Pilar, Argentina

I struggled out of bed at 7am, still tired from the Argentinian v. Educator match that ended in a tough 1-0 the previous night. Still wearing my Boca jersey, I decided to change into clothes more comfortable, suited to prepare me for the long journey back home. Finishing my daily routine, I packed my last few items and took my luggage down to the car. My exchange partner Mateo, his mother, and I departed toward the school soon after.

It felt like I had only blinked by the time we arrived to the school. As I unloaded my luggage, I made sure to say goodbye to the family that had been generous enough to accommodate me for the past 10 days. Whether in a few years or in the distant future, she promised to see us again.

At school, we spent the morning interviewing the first-years. There, I got to reunite with my friend Angel, who had always taken the time to talk to me during the entirety of the trip. Together, we reflected on what we learned on the trip, what was surprising, and how it compared to our life in the United States.

After break, shirt-signing, and basketball 1-on-1s, we had the opportunity to continue this discussion with the very individuals we had shared this experience with. In a group with Mateo and our friends, we shared what we would take away from this exchange experience, recalled our favorite memories, and said some final goodbyes. Hearing everyone in the group share their thoughtful words, I found that was not the monuments and buildings of Buenos Aires that we cherished the most, but the time we spent together. So, looking back, I’m glad I watched football and Breaking Bad with Mateo until 1am rather than sleeping earlier.

When our discussion was finally over, we headed for lunch. But soon, it was apparent that our time was running out. People crowded together on the field, sharing their last conversations and jokes. However, as Snr. Vic announced the arrival of the buses, this light small talked developed into heartfelt adieus. As people hugged each other, many people cried with the realization that – not matter what we had said to each other – this might be our last chance together. Regardless, we still made our promises.

“If any of us become rich and famous, we have to split the money between all 8 of us!” we unanimously agreed.

As we took our luggage and walked down the halls of El Colegio de North Hills, I hugged Mateo and thanked him for being my partner. From our shared passions of informatics to TV shows to (obviously) food, I extended a permanent invitation to talk about these topics whenever he’d like as we did many times before.

I stepped on the bus and joked with him through the window a couple more times. But without warning, the bus finally took off toward the airport.  –William

I woke up at around 6:46, needing my last morning to be as easy as possible. I got up, had some eggs and bacon for breakfast, and left for the last school day. We started by having students ask things about ourselves, a fun activity that eventually led to a moral brawlstars discussion. After that, there was a break, in which we signed shirts of the students to commemorate our newfound friendship. The following activity involved us sitting in a circle on the court, sharing some heartfelt experiences in a serious discussion, along with some words of goodbye. We all said our fair wells, tears in our eyes, and we made our way to the airport. I messed up at checkout, saying our destination was either Miami or Houston (it was Atlanta), but other than that, customs and security went smoothly.

We waited for the flight, and I finally found the Argentina themed poker cards I have been looking for the entire trip, pretty expensive, like 14 dollars for the pack, but so worth it, as the cards were this shiny gold color. We boarded the plane, and with a 10 hour flight ahead, i put on some music and nodded off, the overnight flight marking an end of an era.  –Aidan D

I slept in this morning after a late night out. I could feel how gorgeous the weather was from in my room… 24 degrees Celsius or just about 76 Fahrenheit! I took a shower after I woke up and took some time to pack up my clothes and organize my bags for our last day tomorrow. Despite my late start to the day, my host’s family all still shared a breakfast of coffee and eggs with me.

We had a relaxing day of watching soccer and rugby matches as well as passing the soccer and rugby balls between games. For lunch, we enjoyed Yerba mate and Mediterranean beef kabobs.

Later at night, we headed out to eat dinner and spend time with the rest of the exchange students. We enjoyed tasty pizza and alfajores as we reminisced about all the memories we made. Though a little somber, it was really nice to gather and share stories and music before we head off tomorrow.  —Brady

I started my day by sleeping in until 11:30, as I was extremely tired after our farewell party the night before. I don’t think I had ever been up later than I did yesterday, as I went to bed at 4 AM. As I got ready for the morning, I realized that this was our last full day in Pilar. I was extremely saddened by the thought, but determined to make the most of my day. Reluctantly, I began gathering my clothes into my suitcase, and made my way down the stairs, the movement ever so familiar. I now thought of my exchange buddy’s house as my own. I said ‘hello’ to their dog Símon, as well as my buddy and her family downstairs. We watched the French Open finals, and after Alcaraz won (yay!), got ready to head to lunch. We went to a delicious sushi restaurant, ordering the most delicious rolls and desserts. We talked and bonded with the family for a while and had a great time! After lunch, we got some delicious cheesecake and “Rogel” which is a layered cake with dulce de leche y merengue. After lunch, we came back and got ready for a gathering with a lot of the other exchange students to hang out and watch the Argentina vs. Columbia soccer match. This party was such a nice way to say a proper goodbye and see everyone one last time before Monday. We had a great time eating some really good empanadas and played ping pong! At the end of the party, we collectively realized that this was our second to last time together. The last time, not having to say a last goodbye to one another. We all shared a very emotional moment as we said our goodbyes. I don’t think I’ve ever truly felt as sad as I did then, but I am so extremely grateful for all of the great memories and people we have met through this program. I will miss everyone with my whole heart. After we got home, I packed up my final things and headed to bed with a heavy heart.  —Callie

The last full day started off pretty slow compared to most days. After getting to sleep in until almost 11, I had a great breakfast of eggs and tomato on toast with a bowl of cereal prepared by my host dad. I have been thankful to be able to stay with a family that wants to make me feel at home and have had breakfast ready to eat every morning. After the calm morning, we hung out on the coach for around half an hour to fully wake up and be ready for our final day. We left the house and went to pick up Toto and Shrey to go to a nice Italian restaurant for some pizza. The pizza was different than most pizza I have had before in the United States, but it was amazing. We had a normal cheese pizza with great tomato sauce, and then one fried pizza which I had never had before but loved. After pizza, we headed back to the house to grab our wallets, hang out a little, and drink some water before getting ready to go shopping. Around 3:30pm, we began to drive to Unicenter shopping and we arrived a little after 4. We were at the big shopping mall for 3 hours, where we went around to as many stores as we could and bought a few discounted clothes and gifts to bring home to our families. It was a huge mall and I was surprised how much bigger it was than I had been expecting. Also, it was very tightly designed with lots of stores close together but was still very clean and organized. We left the mall at 7 and got back to the house at 7:45 pm. From there, we walked through the neighborhood and met a few more friends at another house in the neighborhood. Here, we played ping pong and hung out with some food and drinks and talked with each other with some music in the background. It was fun but very sad as this was our last night spent together, and we were all dreading the moment when we would have to say goodbye for a long time, maybe even forever with some friends. Although all of us are very sad, I am also happy that we were able to have this experience, and it will be something I will remember dearly for the rest of my life. As of now, this was the best week of my life and think it will be that way for a long time.  ———Aidan R

I started the day off with some eggs on toast and mate cocido for breakfast, and watched some TV with Delfi. While eating breakfast, I thought about how we were coming to the end of this amazing experience and how in only a few days, I would be on a plane back to North Carolina. I was overwhelmed with emotions and knew that I wanted to make my last few days with Delfi the best. Our morning started off a little slow because we were both still pretty tired from our long week and the party we went to yesterday.

Around 1 pm, Delfi, her mom, and I left to go to a burger place called Burger 54 in the city San Isidro, and I had a bacon burger and fries for lunch. I learned about Dardo Rocha Avenue, an important avenue in San Isidro. On one side of the street there is an area for horse back riding competitions which is very important in Argentina. The space is also used for a famous festival called Lollapalooza. And on the other side of the street were many stores, apartments, and other buildings. I also learned about Rio de la Plata where people go to do aquatic sports. San Isidro was beautiful, there were many colorful buildings, vibrant plants and palm trees, and cars lining the streets. I saw places that I know like PF Changs and Havana, and places I haven’t heard of like Bacana Burgers. After eating at Burger 54, we went to an ice cream shop called Flaminia and we got a really really tall ice cream cone. Then we went over to Havana where Delfi’s mom bought a coffee and I bought some alfajores to take back to NC. We also went to downtown San Isidro and explored quite a bit there. We walked down the streets and went inside a couple stores like Isadora and Paque & Coco, we went to the cathedral, and then we went to the Barrancas station of San Isidro where there were little tents with people selling handmade items like ceramics and jewelry. While driving back home, we saw a place full of cars that I later learned was the San Isidro Club, where they were hosting a rugby tournament.

Once we got back to the house, I drank some more mate cocido and tried a cone filled with dulce de leche from Havana, which was delicious. Delfi, her mom, and I played Generala and listened to the Jonas Brothers. After that, I took a shower and freshened up before our last party of this trip. Delfi and I got to the party around 9:15, but not everyone was there until around 10:00. For dinner at the party we had bondiolla and choripan sandwiches, chips, and many different drinks like Coca Cola, 7up, and more. Throughout the party I danced a lot and took photos with my friends, both with my phone and in the photo booth they had at the party. Around 12:50ish, we had some chocotorta to celebrate Valen and Juani’s birthdays, and the end of our trip. Overall, I had an amazing time today and throughout this whole trip and I am so grateful that I got to have this experience.   —Jordyn

Today me and Callie were allowed to sleep in till 10:30am before we had to drag ourselves out of the bed to head downstairs for breakfast which was some delicious French toast made by Reni.

After breakfast, we finished getting ready and then headed over to the mall to complete gift shopping for family and friends. We stopped by the jewelry, candy, clothing, and bookstore to wander around while seeing if anything interested us. We proceeded to eat lunch there while meeting up with all of the other girls who also planned to show up at the mall. After lunch, me and a few other girls headed over to the ice cream shop to try some rolled ice cream. Though we could probably get the same exact thing at home, something about doing anything in a different country seems to make it 10x cooler.

After we finished at the mall, we headed back to a series of shops near the school to watch our buddies to get a variety of new piercings which included a belly button, third, second, and cartilage piercing. It seemed really scary and painful but Reni said her belly piercing actually wasn’t that painful. Next was Cata, who got her third in one ear and second in another. Lastly, Paula and Juli got a cartilage piercing (Paula got 2 at once), which they said hurt a LOT. Overall, everyone seemed very happy with their results and it also all looked so amazing!!

After they got their piercings, we headed home and by then it was 6pm, so me and Callie took a quick nap till 7. After we woke up, we started getting ready for the going away party being thrown for us since we’ll be gone in a few days. At the party, we had an asado for dinner in which we ate “sandwichitos de bondiolas”, which are basically mini beef and choripán burgers and they were so delicious and flavorful. After dinner, we went over to the main part of the club house where we danced, sang, and fought over whether we should be playing American or Argentinian music. All was well until suddenly everyone started getting brutally attacked with silly string coming from all directions. And even when you thought it was over, another spray would come from another direction. I sold my can of silly string to Grant for $5, but turns out that as soon as he used it, it ran out, and I’m still getting my money. To end it all off, 2 choco tortas decorated with all our names and the American and Argentinian flags were brought out and we took a group picture in front of them before eating it.

After the party, we headed home, washed any excess silly string that for some reason was still in our hair, and headed straight to bed.  –Sarah

The last Saturday in Argentina started off like pretty much every other day, out early at night which turned into early in the morning. Luckily for me when the clock struck twelve we were getting ready to head home to get some
Rest. After I arrived home I got ready for bed a went to sleep for a solid 10 hours. When I woke up I had about an hour to get ready (or play brawl stars) before I went to someone else’s house for lunch while my buddy was at his soccer game (which I was told not to go too because it was really far away). Lunch was amazing. It consisted of empanadas, grilled chicken and a Spanish tortilla. After lunch I had a very fun talk about multiple different topics with the dad who made all the food. After everyone was ready we headed to the friends soccer game, this was only a 3-4 minute walk and honestly was quite refreshing. Once we got to the soccer game there were some new people that I met which is always fun. The soccer game was close but the team that everyone was cheering for ended up losing and it was very somber. However there were some very fun conversations spilling the “chisme” in the middle of the game. After the game I headed home to get some rest before the “going away party” where we would have our final party together. This started with a asado type of meal. The sandwich’s were amazing and everyone was talking and having a great time. After everyone finished eating we quickly got pushed out of the tabled area into the space where the music was. It started off boring until they brought in the silly string. I was handed two cans and then I realized how much power I had. After all of the cans were empty the room was an absolute mess and the floor was slippery. Sweatshirts were ruined and stained and there was silly string stuck in everyone’s hair; it was chaos. After the silly string was over everyone danced together for a solid 30 minutes and it was a truly amazing time. Bonding with new people or old friends is always a fun thing but it’s even more fun when it’s in Argentina.   –Grant

Today started off like most any school day. Wake up, eat breakfast, drive to school, and meet in the classroom. Despite us having three hours of pe today, no less than five people wore jeans, showing the American listening skills we are so well known for. Our first activity was art with the younger kids. We got into groups of 8, and created a (quite easy) riddle describing an object. Watercolors, markers, pencils, paper, and crayons were taken up in a frenzy of creativity. Between laughter, Spanglish, and new freindships being formed, watercolor elephants, crayon dogs, and colored pencil spiders came to life. The riddles were then shared with the group to a chorus of cheers as one by one each animal was guessed and revealed. After a short break, we were headed off to our second activity of the day- one that would test our acting and improvisation skills. We were tasked with creating a performance in 30 minutes (it was more like 20) for a primary school class based on Spanish picture books. We got into groups and quickly created a rocky but entertaining and broadway worthy performance with a scarf headed pirate, a very realistic treasure chest (a purse) and actors who couldn’t help but laugh at the performances, about a pirate looking for treasure and a kid looking for our friend were excellent. Everyone involved did a great job and the kids ate up every minute of it. After that, we walked to their classroom to help write about their day and draw the performances. Lunch was wraps with some concoction of chicken and vegetables, along with papas fritas (fries) and a strange sweet potato soup, along with the typical salad and bread. For dessert, we could choose from alfajores, cake, or fruit jello. The signing shenanagins continued today, with the Cary academy students not able to walk anywhere without being swarmed by tiny children asking for our signatures. This, Ofcorse, gave me a chance to continue my game- saying increasingly bizarre things when asked for my signature to see if the children question it. My favorites of the day were (in Spanish Of course) “I cant it’s illegal”, “ sorry i can’t I have curly hair”, and “no thanks im allergic to colors”. After lunch, it was time for some games outdoors. We started off with team sprints, followed by a game of dodgeball (ish). The rules werent exactly explained clearly, so I spent most of the game trying to figure out what was going on. After about an hour of that, we moved on to football (soccer), which was fun aside from the insane amount of mosquitos. After that, it was back home to rest and get ready for the night. We spent a couple hours resting before heading over to someone’s house to celebrate a birthday. Happy birthday was sung in both languages before the “cake” was cut, which looked more like layers of cookies, whipped cream, and Dulce de leche. Surprisingly enough, it was one of the best desserts I have had this whole trip. Eventually, it was time to go home and we said our goodbyes before returning to bed to prepare for another day full of once in a lifetime adventures.  –Mirella

I started my morning with a breakfast with my host family consisting of medialunas and coffee. We then got ready and took are daily drive to school along with our beautiful daily sunrise out the window. Once we arrived to school my buddy and I split ways as I went to meet up with our CA group. Our first activity of the day was a small group activity with the third level kids in which we made a riddle and an artistic representation of the riddle. My group’s was a giraffe and Keira and I worked together to sketch out and paint the giraffe with three of the little kid members of our group, while Callie worked with the other two members to write up a riddle about the giraffe in spanish. We then all presented our work and had everyone try and solve each other’s riddles. After that we had a break outside where we battled through a crowd of the younger kids asking for  firmas. Our second activity was an acting activity. We got into two large groups and were each given a story in spanish to act out for the kindergarteners. They loved our performance a heartwarming story about friendship and my interpretation of a tree standing still was groundbreaking! After that we went to their kindergarteners class and helped them with a writing activity. We then filed out for lunch and enjoyed a delicious meal of fajitas! For our final activity of the school day we played sports for the rest of school. My favorite was when we got to play fútbol with the Argentinian girls. We all had so much fun and playful banter. After school I went with Sidney, Rey, and our buddies to a delectable cafe to merendar. I destroyed a mocha coffee, cheese pastry, and medialuna. I then went home with my buddy and we got ready for a birthday party. We walked around the neighborhood and ate a delicious Argentinian cake while singing feliz cumpleaños! Overall it was another great day!   –Cecilia

I started today with my usual cup of coffee and rushing out of the house because I woke up too late. We picked up a friend on the way to school and arrived not long after. We, of course, went into the regular morning meeting classroom and played our game of betting on who would walk through the door next. After everybody has arrives, we went upstairs to the art classroom where some of the smaller students were waiting for us. Our first activity of the morning consisted of listening to songs about various items and then getting into groups and drawing pictures to represent your chosen song and item. My group was tasked with drawing un amarillo cepillo de dientes (yellow tooth brush). We did an amazing job (we totally did the best). We all then headed outside for our break consisting of various games of basketball, fútbol and just talking. After, we went back inside to the art classroom to just hang out.

We were all invited to go and play different types of games with groups of the “Kinder 5”. My group played mafia and soon after two rounds, other groups joined in. We had a mafia game of 13 people, but people kept messing up which lead to me viciously pointing at somebody to kill as the killer and somebody opening their eyes, staring dead at me aggressively pointing at his friend to be killed. Safe to say I lost the round. Time was up for games and we headed to lunch. Some girls asked me to sit with them at lunch, so I did and we talked in Spanish and I gave them my autograph. During the break after lunch, I learned the Kung Fu Fighting TikTok dance trend.

We headed to another building and were split into two groups. Inside each room were the most adorable tiny children that were ready for us to read them a story. Jordan and I volunteered to read the children Brown Bear Brown Bear. The kids would yell out the names of each animal shown and it melted my heart. We then got out paper and drew with them, spoiler alert, everybody drew cats and rainbows.

After talking with the smallest children, the class split into two again and we had stories read to us by more little students and we drew the story they read to us together. The end of the day came as our final break commenced.

We did a lot of art today
-Bailey

I started by day with some coffee on the way to school, which was very needed since we wake up before 7 on school days. The first activity of the day was making choco torta with our exchange students! The ingredients are dulce de leche, cream cheese, chocolate cookies, and chocolate milk, and it’s super easy to make. First you mix the dulce de leche and cream cheese, then you put the chocolate milk in a bowl to dip the cookies in. Once the cookies are dipped, place them covering the bottom of a serving dish. Layer the dulce de leche mix on top of the cookies thinly, and repeat until you run out of ingredients which would usually amount to 3 cookie layers. They typically will make it for special occasions like birthdays. After we let it set in the fridge everyone got to eat their choco torta, and it was delicious 😋.

After break and enjoying our choco torta we got into teams with grade 5 of primary school (age 8). We played basketball and fútbol with them and enjoyed watching them carry the basketballs across the court and kick the ball towards their own goal in fútbol. After playing with our new friends we had pasta for lunch. We sat with the kids for lunch and gave our autographs to all that asked, on pieces of paper, arms, and even someone’s shirt. One of the sweet younger girls drew a picture of me and gifted it to me during lunch. Needless to say they were very intrigued by the americans at their school. After lunch we talked with the school’s psychologist about healthy vs. toxic relationships and got to go in a circle answering questions. I felt that I learned a lot about my class mates from how they answered. Last activity in school was snacks and meeting the 6th year of primary school (age 9). We split up in pairs and met with 3 or 4 of their students. They had questions and pastries prepared for us. The students in my group had created a Willy Wonka board game for us to play with them. Before we knew it, after lots of laughing with the students, school was over. They were very very sweet and wouldn’t say goodbye without a hug.

