Quilmes, Argentina

On Monday evening, the Raleigh Durham airport was filled with Cary Academy students ready to depart for our exchange trips. We said goodbye to our families and boarded a short flight to Atlanta, accompanied by most of the other exchange groups: Chile, Pilar, and Austria. Upon arrival in Atlanta, we got dinner at the airport and got ready to board our next flight that would last about 10 hours. We watched movies, tried to sleep and caught up with members of our exchange groups. When we touched down in Buenos Aires, I’d say the first thing that we noticed was the chilly weather: it’s fall here in Argentina. We met our guide for the next few days, Laura and one of our many helpful bus drivers, Hernando. As we made our way to the hotel, Laura explained that Buenos Aires is not only a city, but a province as well. The people who reside in the inner part of Buenos Aires are called porteños. Laura showed us to our hotel for the next few nights, Feir’s Park. We settled into our rooms, and prepared ourselves for the full day ahead.

-Eesha

Today, the Cary Academy students and half of the Quilmes students went by bus to  La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires,  to visit the beautiful Cathedral de La Plata, and a museum. The first thing we did was visit the cathedral. It was about a 45 minute to one hour drive from Quilmes High School. The teacher of the Quilmes students each gave us a package with facts on the region and the cathedral. She warned us that a lot of the information we’d learn about today would on the general knowledge quiz the next day, to which the winner was promised five extra credit points on the exchange trip portfolio project. Mr. Seeley really knows how to get the students motivated! So we arrived with the determination to learn and remember information about the cathedral. It was the fourth one we visited since the start of the trip, and personally, it was my favorite by far. I know a lot of my peers also commented on how breathtakingly beautiful and grandiose it was. For lunch, we hopped back on the bus and went to a restaurant named “Paris”, which looked a lot like a Bistro. We all divided into small groups because the tables could only hold up to five or six people. They offered a wide variety of food, and I ordered a delicious mozzarella pizza. A very strange thing happened to Karoline, Katherine, Katie and I while we were sitting down. We had sat at a table together that was right next to a window, and as we were aimlessly chatting while waiting for our food to arrive, a strange woman came right up to the window, looked at us, breathed heavily on the glass, and then licked it. All while staring straight at us. Afterwards, she walked away, leaving the four of us speechless, and slightly terrified. To read about what we did in the afternoon, check out Karoline’s post about today!

Pauline Pawels

FRIDAY- Cat Cobb

DISCLAIMER: Esra and I spent the day in different ways (since we didn’t have school  or any planned group activities on Friday), so we each wrote about our beginning parts of the day separately and then collaborated on the party that everyone went to.

On Friday, the Quilmes students didn’t have school (due to a once-a-year teacher work day), so we got a chance to spend some more time with our buddies during our last couple of days in Argentina. I believe that a majority of the students went shopping together, because we haven’t had much time at any other point during the week. At the beginning of the day, Adri, Vicky, Katherine, Karoline, Santi and I all went out to various shops in Palermo, a kind of strip mall outside of Quilmes. There were smaller stores (we didn’t recognize any of them) but that just made it even more interesting. There was a restaurant called “Muu”, which was a really chill throwback to the 50s, and we all ate sandwiches and these really REALLY incredible cheese fries there. Actually, while we were eating, we saw Alisha, Tori, Caty and Sol pass by, and we waved to them but they didn’t see us :(.

After we finished eating, we went to a few more shops in Palermo, before leaving at about 3 pm to go to another mall about 20 minutes away called Paso al Corta. Imagine, if you will, just a larger version of Crabtree Valley Mall, except entirely indoors and with four stories instead. We walked around Paso al Corta for about forty minutes before

meeting up with Jack, Davis, Alisha, Tori and their students in Starbucks. After spending about thirty minutes or so in Starbucks together, we all went back out to other stores and walked around for about an hour longer, until we left at about 6:30 to get ready for a party in Martu’s neighborhood that night. Since the party started at 9:30, we had a bit of time on our hands, which I used to try to get my clothes and books a little more organized (since we were going to leave very soon).

