Okay, let`s write a blog.

First of all I need to advice the reader that this blog won´t have any particular structure. It won't be centered around just one topic. I will write about things I find interesting and appealing, things I like and dislike, things I learn. Most importantly, I will share experiences which will remain in my memory for the rest of my life; I hope to put many of those. 

Let's see, the first week has passed as I’m writing these words. Exactly eight days, it actually felt like eight minutes. I started the trip with no expectatives, neither bad nor good. This is not just a say, I’m serious: I knew nothing about the University of Texas, had very little reference about Austin (sincerely, I only knew that the summer XGames take place in this city every year), had no idea of what Texas was like (apart from some movie), knew nothing about the other 24 Argentinian students which now I consider friends, and worst of all, had no clue about the classes I’ll be taking part of.

The first week a lot of stuff happened. I won´t write everything step by step because you’ll get bored to death.

The female longhorns (the university team) played against Baylor on the University Stadium, they lost 67-80 and had their first lost in the season, but that’s not the point. What I found interesting about the game was the spectacle. Basketball is a paused game, there’s a timeout between each of the four periods, and a lot of small timeouts which are set by the coaches when they need it. They had a show for each timeout, long or short. There was a band playing, young cheerleaders and old cheerleaders, guys jumping and throwing backflips like it was nothing, a minigun which threw shirts in the public, a drone that flew around giving gifts, dancing cameras, throwing contests, lights showoff, food and drinks everywhere, even the court was turned into a dance floor for some minutes, I can continue enumerating things but I think you get the point: the sport itself wasn’t the main point of the event. I mean, it was great and I loved it, but I can´t even imagine how the girls were concentrated with all that stuff happening. Like when a bunch of guys pretend to go fishing, but spend the whole day sitting on a boat eating snacks and drinking beer. It was awesome, but very different to what I’m used to.

On Friday we had an activity called family host. It consisted of spending the night in the house of a local family. I thought it would be really boring, but turned to be one of the best activities so far. I went to the house of Rene and Ashley, a young couple who had studied here at UT. It was amazing, we had so many things to talk about that I wish we could have spent more time with them. They told us about their college experience, and there was one thing that surprised me the most: fraternities and sororities. I thought they were just a bunch of kids throwing parties. But both Rene and Ashley, who had taken part in one, told me that not. They are national organization with a lot of people working on its central headquarters, managing all the local branches. Moreover, boys and girls have just one chance in life to get in one, is like the NBA draft, where the different teams select the best rookies. If they fail, they are out forever. If they get in, they are part forever; they have a lot of pressure to continue their family legacy. What I found most interesting was that it really helps their professional career; someone who is hiring would give priority to appliers from his fraternity/sorority.