Author: kara_caccuitto

Today we woke up for our check out day in buenos aires! I woke up at 8:30 (but snoozed it until 9), and we needed to be downstairs and to have ate by 10:15. I showered and finished packing up because today is the day we are going to Pilar to see our exchange students again. I went down around 9:45 and ate some delicious croissants with dulce de leche. Then, we walked to the “Theatro Colon”, where we got a tour of theater. We learned that 3 architects worked on designing the theater, and that is what makes it so unique, three completely different styles combined to create a beautiful theater. After the theater, we got on the bus and went to a place where we all had the opportunity to go where we want to get lunch and to buy gifts and things. I went to a restaurant which I don’t remember the name of, and I ordered the tenderloin sandwich. I really enjoyed the sandwich, but the worst thing about the restaurant was that they took forever to bring us our check so we ended up being late to meet the group at our scheduled time. after this, we went to the storage facility for the “Theatro Colon”, where we took many pictures and got a tour of the facility. It was really cool to see all of the props that they used. After, we took pictures by the river and made a TikTok and then we got on the bus and came to Pilar. At Pilar, we saw all of our old friends, which was a beautiful moment, saying hello to everyone in the exchange. I went home and unpacked my stuff at Juaqin‘s beautiful home and met his family and got ready for a party with all the people in the exchange. We ate pizza and listen to music at the party, and had a great time meeting our friends again and just talking about everything. We walked to a clubhouse to get ice cream and just had an overall amazing time filled with laughs and smiles. so far, this day has been the best day of the exchange and we had an amazing time.   –Yusef

After today, I can officially call myself immersed in the rich culture of Argentina. With an extra hour of shut eye and cup of coffee, I made my way down the street into La Teatro Colon. The marble walls and tiled floors were lit with extravagant chandeliers and the streaks of reflected stain glass. The guide walked us through the rooms and sculptures that lined the theatre. The actual theatre is overwhelming, with red velvet and gold splattered in every inch of the building. The halls centerpiece, another chandelier with more than three times the lightbulbs, is fixed in the middle of the dome, traditional mural.

Even though we have been overwhelmed with rich colors, we found ourselves riding a bus to La Boca. What was once a vibrant street full of art and dancing for the working class, lies a market full of keepsakes and restaurants. In La Boca, I bought a brilliant still life of La Porta Madero, a woven bracelet with my friends, and a surprise for my mom’s birthday.

Behind the noise and stalls lives the Colon Fabrica. Inside, are costumes and props that are displayed for the public to see what was on-stage in the previous performances. The first thing the guide showed us when we walked in was rows of outfits from popular shows, like Carmen. Beside them, were little shoebox stages filled with a miniature version of what was once on set. What blew me away was how huge the sets were. There were Egyptian sculptures twice my size, and 2-3 story buildings that once housed characters from old shows. At the end of the tour, those carried away by the bustling streets and shopping of La Boca (me) walked down the block to a traditional sandwich shop, where we watched the chef prepare our tough, juicy Choripans.

After a long day of touring, we climbed onto the bus, eager to see our friends in Pilar. The hour-long journey and our anticipation made the bus ride feel longer than it should have. However, seeing all of our friends once again made the wait and anxiety worth it. After greeting every single student and their parents, my host Nacho and his parents drove me to their house where I got to meet his adorable dog, Mancha, and unpack my belongings.

After unwinding, Nacho took me to his Rugby club, where him and his friends practice and play. While he trained, his friends and I exchanged vocabulary and “la pelota”, the ball (I was terrible). The second the clock hit 8:30, we left the club and headed to the welcome party. I was reunited with my school friends, who I haven’t seen for a whole 3.5 hours, and the North Hills students. The gathering lasting till an unfamiliar time was not what shocked me, it was eating dinner at 10:30 that got to me. I always thought Vic was exaggerating. After an extremely busy day, I’m grateful this once in a lifetime opportunity Cary Academy, Ms. Caccuitto and Vic, and of course my wonderful parents  have provided for me. Spending time in the main city is something I will reminisce, and I hope that my adventures with Nacho stay exciting and fun.     –Rehan