We arrived at Martu’s party a little early, at about 9:15 (not surprisingly, many people had already arrived). Not only were all of the members of the exchange trip present, but everybody in the class was invited as well! Although we didn’t know many of the students outside of the exchange trip, we were able to introduce ourselves and make new friends. Along with the students, the teachers from both Cary Academy and Quilmes High School came to the party briefly to talk with the students and turn up (like Mr. Seeley).

Even though the party started later than we’re used to as Americans, in Argentina they’re used to partying and eating much later than we usually do in the U.S. Because of this (as they do in nearly all of their parties) they provided not only snacks but this crazy pizza that’s got these olives on it (it’s the same everywhere seriously what’s up with their pizza and olives here). It was a great opportunity to broaden our knowledge and horizons within the realm of meeting new people/trying new food. Martu’s party lasted until about two in the morning, and then we all returned home. All in all, it was another incredible experience!

There is more, much more, to being a redhead than the color of one’s hair.- Adam Stanislav

I had four water bottles in my burdening backpack. My feet ached from the jagged rocks spread across the road. I wore jeans during this hot, never-ending, and treacherous walk. But it was worth it. On Tuesday, we ventured to Costanara Sur, a. Reservoir that lies in the middle of Buenos Aires. When we arrived we ate some snacks that our Argentinian parents provided for us as we waited for our tour guide. During this wait, a cute dog that was black, white, and brown came and hung out with us; we dubbed this new friend: Taco. Surprisingly, it started following us as we started walking the trail and learning about different aspects of the reservoir. We learned about some interesting facts on how certain trees protect themselves. One tree produces sticky, white liquid in the leaves to trap insects while another tree is more direct as its leaves are sharp and can cut and hurt potential predators. After walking for a while, we suddenly went off the main trail into a small, narrow road. The hike through the jungle was interesting as it tied us closer with nature. We arrived at the shore of El Rio de La Plata and it surprised me how unlike the sandy shores of North Carolina lakes, this shore was fill with numerous jagged rocks and debris, big and small. We slowly made our way closer to the water to see the beautiful view. Although the water was not clear nor blue, its brown color made the river seem more realistic. Looking around it reminds me of Los Desaparecidos or “The Disappeared”. These were the victims that protested during the military dictatorship that resulted in them being kidnapped, tortured, and killed. Some of Los Desaparecidos lost their lives by being heartlessly thrown into the river from an airplane. After taking picture after picture with our students and friends trying the capture the moment forever, we had lunch and hung out with friends while enjoying the view. Some of us collected little pieces of sea glass found among the rocks. The walk back felt like forever and ten times longer than the walk there (no joke) as there wasn’t a short cut anymore. It was exhausting, but I was happy to finally get some exercise after several days of inactivity. Despite being tired and hot, I had a beautiful view of the city, forrest, and el Rio de la Plata. I have my amigos, old and new, walking, talking, and laughing with me throughout. And it is these things that made today so memorable.

Katherine Lin

Esra Balkas

Friday I woke up late, around 10:30, after a tiring night out partying at Chino’s house. There was no school at QHS, which made sleeping in a possibility. After breakfast my exchange student and I drove to Puerto Madera to a shopping center so that I could find some gifts for my family. Of course I wanted to take alfajores back for my family, so the Havanna store was our first stop! While I was there, I also picked up some dulce de leche to take back with me. Mica and Julia met up with us  after that, and we browsed the stores together. Finally, after much searching, Julia and I both found the perfect Mate cups for our parents at a store called “El Boyero”. We walked about a little more and bought ice cream before heading outside to peruse the main shopping street. We were all very tired after that and decided to head home.

