After months and months of planning and waiting, I have finally made it to Argentina!
Although it seemed like forever until I would get here, my time to depart for South America came up so quickly! Before I knew it, I was on my flight, excited and unaware of what was ahead of me.
Before leaving, I spent much of my time visiting with friends and family. After being here for just a week, I am so thankful for them, their love and their constant encouragement. I am already learning so much about myself after only this short time abroad.
This was my first time traveling outside of the United States without my family and CEA made it super simple for me. I had a checklist of everything I needed before leaving, and I knew exactly what papers were required and necessary for me to enter Argentina.
The City
I was met by a CEA advisor at the airport along with other students in my program, including my roommate. Right away, we were brought to our homestay to meet our host mom and brother.
Orientation with the rest of the CEA students in my program kicked off our first day in Buenos Aires. We were given a tour of the area in the Recoleta neighborhood, had the opportunity to exchange money and see some of our first sights of the city!
Buenos Aires is a huge city. There are no lack of places to go because there is so much to see and do. Getting lost is our specialty. We have been traveling to different “barrios,” or neighborhoods, in Buenos Aires over this past week and manage to get lost every time.
The People
My host family is amazing. My host mom and brother both have made me feel right at home, even thought it is Spanish everything: they only speak to me in Spanish and my class is spoken in all Spanish.
I want to learn and speak as much as I can, so although it is a challenge right now, I am already understanding more by the day. Trying to understand the native speakers is a bit exhausting, but my roommate, host family, and CEA friends help me out, we've become a little community.
Everyone I have talked to (in Spanish) has been super patient and helpful. No one here gets upset when communicating is difficult and eventually, things are figured out.
The people are so kind.
Something new to me eating dinner around 10pm rather than 5:30-6pm in the U.S. After dinner, my family, roommate, and I sit around the table and talk about anything and everything. They refer to this as “sobremesa.”
I have enjoyed listening to my host mom and brother laugh and chat along with us. So, dinner here can last up to 2 hours! I’ve been finishing dinner around 11 pm quite often.
They're definitely night owls here. Getting home at 6am after a night of dancing and being with friends is typical.
Buenos Aires already feels like home after just a short time. I already know I will miss this beautiful place and its beautiful people.
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| Street close by my homestay! Many of them look like this! |
We hope to do some more traveling outside of the city as the semester goes on and Patagonia is on that list of places to see!
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| Smiling because we made it home without getting lost! |
Overall, Buenos Aires is beautiful! The streets are full of trees, the apartments tower twenty or more floors high, and the people are so sweet! Coffee can be found on almost every corner, the streets are filled with small shops and parks are all over the place. I'm happy to call this Home.
Summer S. is the Spring 2017 MOJO Blogger in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently a Junior studying Education & Spanish at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse.