I woke up this morning around 9:00. My exchange student Dona, her family, and I stayed at a ranch called “Estancia Villa Maria.” It was super fun and cool to see all of the horses at the ranch. We headed down for breakfast at the hotel before leaving to return back to Pilar. It was about an hour and a half drive. Next, we went on bicycles around her neighborhood and saw the golf courses and tennis courts near her house. It was super sunny outside and all the leaves were orange and red because it is fall in Argentina. Around 2:00 P.M., we ate lunch with Dona’s family. Then, we tried some argentinan drinks and snacks. I tried a soda called Aqua Rius Pera which is a very popular drink. It was very good and tasted like pears. I also tried Danette which is a dulce de leche pudding. Dulce de leche is also very well known in argentian desserts. It tastes a lot like caramel! We both took naps because of how tired we were from the ranch. Later, we went to dinner at a bowling alley with many of the girls. We shared lots of entrees like quesadillas and sushi. In bowling, the american girls played against the argentian girls. It was super fun and the great end to a super busy weekend. I am so excited for tomorrow and the rest of the week!
-Ella
Finally, we had a pretty relaxing day. To start the day off I woke up at 8:20 to an amazing breakfast that Agustin’s parents had made. It was so good. There was avocado toast, eggs, yogurt, granola, fruits, and pancakes. After this, we quickly took a drive over to a soccer game that Agustin was competing in. It was really a fun game to watch with almost every minute his team just nearly missing out on an opportunity to score. However, they did score one goal immediately to start the game giving them a 1-0 advantage and the win. Continuing into lunch, we went to a nice place with many shops and restaurants around it. It was a lot like Fenton or North Hills back home. There, we had this amazing cut of meat along with salad, empanadas, and a cheese I can’t quite remember the name of. All of it was amazing. Once home after the long 1 hour drive, we all crashed. Together we watched Guardians of the Galaxy and relaxed on the couch and talked. Eventually dinner came around, and we had a spinach pie with cheese. Along with this there was prosciutto, brie cheese, and tomatoes. Even though this night isn’t quite as long as the ones before it, I still enjoyed my time talking and getting to know the family even better. –Cole
Today was Sunday, so it was mainly a rest day. It was a day for everyone to recharge and get ready for the upcoming week. My partner and I woke up at around 11 and had breakfast at about 12. We then chilled for the next couple hours, played with the dog, and helped prepare and set up lunch with the family. It was a relaxing time to spend with the family, especially as the last days on the exchange have been really fast pace and a bit tiring. We then had lunch outside at around 2, which was really relaxing especially because the weather was so nice outside. It was really refreshing to take a step back and talk with the family and enjoy the weather outside, it was very therapeutic and calming. After this, we drove over to Matis house because we were going with him to watch his soccer game. While waiting outside his community for his car to arrive, I noticed how there were lots of families gathered around the patches of grass, each one of them enjoying time together and relaxing and decompressing on Sunday after a busy week. I thought it was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and was very nice to have a brief yet fresh refresher. We took the almost hour long drive to Buenos Aires to watch Matis soccer game. He was playing 8v8 with two less people. A guy on his team got a red card in the first five minutes and they ended up losing very badly. We then went to the UniCenter where we explored the large mall and ate dinner. We then returned home. Overall I thought today was a very good balance of relaxing while also spending good quality time with friends and family. —Lucas