Right afterwards  we left school to have quick merienda (snack to tide you over until the late dinner). The exchange group together and other students went to “rush”, a trampoline park that is close to their school. The hour of jumping around went by very fast and everyone was super happy (and sweaty) at the end. I admire how close their grade is and love when the whole exchange group hangs out together, Rush was a fun place to do just that. Last thing of the day, also arguably the best, was asado for dinner. Asado are different grilled meats and vegetables, seemingly very simple, but so delicious. It’s a staple food of Argentina and if you ever get the chance to try it, you should. Today was probably one of my favorite days of the trip so far. Lots of good food, our experience with the kids, plus getting to know my classmates better made it a day I won’t soon forget.

–Sidney

Today started off as any other “Argentinian Day.”  12:00 AM, as we finished our family meal and the dulce de leche was passed around the table. Technically, this is a blog about today only, but I must include the dinner we had 30 minutes before the start of the day. Ravioli. Very very good Ravioli. Before coming to Argentina, I thought food would be a great challenge for me, being vegetarian. But, I was fortunately wrong as the food has been nothing but amazing. Going back to this Ravioli, It was simply amazing. Cheese and pumpkin ravioli, a weird combination of it was amazing, cooked fresh by Toto’s dad. Finally, as Andrea, Toto’s mom took away our plates, I headed for my bedroom, “Buenos noches!!!” I woke up “dark” and early, 6:50 AM, but looked more like 1 AM (I am totally accustomed to seeing the sun right when I wake up). As I picked out my OOTD, I headed for the shower. Here was the first shock of the day. Toto’s family did warn me that their irrigation system is not working for the downstairs bathroom; MY bathroom! But, it hasn’t had much problems so far. As I turned the shower on, I continued with my normal routine, washing my face, brushing my teeth, ETC. I finally got out of the shower, but instead walked into a Tub! Yes! There was a huge layer of water premising the entire bathroom. I honestly panicked and started cleaning immediately. I told the mom, and she assured me it was not my fault and we both got to work drying the bathroom. It was quite the effort ngl. Anyways moving on to my actual day. I reached school at 8:10; early bird gets the worm ! I sat down to my accustomed 2 day chair and begin talking to my American and now Argentinian friends! Finally we all headed for the door and entered the bus! Right as I got on, I tilted my head down, and closed my eyes, before I knew it I was in the capital city of Buenos Aires. I just love it there! Anyways, we left the bus and stood in the middle of a park? Which felt like an eternity. In reality it was 30 min. We went to an art museum first, and honestly it was a lot better than what I expected it to be. We walked the halls and the floors and before I knew it we were done. As we exited, we took a nice group photo and headed for the buses to grab our food. We eagerly entered the bus and further exited with our brown paper bags, full of delicious food! We ended up going to a park and ate there. It was fun, we also go to feed the pigeons! Next, my personal favorite part, we went to MickyD’s to have a snack, I think? It was great! We then further went to the Holocaust Museum, which was very sad, but at the same time held my entire attention. We soon exited the museum and headed back to the busses, back to our home town of Pilar. Right when we got back to North Hills, Toto and I, left back home, we had a snack and then went to play basketball with some of his neighborhood friends. They are a lot of fun and very very funny. As we shot our last buckets, we drove back home and entered the hoodie to a pleasant smell of pasta! I gobbled up my food, and finally as the Dulce the leche was getting passed around the table, I remembered I had HW to do, or write this blog:). I excused my self and spent my last couple minutes of the day writing this blog. (Not really, the current time is 12:30 AM I just forgot about this. Something’s don’t change in  or )! I hope for more fun days like today!

