World's worst blogger, quinces, college, being an AFSer

You could call me a liar and the world's worst blog poster. I haven't posted since the end of July... Before I came to Argentina I loved reading other exchangers blogs because it made me realize all the things that could happen to me while in Argentina, thats the main reason I chose to start a blog but I have never really fallen through with the whole plan. Its definitely something that is harder than it looks. So heres the first blog post in awhile...

So what have I been up to the past few months? Everything in Argentina seems so normal now. I have two lives now, and I wish I could live them both. The other week I received my travel dates for my return to the USA. I will tell you that it was a very sad moment for me. Being an exchange student you always know that you will go home but if you don't know the exact day, you feel like maybe just maybe it won't happen yet and you can in your host country for a little awhile longer. I will arrive to Miami at 6.10 AM the 17th of January. Only word can describe this... Bittersweet
Last week, the 8th of November was Hug an exchange student day or also known as "day of the exchange student." I had a nice lunch with my other exchange friends that day, I also read something another AFSer posted on facebook that I found to be so true... I couldn't have related more. Here it is: 

How do you know what anxiety means if you've never walked away from your family with tear-filled eyes?
-How do you know what it means to be helpless if you've never wanted to hug someone and had a computer screen to prevent you from doing it?
-How do you know what borders are if you've never crossed them to see what's on the other side?
-How do you know what diversity is if you've never lived unde

r the same roof with people from all over the world?
-How do you know what imagination is if you've never thought about the moment you go home?
-How do you know what it means to grow if you've never matured in order to start a new part of your life?
-How do you know what autonomy is if you've never been forced to make your own decisions?
-How do you know what patriotism is if you've never said "I love my country" with a flag in hand?
-How do you know what family is if you've never had one that supported you unconditionally, even from the other side of the world?
-How do you know if something is impossible if you've never tried it?
-How do you know what a dream is if you've never accomplished one?
-How do you know what an adventure is if you've never been part of one?
-How do you know what pride is if you've never experienced it for yourself when realizing how much you've achieved?
-How do you know the world if you've never been an exchange student?

But truly.. How would you know any of these things if you never had taken the risk to go abroad? I feel that some people who haven't ever done exchange can relate in ways, but they were never truly know how it changes you and shapes you to be who you want to be. My year here has made me the person I've always wanted to be. I figured out that I can do the impossible. I left my home before I was even 18, went to live with people I didn't know in a country I had never been to with a language and culture I knew nothing about. I always think about how crazy it is that there are 1000s of other kids the same age as me at this moment doing the same thing as me. Some people might call us crazy for doing what we do, but we already are changing peoples perspectives about the world and other countries, we are becoming better global citizens. 
Something I have always found funny about being an exchange student, is that whenever you meet someone else that is, was, or going to be an exchange student, you have an automatic connection, and a world of things to talk about. No one understands you better than your other AFSers. No one. These people have always been there when I wanted to go home or was sick or just felt bad, and told me how hard I worked to get here and that its just a year. They were right. I'm sitting here in Formosa with less than 2 months of my exchange left. Wow. It went by so quickly and I don't feel ready to end it yet. I wish I could have a whole other year here. The things I have learned and the people I have met, have made me realize all the things I would like to do and become in the future. 
A side note... Well on exchange I have had to apply for college because I'm a senior right now. I recently got accepted to Ohio University. I'm still waiting for a few other universities because Ohio University isn't my first choice but its still a respectable school. 
Last month on October 13th I went to my host cousin Camila's quince. I'm sure that many of you have heard about what quinces are. Its a girls 15th birthday, a coming of age birthday that is just as fancy as a wedding. Parents literally start saving for a girls quince when she is a little girl or recently born. They are very fancy parties, with a hundred guests, a fancy dress, bands, a dj, drinks, a nice dinner, etc. I had already been to a few quinces since I got here but this one was the nicest one by far. Here are some photos from the quince with my host cousins and host sister! (unfortunately I never took a picture with Camila on my camera, but I know I have a picture with her on someone else camera). 

me and my host sister

host cousins

me

Camila 

AFSers are what makes the world go round... Happy exchangers day! (I know its a little late)

me, Cici(denmark), Luisa (Germany)

Luisa and Karl (Germany)

sos lo mass

Luca (Italy)

Just some pics from a party with the exchangers! Got to love them! They are the people who have helped me time and time again! Love you guys :) 

*** Next blog post will be soon! In another 4 days I leave to go on an AFS trip for 5 days to Salta y Jujuy!***

-cmb 

el 4 del julio, las vacaciones del invierno, como me siento...