Everyone was really tired once we got off the plane around 9:30 customs and extra security went fast. On the bus, the nice tour guide Sebastian gave us maps, alfajores, and USBs about the secrets of Argentina. He told us about the people who live in Buenos Aires, about the buses, and landmarks we drove by like museums and Puerto Madero. We walked around and found the currency exchange in a beautiful mall. There were tall ceilings, a fountain, and  Some guy played Creep on the guitar and a lot of people enjoyed that. The pigeons were big pigeons. La Pavolaccia was our lunch restaurant. It is a fancy Italian restaurant that had three courses. We were all parched because they people drink less water at meals here. It took a while but everyone liked their meals and liked tasting the types of bread. Some strange conversations emerged. A lot of people liked the cheese balls, Burratina Frita, and it came with beautiful pesto and tomato sauce around the plate. We visited la casa rosada and learned about how it was originally pink from blood and how nobody lives there. We looked at some other buildings too. We visited this square with army vehicles as well. There was a huge church called the Metropolitan Cathedral. It has beautiful painting, stone, dramatic ceiling, and super gilded and beautiful decoration and art. We settled down at the hotel and showered before we went to dinner at La Bistecca. One of Vic’s favorites, it was a buffet restaurant with different types of salad, pasta, sushi, and meat. The best part was the two chocolate fountains with fruit and cookies to dip. We walked along Puerto Madero and the bridge in the end, with people taking pictures and playing games.    –Sienna

After gathering at the airport, these intrepid travelers set off on their Argentinian adventure!

Coming together and building community through chocolate fondue!

With three alarms going off in a row at 6:22, 6:30, and 6:35, my day started off like any other in Pilar. I was almost able to forget the impending goodbyes when I sat down for a typical breakfast of medialunas — the Argentinian version of croissants, and my favorite of the plethora of dulces and pastries here. As always, my host family laughed and joked with each other even before the sun rose, which always erased my morning grumpiness. There was always a strong and perpetual undercurrent of love and care between every interaction in our household, whether it was while my host dad prepared hot leche con chocolate with extra sugar for my host sister or the kisses constantly showered on each family member.

After I triple checked that I had everything (including my precious cargo of dulce de leche and multiple pounds of yerba for mate), all five of us piled into the car and we drove out of their gated neighborhood into the sunrise. As we sped past the fenced houses of Pilar del Este and wide fields blanketed in early-morning fog, I took a moment to reflect on the past week with my host family. From the first day, the tight-knit family of four treated me as a third daughter and gave me an invaluable insight into their daily lives. I got to know their “normal,”–their routine and culture– something that I never got to understand by just visiting Buenos Aires as a tourist.

Once everyone had lugged their overpacked suitcases into the auditorium, we headed to the second floor of the school to give group presentations we had prepared about topics such as North Carolina, Cary Academy, and Sports in North Carolina to the 1st years (equivalent to US 6th graders). After the presentations, our group walked to the other side of the school to a room full of kindergarteners (“munchkins,” as Vic would say), much to our delight. Their teachers led the kids in a rousing “Hello Song” to welcome us. Then, the Americans formed small groups with the tiny Argentines to draw the flags of Argentina and the US. The kindergarteners I grouped up with shyly introduced themselves, but then they warmed up when I asked them which flag they liked the best (Argentina, obviously!). After taking a group picture with everyone and their artistic interpretations of the flags, we Americans relaxed and hung out with our buddies and the rest of the students in the schoolyard until our final North Hills lunch.

My favorite part of the day came after lunch, when I laid out in the sun with a big group of friends and just soaked in the moment while watching people play basketball, kicking around a ball, and chatting with friends. I am grateful that I was able to experience a normal day in Argentina. For a moment, we were able to have an ordinary routine of going to school and spending time with a family and experience what “normal” is in another country. I will cherish the smallest moments forever: the giant asados on the side of a busy road, a runaway horse and its baby leading the police on a chase next to the Pan American highway, a man walking through the busy streets of downtown Buenos Aires with a full pig carcass draped over his shoulder, passing yerba mate around with North Hill students. These are the memories that will only make the trip grow fonder in my mind. The most “normal” moments–the connections and friendships formed, the smiles and the cross-cultural understanding–are the ones that made our exchange an experience that we will never forget.

But for us, today was anything but a normal day. When the time for final goodbyes approached, time seemed to stretch–hugs were elongated, and I think I said goodbye to everyone at least three times. We finally tore ourselves away, teary-eyed but smiling, and made our way towards the bus, trying to come to terms with the fact that we might never see some of them again. But as we turned the corner with our luggage in tow, the Argentinian students were waiting for us, forming a walkway and a chance to say one last goodbye. Our crowd of goodbye hugs and kisses trailed along the side of the school, until we were embracing our newfound friends through the thick metal school gate. This final goodbye will forever be engrained in my memory: two schools separated by 5,000 miles and a continent but brought together by this exchange and the resulting friendships that will span the distance. –Eliza