—Shrey

Today, i went to school and the first thing we did was a tour of the school, we got to learn where they have their classes along with the other grades too. after they prepared a nice breakfast for all of the 5th year and us. the breakfast consisted of many different types of Argentinian snacks and treats, for example, alfajores, cookies, and medialunas. our first activity we got into groups with a couple of questions to get to learn everyone better. we had a 15 minute break to hangout and got to learn how to play their games outside with all the other grades. later, we all went back inside for a lesson on debate. We were given a one of the 4 prompts to then write three strong arguments about. 2 groups had the same prompt, one group was trying to defend while the other group was trying to negate. After about one hour, we got with the group with the same prompt to now have a debate. Each person had 3 minutes to propose their argument but after the first minute the opposing team could start asking questions. debate went on till about 12:20, which is when lunch starts. We all travelled our way to the lunch room, for food today it was chicken and potato’s, with of course bread,salad, desert, and soup. post eating we had some more hangout time, so we continued playing the games we started in the morning. Our next activity was charades. We got put into 4 groups to then in those groups, get divided into 2 groups. We then went back and forth sending one person from our team to go up and act out the saying. If our group sent up someone from NC the saying would be in spanish, and if they were from argentina, the phrase was in spanish. we played this till about 2:30. Next up was an introduction to what we are doing tomorrow. A few kids prepared presentations talking about the museum we are going to, the Holocaust museum. After we got to have an activity with the oldest grade, these were also the people who did the exchange last year. we had a word game that was projected up on the screen, then we had a game were there were slips of paper with a few words on it, and you would have to find your match, the match would make a famous known saying, for example, one would say “blood is thicker” and another was “than water”, so this was a match” blood is thicker than water”. once you find your match you would sit down and on the back of the slips of paper there was a question. after we would go up one by one with our partner and read our verse,say what it means, then read our questions and answer it. Then school was over. a majority of use went to the shopping center after school, we met at the starbucks their and all enjoyed an after school snack.  —Keira

Hola!!!

Yesterday, I woke up and had a delicious breakfast of media luna (a croissant) with dulce de leche and cream cheese. Then Jazmin and I got dressed and took her dogs, Kiara y Iris, on a walk around her neighborhood. It is super pretty right now because all the trees on her street are fiery orange and red; I’m really enjoying the fall weather and the break from the heat of Cary. After we went on a short walk and explored all of “su barrio”, we came home and relaxed for a little bit. After changing and having some downtime, Jazmin’s mom took us to the mall and we shopped for a few hours. We got helado and guapaletas, and shopped at “47 Street”, and the super market. We got some food for dinner, headed home, and showered and got into our party outfits. Finally, we headed to the barrio of Martin, one of the exchange buddies, and had our welcoming party with all the exchange students where we danced, ate pizza, and talked for a few hours. At the end of the night, we all broke into the cake, or the torta chocolate, and took a picture. It was a great day!    –Naomi

Today, on June 1st, 2024, I started the day by going for a 6-mile run through the neighborhood. I felt very safe since there were lots of guards at each entrance of the neighborhood. Then, I ate breakfast with the family. The food included delicious fruits, eggs, and toasts – all foods similar to what I eat at home. Then, Anto (my exchange partner) and I went to go cheer on Josie for her field hockey match. We ate small snacks, and I had the opportunity to try some mate. After a bit, we went to go get crepes for lunch at this shopping center, before walking back to the game and we saw Josie win the match. Then, I came with Anto to her aunt’s house to celebrate her aunt’s birthday. We returned home and I finished up some assignments for the debate. Then, Sofi and Harper came over and Anto and Sofi made pancakes with dulce de leche. The four of us also played table tennis. Sofi and Harper then returned home to get ready for the party while Anto and I did the same. We went to the party, where I got to meet the other students from Pilar who had not traveled to Cary.    –Kajal

Hola! Today was the first full day that we were able to spend with our exchange families. The morning started off slow with my exchange student Félix going to watch a soccer game while I elected to sleep in and finally catch up on the rest I missed while traveling for the past few days. We played a few games of chess (I won all of them) to pass the time before lunch. For lunch, we had milanesas – a type of breaded cutlet typical of Argentina. Then, I learned how to play the dice game Generala and enjoyed a dessert of chocotorta together with my host family. Unfortunately, I lost but nonetheless, the food was fantastic, and it was a lot of fun. Next, we watched the Champions League tour final along with trying some mate – a type of Argentinian tea. The day finished off with a welcome party at the clubhouse of our neighborhood late into the night. We played table tennis, and foosball, alongside lots of pizza and music. Overall, we had a fantastic day!

–Patrick