The 4th of July, Winter Vacations, how I feel

Again... Long time no write. I'm pretty horrible at this whole writing a blog thing aren't I? Today its a nice day in Formosa. The sun is out, its a Friday (best day of the week!)! The past few days I have stayed home from school because I have a terrible cough! I'm not really that sick, but my host mom told me that I should stay home. Wasn't going to argue with that! Tonight I think I'm going to dinner with the other exchange students and maybe a movie. Unsure! No sé todavia! (I don't know yet)! Two weeks ago half of the exchange students returned to their countries because they came the year before in august, so they had completed their year abroad! I wasn't here to say goodbye because I ended up going to another province of Argentina called Tucuman. I went to the capital, called San Miguel de Tucuman with my host sister and host mom for about 11 days. It was a nice vacation. We visited my host mom's sister and her family. They have two houses. One in the city, and then one in the country (Yerba Buena). It was a nice change, and very beautiful! I have various photos of Tucuman that are hermosassssss! 

random kids on the mountain... but its adorable!

shadows!

The fourth of July was kind of a sad day for me. Its one of my favorite holidays in the USA. Especially because in my development in the USA... We go crazy with fireworks and games all day long! Its one of my favorite traditions. So it was pretty sad knowing I was in winter here and missing that. But then I realized, its one day and I will have it next year!

I have been feeling pretty great about my life lately. Some days I am sad like any other exchange student but thats expected! Most of the time I love being here and feel so lucky to have this experience. I am half way done with this experience and I can't believe it. It makes me really sad and I kind of freak out when I realize I only have 6 months left because the time on exchange flies. Blogging is really hard! So if you guys could email me about what you would like to hear about... that would be great! email me at chandlermburkhart@yahoo.com  

chau- cmb

escribir un blog es dificil... ¿no cierto? to write a blog is difficult... right?

Before I went on exchange... I made myself a promise. The promise that I would write in this blog every few weeks so I would have something to look back on that I made, and be able to see how I grew as person (because I haven't been writing a journal). I am very sorry that I haven't updated this in over a month! I know people in my family have been reading it and that I also have random people in this world who read it too! I am also sorry to everyone I may not have emailed recently! I always start writing the emails and then completely forget. I will soon though so I can go even more in depth with my close friends and family! So back to how writing a blog is difficult. Every future or past AFSer that has read many blogs before exchange, normally thinks "Wow, I'm totally going to write one on exchange and update it every week or two!"... Guess what? You won't! Unless you have dedication! I feel that the first few months its so easy to talk about my life in Argentina because everything was and still is new, but the thing is... My english is slowly declining (I'm sure you can see this in my posts), also my life here is actually a life now. I have friends, I go out, I go to school like a normal kid, I do homework, etc. Life has become normal. I can finally somewhat believe that I live here and that I understand Spanish.