We had quite a bit of time on our hands before Martu’s party started. This time ended up being free time (at last!): Cata did her computer science homework while I did some drawing and note taking on the things we had done during the week. I was a little sad as I got to writing everything down because then I realized how little time I had left with Catalina, her family, and Argentina.

Around 7:00 we started to get ready for the party at Martu’s place. This consisted of the process we used to get ready for all of the previous parties: shower, do hair, pick clothes, put make-up on, pick shoes, etc. Once we were all prepped and ready to go, we packed her sound system into the car and headed out! The speakers and lights we brought with us took up the whole back/ back seats of the car, so Cata and I got cozy sitting together in the passenger seat.

The dancing did not start until about an hour into the party since everyone was a bit shy… And the lights (not the party lights) were on! Various people were in charge of the music, but generally they either played “cumbia” music (a type of up-beat Spanish dance music) or American pop songs. Half the time everyone was there dancing, and the other half of the time everyone was outside talking. By the end of the party (somewhere around 2am) everyone, myself included, was incredibly tired. The day went by so quickly, but I will cherish the memories long after the music stopped playing last night.

Author: Pauline Pauwels

The first weekend with the Quilmes kids was amazing! On Saturday, I spent a very chill day with Cande at her house. We woke up really late, around 11:30, and made some popcorn while watching Gossip Girl (with Spanish subtitles, yay practice!) Her parents came home around 1:30, because they had left earlier that day to buy the necessary provisions for the party they were preparing to host on Sunday. They came back with a box full of piping hot Empanadas, which have become my newly found addiction(along with coffee). My favorite kind is probably Empanadas con jamón y queso. So delicious! After lunch, Cande and I hung out, did a refreshing facial treatment, and she painted my nails. Around 7:00, Cande started to get ready for Cata’s 15th birthday party, which a majority of the CA kids were not invited. Because of this, all the CA students (plus three guys from Quilmes exchange who didn’t want to go to the party) gathered at Manuel’s house to hang out. We played ping-pong, ate empanadas, and learned to play a new card game which was extremely fun. At 11:30, Michael and Buda, Mac and Tomas, and I all went to sleep over at the house Katie is staying at, and watched two horror movies, which was terrifying and fun. In the morning, I was directly brought over from that house, to Cande’s “country home”, which is about 30 minutes from where we are in Quilmes. I was in AWE of the whole place! It was like a little paradise. The house itself is gorgeous, and the surroundings are even greater and picturesque. We spent the whole day there, with Cande’s dad cooking meat on a grill, boys playing soccer, and girls hanging around talking and chilling. Later on, I went on a walk on a with a group of them and it was wonderful. Lots of pretty pictures were taken 🙂 We stayed until the sun settled and the moon rose. More people started leaving little by little, and the group shrunk to just a select few who hung around chatting, and munching on what was left of the food. It was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

On last Thursday (refer to photos on earlier post) we got a tour of El Teatro Colón, which is a beautiful and antique building in the part of the city called Colón. In this theater, the acoustics are the best. There’s a hollow box under the stage with holes in the floor and facing towards the audience, which acts like an amplifier of sound like the holes in a violin or guitar do. Also in the middle of the ceiling there is a big gold circle which hides the secret of the theater–more musicians hide and play in the ceiling to give the affect of their music coming from the heavens! These great acoustics allow every sound to be heard perfectly from every seat, so all the notes played by the musicians must be absolutely on key. Talk about pressure!

After visiting El Teatro Colón we went to a big metal flower which is a work of art that is a symbol of the city. The flower is made of about 250 tons of metal and closes as the sun sets at dusk and opens back up at dawn. Later, we went to the rose garden of Buenos Aires. The roses there won awards for being so beautiful! This was our last day of touring Buenos Aires. We loaded into the bus for the last time and left for Quilmes. We got to see our buddies finally in front of the school, where lots of kids were waiting to greet us. After the hectic meeting, we left with our families to see our new home!
-Katie Baker