Updates from Argentina

Okay. Some stuff has happened. Wednesday and Thursday of this past week was Estudiantina at my school. Estudiantina, for those of you that are unfamiliar, is essentially a party/fun-fair at school, when we don't have to wear our uniforms and play games instead of attending classes. It's a fun time.  Some student made the sign above in case any students forgot and arrived in their uniforms and carrying their books. On Wednesday, it was mostly party games like musical chairs, egg balancing, and cup stacking, along with friendly soccer games. Someone also brought a pack of water balloons, and things kinda got out of control. I'm not sure if you can tell, but everyone in the photo above is soaked. The water balloons got used up early, so it turned to squeezing water bottles onto people's heads, which then escalated to buckets and hoses. Then came Thursday. So, on Thursday, the main event was stage performances, which ranged from singing and playing guitar to ...

Okay, so, the food. It's amazing. It's much better than food in the US, and way cheaper too. For example, a basic hamburger here costs about 40 pesos, which translates to about one US dollar. And because Argentina has one of the best beef industries in the world, it tastes amazing too. I actually told my family last week that when I went back to the US, I would definitely miss them very much, but I would probably miss the food more.  That's a picture of one of my first breakfasts here. In case you can't tell, that's a dulce de leche pastry with hot chocolate. Bread and bread-based foods are a staple here, common at almost every meal. My host mom has a favorite panadería where she likes to buy the best pastries.  Those are photos of asado, being cooked and then served. Asado is a traditional meal that happens every Sunday, where different kinds of meat are grilled for lunch or for dinner. One of my favorites is chorizo, a type of sausage. And I must say, asa...

Man, studying abroad is hard. Excluding the first night, I slept a lot. It gets very exhausting to translate every word in my head. I put all my clothes in the dresser, turned on the space heater (cause it gets real cold in a house with no central heating) and put away my suitcases. I mostly spent the first few days getting to know my host family. My host sister Magui took me to her school and introduced me to her group of friends. I eventually ended up going with her to a birthday party for one of them. I also got to try various types of mate (which is a traditional Argentinian drink, like strong tea, that is shared among friends). Then came my first day of school. I arrived on my first day wearing the school uniform with the exchange student from Switzerland (Maria). I was introduced to my class of about 15-20 kids and given a bag of Argentinian candy and a jar of dulce de leche as a gift. The rest of the week pretty much consisted of me struggling to understand my...