So what have I been up to in the last month and a half...? I been living the life of una argentina :) Lets see... I went to a wedding about a month ago. And it was really interesting because it was somewhat different from weddings in the USA. The ceremony was at 10AM in the morning and after there was a lunch as the reception and dancing. It was a party for about 8 hours! There were some interesting differences. I will say I didn't really understand the pastor, but thats okay! I already go to an all girls religious school here and I understand things there! The wedding was in a different city and I actually went to the wedding sick. I had a little bit of a fever which wasn't that bad. I was able to function and everything. But then the next day... Total chaos.
So Sunday night... I had a temperature of 40C. Of course I didn't really know what that meant because in the USA we use F... I had a temperature of 104F and apparently tonsillitis. Of course though Sunday night I understood nothing of the word tonsillitis in Spanish. All I understood was when the doctor said he was going to give me two injections! AHH QUE HORROR! I seriously almost cried... It was not a pleasant experience. The week I was sick, all I wanted to do was go home and be with my mom in my own bed with my own american products like campbell's chicken noodle soup or something along those lines. It was a hard week. I cried twice. I hadn't cried before. It wasn't fun but its pasted and well it was an experience! I went to a hospital here! Let's just say its a little bit different from the Cleveland Clinic. In Ohio, I come from a city with some of the best hospitals in the world, definitely the best hospitals in the USA. So yeah Formosa... That was a little different. The hospital was about 20 years old but everything looked older. It felt dirty to me. I don't know how to explain it... But it didn't seem organized. There wasn't a single doctor who spoke English. It was a bit of a nightmare because when I am sick my thinking process isn't the same, therefore my Spanish didn't exist. I didn't understand much that night other then the part where they put two needles into my body! UNPLEASANT. But you know... It was an experience! Obviously I didn't want to be sick but I'm glad I was able to see something different. Everything is an experience... It can be good... It can be bad. But its always interesting. Especially in Formosa. Oh Formosa!
For some reason today I felt sad. There will be times on exchange where you will just feel sad for no reason... Or just miss something. The last week I have been having a hard time because my friends the USA just started summer. They all are going to the beach, Cedar Point, etc. Well I am here where it is cold, still going to school... I made this trade off though. Exchange is an amazing experience but a lot of the time you have to give up things to have this experience. I have a hard time sometimes but I realize that this experience is going to help me the rest of my life. We are almost to 4 months in Argentina. Hard to believe... I really can't sometimes... Its just crazy! Well I promise I will try to update more often!

just a picture from my host moms 50th birthday! mi familia <3

Most unreal experience of my life

"I woke up late in the afternoon. For a second I didn't know where I was. You know how it is, when you wake up in a strange place and wonder where in the world you are, until memory comes rushing over you like a wave. I half convinced myself that I had dreamed everything that had happened the night before."

No paragraph could describe better how I feel about Argentina. A veces no puedo creer... Que yo estoy viviendo acá. En Argentina. Incredible. Que vida bella. Que suerte que yo tengo. I read that paragraph a few days ago. Its EXACTLY how I feel about exchange. I wonder a lot how I will feel when I return home. Will this whole year feel like a dream? Will I remember most of it or will I forget the places, the people, and the times I had? For right now, returning back home scares me. I have 9 months left. The first two FLEW BY. Today actually. I left Cleveland two months ago today. February 22nd, I left my home to go to Miami and then come here, to Formosa, Argentina. The fact that I only have one chance in my life to experience something like this scares me A LOT. I don't want this year to go by so fast. I want to take my time here, learn the people, the language, the culture, and everything. I wrote in my last post about how I am now able to understand so much more, I still need to improve a lot on the speaking. I don't just want to be average at spanish... I want to be fluent, amazing. I want to be able to speak this language without thinking much about it. 


Lately life here has felt so normal. I now know when I go home it will be the same as it is right now with Ohio. This will always be my other home. Beautiful little Formosa, Argentina. In this blogpost I don't really have anything exciting to tell you about that I did recently, like going to Iguazu Falls. But the thing is... I won't always be blogging about experiences like that, this whole year is amazing. Today I'm just talking about how it feels. 


