After over a week of enjoying a different culture, the wonderful hospitality of our host families and 60-degree weather, it is my pleasure to share with you some more of our experiences as a group with a little bit of my own mixed in.
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| Flag Day Ceremony |
Monday was relatively uneventful. We went to classes with
our host brothers for most of the day and did not do anything as a group
outside of school. That is not to say that it was by any means boring
or fruitless, for sitting in on our host brothers`classes
is an excellent opportunity to practice listening in Spanish and is an
interesting insight into the very different educational system here in
Argentina. Classes seem to be much more informal, with students calling
all of their teachers by first and even nicknames.
If a teacher is late or has to run an errand of some sort during class,
it is straight to the gym for some fast but furious soccer action.
Wednesday was Flag Day here in Argentina, so we celebrated it on
Tuesday with a schoolwide ceremony honoring the flag with speeches, a
choir and more. After the ceremony, which lasted about an hour and a
half, we Bostonian exchange students met up with
those from Los Angeles to go to the Recoleta Cemetery. There have been
buried Buenos Aires` most prominent or affluent citizens since the early
19th century, such as presidents, leading scientists, Evita Peron and
more. The cemetery defied expectations (or
mine at least) in that it is quite different from the typical
cemeteries back home. Instead of a field covered in headstones this
cemetery is more like a miniature walled city of its own with street
after street of beautiful marble mausoleums, each one owned
by a family (or an extraordinarily wealthy individual), with the
caskets and often some sort of religious shrine inside. After walking
14-odd blocks to the school we had lunch and then a free period, which
was passed, unsurprisingly enough, by playing soccer-ahem-
football- in the gym. Tuesday night was treated like a Friday
because we had no school on Wednesday due to the national holiday so I
went with my host brother to a friend`s house. There we met up with
about ten other Argentinian friends. Now, I like
to think of myself as pretty decent at Spanish, and I am able to
understand a good portion of what is said at the dinner table. But by
1:30 AM the dozen excited teenage boys all talking at once became
completely unintelligible. Unbelievably, however, they
were still energized enough to decide to head to a disco at about 2 AM.
I, however, didn`t join them because while I have been able to get used
to the different eating schedule (tiny breakfast, lunch at 2 PM and
dinner at 10:30) I am still unable to take a
siesta most days and 2 AM was more than pushing it.
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| Recoleta Cemetery |
On Wednesday, because we had no school, the group did not
meet or do anything together. I, however, went for a walk around the
city with my host father, touring the city`s largest public park, the
national library (the design of which actually reminded
me a lot of the Boston City Hall), and, on a second trip, Puerto
Madero, the city`s bustling seaport. Something that Buenos Aires is
definitely not lacking in is rollerbladers, for they seemed to be
everywhere in the park and at the port. Indeed, I`d always
been puzzled as to why my Spanish II book seemed to talk about going
skating in the park so much as it is something that doesn`t seem to be
done much in Boston, though now I think I know why.
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| Recoleta Cemetery |
On Thursday we all went to La Estancia Santa Susana (though we
who watched La Catrina in Spanish class called it La Hacienda
Jacaranda), which is a historical ranch about an hour from Buenos Aires.
There we and about 15 other tourists from Buenos Aires
spent the day soaking in the countryside culture of Argentina through
horseback riding, a sickening amount of food, tango and folk dance
performances, and a demonstration of gaucho (Argentina`s version of the
cowboy) horsemanship. Teddy Patsos and Ms. Basin
really got into the swing of things during the musical performance when
all were invited to dance. Most of us were not brave enough or too
stuffed with all of that food to do so, but they did, and put on a
fabulous performance.
I don`t want to be redundant by trying to match Billy`s
expressions of delight with Argentina, but I would like to say that this
has been a most incredible experience already and that I just can`t
wait to see how the rest will be. Thanks and unless
I write again, I will see you all at Logan.
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| Estancia Santa Susana |
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| El gaucho |
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