Las Pascuas (Easter), Calle Caminito, Exchange students, and EverythingElse in Between

hola a todos!

     Long time no blog. I have so much to tell you all I don't know where to start! Bueno, at the end of March was Pascua or Easter it was very different than we celebrate in the US, instead of dying easter eggs we made our own out of chocolate using a mold and then decorated them, it was ten times better because we could eat them afterwards. After we went to an Aunts house in another city close by, the whole family got together and we had dinner there and after ended up staying until like two am dancing and celebrating with everyone! Argentina es locaaaa! All in all it was really fun and cool to see how another country celebrates differently.

       Around the same time we took a trip with the family to Buenos Aires. We went to Calle Caminito which is one of the prettiest places Ive ever been! It was really cool to see because we have a picture of the street hanging in my spanish class. There everything is colorful, the buildings are all painted with blue, yellow, red, pink ect., there are people outside playing instruments, painting, or dancing tango. After that we went to Puerto Madero, a famous river port in Buenos Aires which is beautiful at night time.

      During the past couple months we have gone to two mateadas or gatherings with the exchange students of AFS in Buenos Aires. These are really fun, we live about an hour away so we usually take a bus up and back, there we all get together meet new people from all over the world who have been living in Argentina for various lengths of time depending on their program. We usually do ice breaker activities, drink mate (a typical Argentinian drink) and end up talking and connecting with people from all over the world. From these gatherings weve even learned a few words in German and Japanese! 

       A couple of weeks ago there was a flood here in La Plata. Unfortunately a lot of people were affected, in our house a lot of water entered but with the help of family and friends we were able to dry, clean and replace almost everything. For about a week there were people helping, gathering food and clothes to give away in the plazas and helping in about any way they could. It surprised me more than anything how helpful and nice the people are here who all made a difference by helping out.   

        The time is flying by and as of now although I miss my family and friends, I dont want to think about how I have to go back home in just three months and how much Im going to miss the friends Ive made here and most of all my family here. I feel like I've adapted a lot to the culture, the language and the lifestyle here. I can take a micro or bus to the center of the city by myself and almost understand the streets and how to navigate my way through the city, I understand my teachers better and my schoolwork, and although I don't understand everything, my Spanish has improved a lot. I get along really well with everyone in my family and feel like La Plata is my home away from home. I love living here and couldn't have asked for a better Host Family or place to come and learn a new language and culture. As for now school and everyday life is going great, the next week we have a field trip with my class to Buenos Aires which I'm excited for and at the end of may I'm going on a trip with AFS to Salta and Jujuy a province in northern Argentina!  

Thats all for now,

Ill be sure to update soon, chau! 

School and Such

Holaaaa

Today I had my first day of school, it went surprisingly well! It's sooo different from school on mv, in the mornings everyone goes to this room in the school thats like a church and we say Our Father but in spanish of course "Padre Nuestro" which I am still learning... After everyone goes out to the patio and says a pledge to the flag. My first class of the day was Cultura, everyone immediately started asking me questions about school and culture in the U.S and everyone was more than nice! In this class we learned about Hommo Sapiens and Prehistory, we watched the weirdest movie. After this I had Geography, the geography teacher is so cool she talked to us about the vacation and didn't start right off the bat with school stuff like the other teachers, everyone says she rarely actually teaches. Last I have QUIMICA.. bleh (Chemistry), we started right off with hard stuff that I didn't really understand because everything is in a different language, luckily my classmates helped me out. In between every class we have three recreos or short breaks where everyone goes out to the patio which is nice because we don't have that in the U.S. Also teachers change classrooms, while we stay in the same class with all of the kids in my grade (quinto año.) All in all everything went great, everyone was so nice and asked me loads of questions including the teachers. Oh! did I mention I have to wear a uniform? It isn't too ugly and actually really comfortable so I'm glad, also I've always wanted to go to a school with a uniform (I'll post a picture later.)

As for now, I have my second day of school tomorrow and I'm enjoying living in this beautiful city and learning lots of Spanish! I have noticed that I'm starting to think a lot in spanish and my English is becoming more and more awkward sounding, which is a good thing! I'll post again soon about all the great food here! Chau!

     
                                                                Welcome Flag!

La Familia 

                                                            Rolleando is really popular here

The cutest little cousins ever

At the orientation

El Rio en Buenos Aires 

Dia a la pileta

Exchange friend Takehisa

Primer foto 

Ciudad de La Plata

El Catedral 

The Beginning

Hola gente!

Where to start.. on Wednesday I left Martha's Vineyard on a 6am boat, we drove to Logan Airport in Boston where I said goodbye to my family and boarded the plane to Miami. On the ride to Miami I sat next to a boy from Colombia and practiced speaking spanish with him! When I arrived in Miami I had to claim my luggage and find a shuttle to the hotel where the AFS orientation was, this was a big reality check for me, suddenly I had to do everything by myself. When I got to the hotel the orientation began I met so many amazing new people all going to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Brazil. We all bonded really quickly because we all had so much in common, being exchange students! We spent the whole day doing activities preparing us for our time abroad, we learned about Argentine culture and more about AFS as a program. The next day we left the Hotel at 3 and went to the airport, we all hung around in the airport, said goodbye to the kids going to Chile, Brazil and Paraguay and the boarded our plane at around 7pm. As soon as we boarded the plane we were surrounded by spanish, it was definitely a reality check when I accidentally bumped into someone getting on the plane and heard "ay perdona." The plane ride all in all wasn't bad at all, it was about 9 hours but went by really fast, a group of us sat next to a girl from Buenos Aires and we tried our best to speak spanish with her. When we were landing in Buenos Aires there was the prettiest sunrise and when we actually landed everyone on the plane clapped, all of the Americans thought it was the cutest thing ever. After going through customs we met up with the kids from Germany, Japan, Thailand and other parts of the world all studying abroad in Argentina with AFS, they were all so nice and very funny. Finally at around 3 I took an hour bus ride to La Plata where I met my family. They were waiting there with a sign that said "Bienvenida Lucy." I love my family! They are all so nice and offer to help you out in any way possible. We arrived at the house and had merienda (snack) which is typically eaten in Argentina at around 6, for dinner around 10 we ate empanadas, The food here is muy rico (very very good.)

Today I went with Milagros and Josefina (two of my host sisters) to the center of the city, it was amazing! We went to the top of the cathedral and could see the entire city which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We looked around at some shops, learned about the history of La Plata and went to la plaza which is a park in the very center of the city. So far I love my host family, I love La Plata and I love everything about Argentina! Tonight we are going to una fiesta! I will upload photos in my next post! Chau!

The countdown to Argentina!

Hola!

  I'm Lucy Norris, a 16 year-old girl from the small island of Martha's Vineyard, Masachussetts. For the spring semester of my junior year I will be studying abroad in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina with AFS Intercultural Programs.
 In exactly eight days I will leave MV and begin my journey! One of the reasons I wanted to study abroad in Argentina is because Spanish has always been my favorite subject. From this experience I hope to improve it greatly, learn a new culture, and meet many new people! I have created a blog to help future exchange students (knowing that other blogs were very helpful to me), and to keep everyone that wishes to read updated along the way!

                                      A picture of my host family!!!

                                          The city of La Plata

                                   A famous cathedral in the city