Buenos Aires Summer 2025

 Today, our third to last day in Buenos Aires, we have another English class, for me personally this was my favorite english class we have had so far, we were working with third year (sophmores) on preparing for their english exams, but we were still able to have fun while doing it.       After that we had a tour of Recoleta, a neighborhood that most of us call home, it provided me with new knowledge on the buildings I pass everyday on my walk to school. For example one building which I always thought was some elaborate university or library is actually a water treatment facility. We also learned more about the history of some local universities. After this we continued walking to the Recoleta cemetery where we saw the second oldest church in the city.       After that we continued walking past the cemetery and we spent some time looking at the best university to study law in the city. We discussed traditions such as, when a person graduates ...

     Today the plan was to go to an estancia, which is pretty much the Argentinian equivalent of a farm. The night before I asked my host family what it was, and they said that it was a just a farm with less stuff. The morning of was fairly uneventful, as the remaining exchange students gathered in the cafeteria once again.        It seemed that we were all set to go, but Augenia came and stole a few students for a bit to go help with a class, so we had to wait for them. I just sat in the cafeteria taking to Luis and the others. Once they were back, we headed to the bus that would take us to where we needed to go. The ride there was uneventful, to say the least. Most of us just slept the whole time. Once we arrived, the people there offered us some empanadas and some drinks. Throughout our time there, they people there were very nice and welcoming. According to what I have heard, these people are called gauchos, and are essentially Argentinian cowboys....

     Today was the ceremony for la dia de la bandera at Collegio del Salvador. The day before I was informed that I needed to where a shirt and tie because there was a formal assembly in the morning. As I was getting dressed for the day, I realized I had forgotten to bring a tie. I asked my host brother Lucas if he had an extra, but to my dismay, he did not.       We walked to school, and made our way up to the room that we normally meet everybody in and said a prayer. Afterwards, all the exchange students, from Washington and Boston, met in the cafeteria and made our way to the assembly room. We watched as students made their way down to the stage, holding an assortment of flags. Among them was the Argentinian flag, which was center stage during the assembly. We listened to students and teachers alike speak, and listened to the Argentinian National Anthem.       Afterwards, we made our way to Barolo Palace for a tour. But first, we...

     We started the long weekend by sleeping in late. For the first half of the day, me and my host family spent time in the apartment, resting after the week’s excursions. Although it was a short week at school, it still was tiring, especially after the Fuerza Bruta performance from Thursday night. We ate lunch in the apartment. Later in the day, my host brother and I went to a friend’s house to hang out and eat a snack. Later, we all went to a different host brother’s house to hang out as a bigger group, and we ate dinner there and watched a soccer game.       The next day, I woke up late once again. We left at noon to go eat lunch. I didn’t know where we were going, but we ended up going to a food-truck festival, but without the trucks. It was called Sabor A Buenos Aires. There were stands with tents set up, with all different types of foods. I tried an empanada, croquetas, a piece of pizza, ceviche, and a cookie. My favorite thing was the croquetas...

     Today was a very long day, but not in a bad way at all. We first started the day on a trip to the planetarium. We took the subway and then walked there but upon arrival we discovered that it was closed.      We walked back to the school and ate lunch, then prepared another excursion. We went to an all girls school around 20 minutes walking away. There, we conversed in groups about our trip and about America. We also tried classic Argentinian candies there which I found delightful. We then left and came back to what is called a Merienda. It was a sort of hang out where we drank various drinks and ate some Argentinian desserts.       We then gave a sort of send off to the Gonzaga kids, who are leaving on Monday. After that, we had one last football game against the Gonzaga kids. It was chaotic with basically no bounds or rules, but it was very fun. The end score was 8-7, us obviously, and it was a great time. After that we went home t...

     Today was a pretty fun day. We started it off by accompanying our host brothers to their history classes. In my personal class, of which there were two, it was a normal history presentation, but entirely in Spanish. It was interesting to see history, just like what we've learned in the states, projected through a different language and culture's lens.       After that, we went to an art class also with our host brothers. We did this alongside the Georgetown prep kids. We started by painting an abstract version of a picture on the board. The picture was of a part of the school. After that, we were tasked a challenge. We had to draw the person across from us with one pencil stroke and without looking at the paper. After we did that a few times, we painted it as well. Then we went over to our previous paintings to add fine detail with black marker. After that, we left the class.      Later, we went on a tour of the school's antique boo...

     Today I woke up at 7 am and got ready. I came out my room and ate some eggs. Around 7:30 we started walking to school. When we got to school the seniors met in a classroom where the teachers said a prayer for all of the students. All the exchange students from the US came to the cafeteria to hang out and wait for our tour, I got a coke and a kinder bueno.       At 8:30 we left and got to see historical landmarks. We walked a ton until we got to the cafe. When we went inside I could smell all the foods and I asked for a hot chocolate and some churros. The hot chocolate was nice and hot as well as the churros that were filled with dulce de leche. I sat at a table with my friends and we talked about our time in Argentina. Once everyone was finished we explored around the historic cafe.       It was around 12 when we started walking back to the school for lunch. For lunch, it was pasta with white sauce and bread. We spent around an...

 Sunday June, 15th.      It was father’s day here in argentina. I woke up around 10:30 and ate eggs with toast. I relaxed and rested getting ready to go out and have lunch. I put on my jeans and my sweater, then we left to the restaurant. When we got there it was packed with families, showing how important today was. We sat at a long table and I ordered a coke. I also ordered a milanesa which is super popular here, it was fresh and tasty with fries on the side. Everybody was enjoying themselves, talking, laughing, and eating. I could understand some of the things that were said and I spoke some spanish to everyone.  After we had our main dish we ate flan for dessert. Once we finished we went back home and I took time to relax then soon after we went to the house of Juan’s grandmother.       When we got to the house we sat down to talk, lots of family members were at the house, they were asking me about my family and things about Boston. Then ...

Today we went on a graffiti tour in  a part of Buenos Aires names after Soho New York called Palermo. There our tour guide Juan walked us through the mural filled city showing us the true meaning behind each and every mural. After our tour we ate at a restaurant called Doña Tota named after Diego Maradona’s mother.       During the dinner we decided to put our phones in a pile and talk, however someone broke the pact after a while.   Later that night Junior, a Kid from Gonzaga, and myself helped out a group of 20 Argentinians serve for a fundraiser at the school.

 Sunday 6/14:       Today we didn’t have school because it was a weekend. I took that as an opportunity to sleep in and regain some lost sleep from the busy week. I woke up around noon so we left to get lunch after I got up. I went to my host brother’s grandparents’ house for lunch. During the meal, we talked a lot about American culture and music.       After lunch, I went with my brother to go shopping. It was crazy to see how high the prices were for name brand clothing. For example: Nike shoes were ~$40-50 more here than in the US. We also went to a bookstore which was built in an old theater building. After that, we returned home and relaxed for a couple hours.       At around 7:30, we left to go to a Boca Juniors volleyball game. It was a close game but Boca emerged victorious with a 3-2 win over Vélez. After the game we went to a burger restaurant and then we went home to go to bed.