Today I dreamt a little in Spanish for the first time. I came home from school at 10.30 because school was just shortened today... So I just took a siesta before lunch. I remember waking up and realizing that some of the people in my dream has spoken spanish to me. I don't remember if I had spoken spanish myself but some people spoke spanish to me. The dream was in english too. They say that dreaming in another language are the first signs to becoming fluent. I don't think I'm anywhere near fluent but there are definitely times now where I will say something to someone in spanish and not even think about what I just said. Its very bizarre because I never thought my brain could work that way or even comprehend learning another language, but it does! SO I AM PUMPED. In 9 months... I pray that I will be fluent. A year in Argentina= hopefully equals fluent? Un-known right now?!... Just wishing :) The thing about being exchange students is there are three types of exchange students:
1. The student who actually studies the verbs and language well abroad and reads grammar books like 501 verbs, etc.
2. The student who tries to speak with anyone they can, and just learns from experience
3. The student who really doesn't accept the host countries language at all and just gives up in some sorts


I would say that I am a combination of 1 and 2. But more of 2. I really need to start being more like student 1 if I really want to become fluent faster. The frustrating thing about being here... Is that I can say so much more now but theres still so much I want to say. My host family knows no english at all, which is definitely better for learning but its harder to bond with them in the beginning because I can't really be the real me yet. The real me loves to talk and just talk and talk and talk and talk... I think my blogposts kind of reflect the real me somewhat. I write overly long blogposts! But its all good :) This one is a little shorter! 


I have to go soon.. because I'm going out to get ice cream with the other exchange students... Yes AFS= another fat student. We eat too much together. Its SCARY.


besos, cmb


P.S. to my blog readers! please write comments about what you would like to see pictures of or what you want to know about! Its very hard to write a blog and make it interesting so if you could just tell me what you like to hear about or see pictures of... I will gladly write about it! Gracias! 

fiesta (yo y florencia)

Yeah Im student number 1 here

Yeah thats my class... Just a little crazy they are! LAS AMOOO! SANTA ISABEL 6TO AÑO

Semana Santa! Empanadas, Resistencia, Corrientes, Posadas, y Iguazu Falls

So the past week has been pretty amazing. I have been to quite a few places and done quite a few things! last wednesday Semana Santa started, it is 5 days of vacaciones in Argentina for Pascua (Easter). Last wednesday my host family and I packed up the car and started driving. First we stopped in Resistencia which is a city about 2 and a half hours away from Formosa. We stayed there the night with my host mother's sister. It was nice because this week I really am starting to feel like I can understand a lot thats going on, and what people are talking about. I don't feel so lost at dinner anymore when my family is talking. I can talk somewhat now too. I feel more included and less alone which is amazing. I never am alone here but I feel alone sometimes because I can't say what I want all the time and I really enjoy talking and explaining myself. Anyone that knows me in the USA will tell you... I talk nonstop. I really need to shut up sometimes but I can't, I enjoy conversation too much. The past month and a half I have had a lot of me, myself and I time. But thats okay, I needed to experience that, gave me time to think. Now I am starting to get frustrated with school though because I want to learn and understand. This week I am actually going to take my 501 Spanish verbs to school... And get cracking on the ol'books and just study! PORQUE YO QUIERO HABLAR MAS FLUIDA! jajajaj Okay so back to Semana Santa. The next day we stopped in Corrientes for a few hours because they have more family there, its another nice city, much bigger than Formosa. Many people from Formosa go to Corrientes for weekend shopping trips because they have many stores there. Everyone from Formosa is obsessed with the McDonalds in Corrientes. I haven't had fast food in almost two months... Which is interesting. Not all americans eat McDonalds all the time, I don't but I definitely eat it with my friends so its a little weird to think I haven't had peanut butter, panera bread or chipotle.
After Corrientes, we drove a few hours to Posadas which is the capitol of the province, Misiones. Misiones is where Iguazu Falls is!

(in red Misiones! Puerto Iguazu... Is Iguazu Falls :)

Posadas was a very nice city. We stayed there for a day and I quite enjoyed it!

Below are pictures from Posadas

(My host sister and I in front of our hotel)

(Fountain in the plaza)

every person is a world

I just really loved the quote

My host parents in front of this beautiful church that was in the plaza

Then Friday morning we woke up and started the drive to Puerto Iguazu! We stopped in this place... And I can say I honestly say that I don't remember the name at all which is really horrible and I would ask my host family but at the moment I am the only one at home so sorry guys you won't know the name of the place I'm about to show you! Okay so all la tierra (earth, ground) in Misiones is red. Red dirt. It is everywhere now... On all my shoes... They are all stained red from the earth. The water is red in the rivers! Look at these pictures its pretty weird! We stopped for lunch at this place. We had a picnic :) 

Told you the earth was red there!

