Arriving in Argentina

 Arriving in Argentina by Cam 

On June 8th we landed in Buenos Aires around 11 and met up with our exchange brothers at the airport. Additionally, we waited for a group of students from Gonzaga Prep and Georgetown Prep in Washington who are also staying for multiple weeks in Argentina. Then we traveled to the school, meeting our prospective families, and said our goodbyes to each other, ready to spend the weekend with the family. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the gym with Felipe, eating KFC and medialunas—a type of sandwich—and then spent the night with his friends at his house playing games and sharing alfajores (a common dessert but also eaten during the day and sometimes for breakfast). The next day, on Sunday, we traveled just outside the city of Buenos Aires to the north and spent the day at Felipe’s cousin’s house, celebrating the cousin’s birthday with a classic asado and delicious cakes full of dulce de leche (a type of chocolate creme that is eaten everyday—in short: if you don’t like dulce de leche, you cannot live in Argentina). Other students met for  dinner that night at Chusa’s house, spending time together and getting to know the host families. To start the school week on Monday, we returned with our host brothers to Colegio de Salvador and spent the day in classes with them. Felipe had a debate that day, so I went to class with Christian and his host brother Nacho. We learned about chemistry and talked about the matrix and the fourth dimension. Much to my surprise, I understood the spanish word for word but fell short on the chemistry—if that’s what you would call the rabbit hole we went down. After a few classes, we left el Colegio del Salvador and traveled around the city, seeing popular spots like La Puente de la Mujer, and ate milanesas (a common meal that includes chicken or other meat with bread crumbs and cheese) at the Club de la Milanesa. After a long day, Felipe and I struggled to hit the gym for a quick session and then went to his friend’s house, Ignacio, for about 30 mins before retiring to our own apartment. At about 9:30 and coming back, I had assumed we would crash and head to bed, yet that was precisely when we ate dinner, and stuffed ourselves with local pizza and bananas con dulce de leche (major surprise I know). That night we went to bed full and ready to recharge for Tuesday and the week following, excited for Mate class in the morning.