My last three weeks in Argentina have been breathtaking, leaving me speechless as I pack up all my belongings in my host mom's home. As this was my first time in South America, I had no idea what to expect when I landed in the Ministro Pistarini International Airport. Having spent three weeks in Buenos Aires, I will now spend four weeks in Mendoza and then one more week back in Buenos Aires. Here's a review of my first three weeks.
Week 1:
I'm going to be honest: I felt extremely tired, nervous and scared when I landed in Argentina. After a roughly 10-hour flight, I was ready to curl up in my bed with Netflix, but my study abroad program took off the moment I landed. After being escorted to a hotel with my fellow study abroad classmates, I was able to drop off my luggage and finally connect to Wi-Fi.
Shortly afterwards, I had a welcome lunch at a restaurant with great service but not-so-great chicken. We all had a few orientation workshops to get through, and then it was free time. I decided to grab some sushi a few blocks from the hotel, but while walking, the Obelisk of Buenos Aires caught my eye. I did some sightseeing and then grabbed some Burger King instead of indulging in Japanese food.
The next few days were a whirlwind: going to my school for the first time (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales -- FLACSO), meeting my host mom and her cat, having extremely late dinners with my host family, and so on. One of the highlights of this week was learning the tango at La Viruta, a dance school with some killer teachers and wine. After dancing, my friends and I went to a bar and then headed home -- a bit early for Argentine standards. (We had class the next morning!)
During my first weekend here, I did a bit of shopping, went to a cute Italian restaurant for brunch, went to a huge market for furniture, got amazing dulce de leche ice cream and went to a spa. It was great to be able to finally have some free time.
Week 2:
This week was jammed with classes after classes. On Monday, I also had the chance to go to the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) with my classmates and take some awesome pictures. After class on Tuesday, I had time to do some shopping at Zara, Adidas and a cupcake store. The following days were completely dedicated to public health tours and lectures, as well as some Spanish lectures.
That weekend, my program and I went to San Juan, a desert-y region that's pretty far from Buenos Aires by bus -- it took us 17 hours to get there! We did more traveling than sightseeing, but the whole trip was overall very fun. I did some trekking, a lot of eating and a little bit of dancing at a restaurant that had a folklore band come in.
Week 3:
This was my last week in Buenos Aires before I headed off to Mendoza! A lot of homework assignments were due this week, but it was still great nonetheless. One of the highlights of this week was getting to tour the campus of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, including its school of medicine and school of odontology. I also had some decent Chinese food this week, which was really surprising to me.
On Thursday, I had the chance to visit a hospital outside the city of Buenos Aires and shadow a few doctors, nurses, and medical residents. The whole experience was very eye-opening, especially since I got to observe the conditions of a Latin American public hospital closely.
That night, my program and I got to see Fuerza Bruta, an amazing, interactive show that was beyond beautiful. Later, we ate a late dinner, got some wine and went dancing! The nightlife of Buenos Aires truly never disappoints. On Friday, I worked on my assignments, spent a lot of time with my host mom, and did some packing. Three weeks have never passed faster!