My host sister, mom, and I

AHORA IGUAZU. This is seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen.... There are no words to do this place justice. Just pictures. Go see it in person. You will fall in love with the beauty of it :) Promise. 

Beautiful... I know right?

Doesn't get much more magical then a rainbow haha

Hermosaaa!

So that was my trip. It was 6 days (I got to miss school on monday). I enjoyed it and had a very good time and now I can say that I've seen a true natural beauty! Fue hermosa! If you ever get the chance to come to Argentina... Iguazu is a must! Its hard to understand its beauty until you see it for yourself. Its like Niagra Falls but 20 or 30 times bigger... SO GO. DALE. 

I haven't talked much about food. Food in Argentina. Its so delicious. I am in LOVE with the food. Its so good. Empanadas are a very traditional argentine food. What are empanadas? Definition- Latin-American turnover with a flaky crust and a spicy or sweet filling. 

They are so delicious. Here are some pictures of me making them with my host sister! MUY RICO

Carne y huevos... Meat and eggs

finished product!

This trip was wonderful but the crazy thing is I was happy when we were pulling into Formosa. I said to myself "I'm happy I'm going home." Formosa is finally a second home to me. Formosa mi hermosa. I love this little city and my life here! I will post in the next week or two about something... Unsure yet! But something :) Besos! 

cmb

long time... no blog!

Okay so I feel really bad that I haven't blogged in so long! Its been almost a month! Before I went on exchange and was reading other exchange student's blogs I never understand why it would take them so long to update their blogs. I finally know! Life is so busy here, and even when you aren't busy you don't exactly feel like posting because you want your readers to be left with something good, not some super short, hey things have been good. Today I feel like I owe my readers a good blog post. I am going to tell you how I feel after being here for a month. I left my family in Cleveland, February 22nd, 2012. Today is April 2nd, 2012. I am mind blown. This has been the fastest month of my life. Explaining what time is like on exchange is impossible, unless you have been or are an exchange student. Before I went on exchange I had heard "Fastest year of my life", "Best year of my life", "Best decision I have ever made." All these things so far have proven to be true even though I have only been here for a month. I already know that I have a little less then 10 months here. How is that even possible? I was leaving yesterday. But the weird thing about it, is that I feel like I have been in Formosa for longer than a month, like I have known a lot of these people, and this little city for a long time. This is a small little city, I love it. I can walk everywhere, or take a bus or taxi and I'm wherever in 10 minutes. Its starting to feel normal to be here. I still haven't completely realized I'm here though. Sometimes I'll be walking to school or out to meet someone, and I just start thinking "Wait... I'm in Argentina. I live in Argentina." Its pretty bizarre to think now that I have two lives. I have two families, two schools, and now many groups of friends. I love my friends here, especially the other exchange students. I feel so normal when I'm with them because we can talk about anything together and we all feel the same things. You could literally have nothing in common with someone but as long as you both are exchange students, you could talk for hours with them. One of my favorite past times here in Argentina is skyping with other exchange students, like Leah Sharaby who's in Italy or Danny Schur who's in South Africa. Its so amazing that we're all in different parts of the world, and experiencing different cultures but yet we can talk for hours just about that... Life on exchange. What's it like? Unless you do it, you will never know.

I want to tell you about why I write this blog. I do not write this blog for my family and friends, though I know they do read it, and it is an easy way for them to hear about Argentina. But the reason I chose to begin a blog was for kids who want to go on exchange or who are thinking about it. Reading blogs before I came herenreally helped me decide about where I wanted to go, or give me a little glimpse of how I would maybe feel as an American on exchange. It made me more excited to go on exchange.