Today was a somewhat exciting but emotional day, being the last full day we will spend in Argentina with our new friends. I woke up late in the morning, still recovering from the party on Friday night that wrecked all of our sleep schedules. We had breakfast and relaxed, and at lunch time headed over for an Asado (basically a giant barbecue that is common to do on the weekends with friends or family) with everyone from the exchange. Once there, everyone was treated to a wealth of snacks, and drinks. Some people played Truco, an extremely difficult to learn card game popular in Argentina, some played soccer, and others just talked. About halfway through, many of us went out to to the neighborhood soccer fields to play. Once we returned we ate and hung out some more, and eventually parted ways. A couple of my friends and I then went out shopping at Las Palmas where we quickly stopped by a couple stores and bought last minute souvenirs. We then headed back to the neighborhood club house and met up with a bunch of other people to play pool and eat dinner. Overall, today was a memorable last full day in Argentina.   – Ethan W

This Sunday was everyone’s last full day with each other, so we had a lot planned. From what I heard, everyone woke up around 10-12 and did things individually with their host families. I woke up at around 11:30 and had some food with Joaquim before we left for lunch at 1. CA students, NH students, and the host parents were all invited to the lunch. Everyone brought lots of food and drinks, and the lunch lasted till about 5. It was an Asado lunch which is a common get together meal in Argentina consisting of lots of different types of meats. In between eating and talking we also played soccer and Truco (card game that is very common in Argentina). It was a great time but then everyone went home at 5. After everyone left, all of the boys in the group and some of the girls went to Joaquim’s neighborhood club house to have dinner. It started at 8 and went till about 11. It was a lot of fun and we played some pool and talked a lot before we ate. After that everyone parted ways and got sleep for Monday, our last day of the trip. –Chris

The first day of our last weekend in Argentina was very fun for me (and hopefully everyone else). Even though we were up until 4:30 last night because of the party, I woke up at 11 A.M. to watch the Manchester City vs. Manchester United game and then I went right back to bed (very happily because the team I support won). At 2:30 or 3:00 when I woke up for real, we had a nice breakfast/lunch. Tomi and Pepo’s parents made us burgers and fried eggs, and I never expected this combo to work out, but it was delicious. Everything was on the grill, so we ate outside where there were a lot of mosquitoes, but the food was too good for the mosquitoes to bother me. After we finished eating and got ready for the day, we went to a big mall called Unicenter. This mall had almost everything you could imagine, including big stores from every big sports brand (like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Under Armor, etc.). I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw Chikezie and his buddy Alexis at the mall because they were on a different trip than us, and we caught each other up on everything that was happening in both exchange groups. We ended up having a lot of fun even though I didn’t buy that much, and I met Spider-man and Batman as well as a few kids who admired us Americans before getting pushed around in a shopping cart by Ben and Martín. We took a cramped 4-seat taxi home (there were 6 of us + a driver). After a few of our friends from the neighborhood came over for a bit, we went to bed because it was almost 2:30 A.M. and we had to wake up early the next day. I am already getting sad imagining having to say goodbye to these people that I probably won’t ever see again (but hopefully I will).      -Alex

Today was Saturday, so my entire family slept in late and we started the day around lunch time. My host mom made homemade cheeseburgers, which I learned are a common food here and not only in the US. After lunch, we hopped in the car and headed to Buenos Aires to walk around the city, visit some museums, and have a merienda. The drive to the city was about half an hour, but the drive back was double that or more. The problem was the traffic from the soccer game at the stadium where Taylor Swift is going to play when she comes on tour here, but I don’t really know anything about the soccer. From the city, my host and I went straight to an outdoor mall to shop and have dinner with some other girls and their host students. I bought a ton of dulce de leche and alfajores to bring back for my family! –Mirella

Today was a wonderful day to wrap up our last full day at school! We started off our day with some time to continue practicing our presentations that we will give on Monday to the first and second years. After that, we had an art related activity with 8-year-olds that was a truly wonderful experience. We then had a small break where some of us ate snack and others played basketball with students from North Hills. Next, we continued crafting our presentations regarding the USA, and finished up just before lunch. Lunch consisted mainly of pizza which I had missed while being in Argentina. After a sleepier than usual morning, lunch provided everyone with a much-needed energy boost before the afternoon activities. Then, after lunch, we spent some time with our exchange students and their friends before going out to experience a typical P.E class. It consisted of basketball and running. That concluded our last full day of school, and we returned to our houses to prepare for a small Friday night party. When we arrived, we were greeted by flashing lights and a collection of Argentinian music. We all danced the night away finishing around 3:30, which would end our last Friday in Argentina.       -Dax