Mate y conversación

My 7pm psicología social class at UBA was canceled last night. And by that I do not mean that I received an email telling me so. I do not mean I got there and there was a sign on the door, or there was any kind of announcement. I mean that I sat their scribbling in my journal in Spanish (frustrated sentences along the lines of "parece que soy incapaz de hacer amigos con argentinos cuando estoy sola...") until 7:30, by which point about half the class had left. Finally I turned to a group of students sitting next to me and asked the obvious: "Piensan ustedes que no hay clase?" Their response: apparently not, but did I want some mate? Naturally, I proceeded to bumblingly mumble something along the lines oh, "Uhh no thanks I mean I'd like to but I've never had it before and I don't know the rules--" (Yes, there are rules. It's a ritual of sorts of here.) But they of course told me in five friendly and encouraging voices that it didn't matter and I should just try it. Would I say no to my first chance to try mate? Of course not. So I sat and talked and drank mate with a group of Argentines until 8 or so, and then walked happily, and with a heavy caffeine buzz, back to the resi.