It's 2:30am on a Wednesday evening. I just returned home from an evening out with some friends. We had a delicious dinner at the nearby restaurant LATE, and afterwards decided to go for drinks at Milk. We initially met for dinner at 9:00pm with plans for an early night. I have no idea where the time went.
That's ok. I like it that way. Everything is still fairly new to us here in Córdoba. We're all still quite new to each other in the Remote Year group as a whole. We're anxious to have fun and get to know each other. Every night is an unknown. The only known is that something is going on somewhere in this city, if that's if you want. One thing that I already love about Córdoba is that I feel this is a city about the people and of the people, not of the people's professions or their possessions.
Last night was an even later night out. A Tuesday. The women in the group decided to have a ladies night, so naturally the men decided to have a guys night. The night concluded with one guy in the hospital (Anhton, glad to hear the stitches went well), one broken window, and the largest and most Neanderthal-ish grill-fest you could imagine. I'll spare you the details, but it was an epic evening. My favorite part of the evening was connecting with three locals that I met at the bar (Nico, Martin, and Jeremias). We talked for nearly an hour, and I was laughing non-stop. If you know me personally, you know that's a feat in itself. I made it home by 7:00am that night. Er... morning.
The day before that, it was a 5:00am morning. I met a local girl, Nadia, and she was happy to show me an authentic Argentinian experience. We spoke at length about the culture and country's history. We had drinks at her favorite places around town. We shared my first cup of maté. We had a great time. The night ended with cuarteto dancing, a classic in Argentina.
Does this mean my work is suffering? No, not at all, actually. To be honest, I was nervous that work might slip a little bit on this adventure. But even on the days that I'm not at my computer for a "full" day, I most certainly am just as productive. I make the most of my screen-time so that I can go out and explore and have fun. When it's work time, it's work time. The ideas and designs are flowing freely. I have more energy. I am more motivated. I have new thoughts, new ideas. More importantly, I am more inspired. Hell, it's 3:30am right now and I'm writing - a completely new endeavor for me. Yes I know, realistically it will not always be like this, but I will take advantage of it while I can.
Overall, I can honestly say that I feel this city is much more "me". I've never been a morning person. I'm a stay-up-all-night-with-loud-music-and-draw kind of person. For years I've been trying to adapt - or force myself - to be more of a morning person. Here in Córdoba, life is quite different. Many of the restaurants don't even open for dinner until 8:00pm, and if you show up before 9:00pm you will be the only person in the restaurant. Then, dinner itself tends to be at least a two hour ordeal. The next day, work doesn't start until almost lunch time, and extends further into the evening. It's perfect for the night owl in me.
I could get used to this.
I plan to write more while on this trip. Subscribe on the right to receive my ramblings in your email if you're interested. And of course, follow me on Instagram for a more consistent stream of photos from our trip. For now, I will leave you with a couple of GIFs from guys night out.