Spanish... Lets talk about languages. This is one thing that made me want to hyperventilate and curl up into a ball when I thought about it before I got here. I haven't had Spanish in school since June 2011. So I was pretty worried because I knew my Spanish would be rocky. People tell me everyday now that I understand so much better than I did when I first got here and then I can express myself better too. I can have conversations with people in Spanish now. I laugh and have a good time, and understand so much more now. But I am definitely not fluent at all. I have so much more to learn. I am hoping that maybe in August I'll understand almost everything in school.

School. Now that is the hardest place to understand people besides parties because my class is crazy. They yell all the time but I love them though, too many people talk at once. The teachers talk so fast. I literally stare at the wall for like 5 hours a day... Its my place for thinking. I do copy all the notes though, and for some classes I do the work. For example I did the questions and reading for sociology and politics all by myself. I was very proud of myself when I did that because I understood the papers and notes. I am proud of myself when I do things on my own or understand something I never thought I could. This weekend I took a taxi by myself for the first time. I told the taxi driver where I wanted to go and paid the right amount and got to the right place. I felt happy because I was independent in another country with another language, in a place I don't know well. I think now it'll be pretty easy to go to college. Going to college can't compare to study abroads at all. In both you leave your family and go out into the world on your own. But they're different.
1. Right now I am in high school. I am not legally an adult and I already have taken the step to go out into the world on my own
2. Generally people go to college in their own country... I am currently in another country
3. I am in a country, where the culture is completely different and the language is too

What I just said proves that going away to another country when you are in high school is a million times harder than going to college in your own country. Both are big steps in an exchange students life, but nothing compares to this year. I know that the rest of my life I will look back on this year and never regret leaving my small town and missing out on one year of high school.

I do miss my family and friends at home a lot though. Sometimes I just wish I could talk to my mom but she isn't on Skype or I really wish I could see my dogs (Murphy and Libby) and just pet them. Or sit at my dinning room table with my parents eating something American. Its also hard because I know things are going on in my best friends lives too. One of my best friends just got accepted to New York University! I'm so proud of you Megan! I really wish we could hangout and just talk about life and you going to college in August!
And then when I Skype with one of my other best friends, Amanda, I just want to hangout and go for a drive, blast the music, and go out. I miss going out to eat with my best friends or even just watching movies. Its hard for me because I know things are happening in Ohio while my life is happening here. I realize that my life will never be the same again. I will never return to the person I was before I left for Argentina. I also realize that when I leave Argentina, I will never be able to return to this year in my life. I have one chance, one year, to experience all I can. To meet new people, learn a new language, eat new foods, and just live my life. All these things are somewhat sad but I don't regret leaving everything I know to come here. I am very happy right now. I do stuff everyday. I go out with the other exchange students, or out with my host sister. I go to parties, or out to eat at Santino (a lot with Lorena... and Grido... guilty ice cream pleasure). I just hangout and talk with other people. I learn so many new things everyday about myself and about Argentina. I even have learned new things about the United States also. I have learned to appreciate my own country more. I realize I would never want to be born in any other country. I love the United States, its history, what it represents, and its people. Now I have another country I can call home too. Argentina has stolen my heart. I have fallen in love with this country in just a short month. Its so different. The people here are so nice and accepting. The language is beautiful. The history is beautiful also.

 Today is the 30 year anniversary of the start of the war with Las Malvinas or the Falkland Islands. Argentina and England have been on bad terms for 30 years now because the English took Las Malvinas, and claimed them as their own. The English have a serious problem and obsession with taking other countries land... Just saying! Today we don't have school because of this, which is nice but its for a sad reason because many have died in this war. I only have two days of school this week because of Semana Santa (Easter). Starting Wednesday I will travel with my host family to Resistencia, Corrientes, and Iguazu Falls. I am pretty excited because I haven't seen much of Argentina yet! AHHH IGUAZU FALLS!

Yep above is a picture of Iguazu Falls... You can see why I'm pretty pumped to be going there. If there was a way to describe how beautiful this is. You just wouldn't describe it because its so beautiful. A description can't do this justice.

I will be posting in a week or two about my trip there with my host family!

So a few weeks ago was my 17th birthday. It was actually one of the harder days for me here. I really missed my family and friends. My host family was very nice though! They made me an asado and a cake made of dulce de leche. The food was amazing. But I just wanted to be with my own family in my own house that day. But its just a birthday. They don't matter because I didn't do anything special... I just lived another year! Todo bien! I am living my dream right now aren't I? I live in Argentina, thats the thing that made the day okay for me. Whenever I feel sad or want to go home, I remember that right now I'm living my dream, the thing I wished for when I turned 16. Yep no joke. When I turned 16, I blew out the candle and wished for Argentina.

(Gennaro, the exchange student from Italy and I)

Pool and terere

(Lorena, exchange student from Norway)

Mi cumple

Other exchange students and a few friends

Classmate, Belen, and I after school at lunch with the girls 

I promise I'll try to get better at posting more often! I will soon about my trip next week! Besos,

cmb

Parties and School in Argentina: there is a balance

So last friday I had my first day of school! I already love my class. I was afraid I wouldn't like the school because its all girls and a catholic school, and my school at home is public. But I actually love it. I have more fun, and plus school is only 5 hours. I go to school around 7:30 and end at 12:30. We have three classes a day each for an hour and 20mins each. In between each class we are able to go get something to drink or just hangout and walk around the school. I really have to take pictures of my school! I haven't yet! Its beautiful. The inside has a giant courtyard where you walk to your classroom.
Things that are different from the US:

• They only have the class twice a week. Different classes everyday
• The teachers are very specific on how they want you write things on the paper (date, name, etc.)
• You ALWAYS use pen, there is a white out pen that I use like its my job
• You stay with the same people all day, the teachers come to you, you don't go to the teachers.
• I have a uniform ( a lot of schools in Argentina have them, but not all)
• The teachers speak very fast and expect you to write down what they are saying...

So in Argentina I am a senior, but they call is 6to año (seis-to). Its pretty awesome actually because at my school there are two different tracts you can take for classes, ciencias sociales (social sciences) or ciencias naturales (natural science). I am in ciencias sociales. In the 6to año we don't have math, history, or science. So I'm basically in love! I take the following classes :

• lunes: inglés, sociología, lengua y lit.  (English, sociology, language and literature)
• martes: políticas, lengua y lit., tecno gestión (politics, language and literature, I don't know what this one is yet... haven't had the class yet)
• miércoles: inglés, arte y cultura (English, art and culture)
• jueves: cultura y com., cultura y religiosa, sociología, políticas, tecnología de gestión (culture 
• viernes: cultura y com., problemáticas social, cultura y reliogiosa, problemáticas social

So yeah its a little different from the US where we have the same classes everyday and go to different rooms. 

(yo y Belen)

(mi clase es adorable :)

Sociology notes... IN SPANISH

my best friend... whiteout pen haha

Best part about today... it was suppose to my third day of school but my teachers are on strike... SO I DONT HAVE SCHOOL TODAY <3 yes Argentina you are amazing. 

Parties... FIESTAS FOREVER

Okay so you all know the song... I like it by Enrique. The one line he says all the time "Party, fiesta forever" Well Argentina definitely has taken that advice. Every weekend there is a party! My first night here I went to one! And last saturday I went to a party again :) It was the 16th birthday of two boys. The interesting thing about the party was that anyone came, you didn't have to know the birthday boys to come. The parents provided beer which was also interesting, because in the US... That isn't exactly legal. So the music was loud, everyone had drinks in their hands and everyone was talking and dancing. It was definitely fun... Side note for me though. I danced with this guy. And then the next day I found out he had just turned 15. Awkward moment for me... Yepp he looked older but guess not. Weird because next week I turn 17. Too young! Another crazy thing about this party... We didn't get to the party until 2am... and then left like 5 something.

Belen y yo

las chicas de mi clase :)

otra foto

yo y Maria Jose

Nicole y yo (wow I'm white...)