It was the perfect night.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’m a big fan of cute cafes, especially ones that also double as book stores. I love ordering a cappuccino and reading book for a couple hours. Here are a few cafes I’ve found in the city.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I went to a restaurant called Kansas with some friends. It was basically an upper-scale Applebee’s, but my friends and I appreciated the United States-feel to it. We didn’t realize how much we missed caesar salads and alfredo.

Pickupthefork.com has a ton of suggestions for good restaurants in the city. My friends and I went to lunch on a Sunday in Palermo at a restaurant called Pain et Vin. I had a delicious BLT. Because Argentina isn’t as obsessed with bacon as the U.S. is, eating bacon is a precious moment.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As I’m writing this blog, I’m realizing how few activities I’ve actually done. It’s all just food. I should title the blog ‘How to gain weight while studying abroad,’ as I have noticed my clothes are a little tighter. Oh well. If you don’t gain weight while studying abroad, you’re doing something wrong. Enjoy a picture of some milkshakes I drank with a friend in Belgrano, my neighborhood.

Jess’ host mother invited some of her friends over for an Asado, an Argentinian grill-out. I met her host sister Angie and Angie’s boyfriend, Andy, who were friendly and spoke perfect English. We had chorizo, lomo (steak) and bondiola (pork). It was delicious, and I’m going to miss the abundance of meat.

San Telmo is a historic district in Buenos Aires filled with old buildings, cute shops and apparently Argentine comic characters. For my Estudios Culturales class, we went on a field trip that toured the statues of all of Argentina’s famous cartoon characters. San Telmo is beautiful, and when I walk down the streets I can see the European influence in the city.

Later that day, I went to Fukuro Noodle Bar with Jess in which we had delicious Pho and sticky buns. It was heaven, and we were completely content.

Afterwards, we wanted to hang out and listen to live music, so we found a nearby jazz club. The band was so much fun, and I forgot about how much I love live jazz music.

On Sunday, instead of Jess’ and I usual habit of going out to eat, she cooked us Jewish food and Mac n’ cheese at her house. Lots of starches, but nonetheless delicious.

Most recently, I went to Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was listening to the album and talking about it with a friend, and I wondered if they had it here in Buenos Aires. Turns out they do. And it’s entirely in Spanish. I wasn’t sure if it would be, as translating entire musicals into another language seems difficult. But when the first scene started with a woman singing the opening “Science Fiction/ Double Feature” song in Spanish, I knew right away that I was in for a treat.

It was really interesting to note the differences similarities between the English version and the Argentinian version. The songs weren’t directly translated but had the same meaning, and some scenes were completely different. For anyone who has not seen Rocky Horror, the crowd usually yells profanities during specific moments in the show. This tradition hasn’t changed just because it’s in another language. Whenever a character said Brad, the crowd shouted, “Boludo!” (Asshole) and whenever Janet came up, the audience chanted “Gato!” (It means cat, but I think you can guess what it means in this case). I loved how language wasn’t really a barrier. The traditions remained the same.

I wasn’t too lost during the production, but my friend who came with me and had never seen the musical was a little confused. Nonetheless, we both had a great time. No matter what language the lyrics are, Rocky Horror’s music is fantastic.

That’s all for now. I’m getting ready to go on my last big trip in Argentina in which I’ll be heading to Salta. I hope to post a blog about that and my last weeks in Argentina as well as some other blogs. Thanks so much for following along with my adventure. ¡Hasta luego!