Week 4

This week in Buenos Aires was the adios, farewell week. As we are heading off to Chile this Saturday, we said goodbye to our schools and our beloved Spanish teachers, and are spending our last moments here in the city and with our host families. It is bittersweet as although we are sad to leave, everyone is excited to go to Santiago and see a whole new place.

This was a fun week here. Last weekend started with an excursion to Tigre, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. We took a train to the peaceful little area with open blue skies that has a small river flowing down the middle. Having a leisurely lunch and walk is a good way to get a break from a big city like Buenos Aires. That night we experienced some of the city culture by going out dancing with a couple of the personnel from our Spanish school, and I think everyone enjoyed trying to dance like a Latino to the reggaeton music.

Saturday was a free day, and a lot of people took advantage of time to rest and explore the markets and buy souvenirs at the fair. However, some of us used this as an opportunity to travel more and took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. Colonia is an antique Atlantic coastal village that has a lot of history, pleasant outdoor cafes, a lighthouse with an excellent view, and the best sunset that any of us has watched in South America.

Sunday we all went to a Gaucho ranch. It is a traditional country ranch that had llamas and horses, and we even got to ride the horses. We had a Gaucho lunch accompanied by music dancing, and mate. Mate is the bitter herbal tea that is so popular here that it is hard to find an Argentinean who doesn’t entertain friends with a gourd of hot mate.

This school week was fun because we had one of our culture classes at one of the cities oldest and most well known cafes, which is popular for its Tango shows and its attraction to famous artists. We read more stories written by great Argentinean authors and went to a “conversation club” to speak – in Spanish -- about revolutionary Che Guevara. Having the opportunity to learn Spanish and to supplement it with South American literature and culture classes is a great feeling. I learn so much that when I go to bed at night it seems that I could not learn any more -- that my brain is a sponge fully saturated with new information. It feels good because it comes with a feeling of accomplishment.

Everyone is leaving Buenos Aires tomorrow after four short weeks with more confidence in his or her Spanish skills, and more aware of themselves. A lot can be learned about oneself when homey comforts left behind and one is immersed in a new place with new people with all new things to do.