Buenos Aires Summer Seminar 2017

Monday June 26:                Hey y'all, it has been some time since we have last updated you on our adventure here in Buenos Aires. On Friday, we had a full day of classes. To start off the day, we went to an English class with our host brothers. Afterwards, we went to a specialty class on Argentinian culture. During this class, we all sat in a circle, drank some Yerba mate, and discussed different aspects of Argentina, such as the education style of Argentina and the proper way to prepare and drink Mate. Afterwards, we all went to a class on soccer. We learned the history of the two major teams in Argentina, Boca Juniors and River Plate. These two Argentinian teams are rivals and their fans get very passionate as to who the better team really is. Afterwards, we all went to a literature class and discussed a story they had recently read. Afterwards, we welcomed Señor Joyce to our group and said goodbye to Señora O'Neil. We were all sad to se...

Estadio Monumental - River Plate Three days have past since the last update and we simply have not slowed down. On Tuesday, we had a day of from school to celebrate Argentina’s flag day. Activities varied, but we all certainly continued to experience Argentina in distinctive ways. For example, Declan took a trip to the countryside with his family, where he trade Wi-Fi connection for horseback riding. Tommy, Jake, and Jack took a trip to Estadio Monumental, the official stadium of River Plate. The stadium was much larger than that of River’s rival team, Boca Juniors, but we are still hotly debating which team reigns supreme.          We spent Wednesday at school attending regular classes with our brothers. We were able to help out in our host brothers’ respective English classes. After school, five of us took a forty minute bus ride out of the city in order to attend soccer practice with our brothers. This experience was very different in c...

Happy (almost) Flag Day! Today we dressed up in shirt and tie to celebrate the promise of loyalty to the Argentinian flag, an event that is called “el acto.” The celebration was very passionate and the Argentinian national anthem definitely made me miss the old “O say can you see.” We then hit the streets, and after everyone tried their fair hand at reading the map, we still had to resort to asking a local for directions (but our very own Jack Rindini faired very well in his Spanish asking for help). After quite the journey, we ate in an authentic café in the Law District instead of submitting to our hedonist desire of McDonald's. After all, the Spanish phrase is “al país que fueres hazlo que vieres,” which is the equivalent of “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” While paying for our meals, we had quite the time dealing with all of our pesos (Argentinian currency). Right after, we visited El Teatro de Colon, a very beautiful and historic lyrical theater that is still used today ...

We started out today by going with our brothers to their English class. In the class, however, our brothers were having a quiz, so we were allowed to have the period free, which we spent playing some soccer and basketball. After making our regular morning pit stop at the cafeteria ("el bar") to hold ourselves over with some medialunas y dulce de leche-filled donuts, we proceeded to do a walking tour of "Avenida de Mayo", a historic street with many old, antique houses and buildings and shops. Many of the city's historic roots trace back to this area, and the French architecture and design of many of the buildings was very beautiful. Before leaving for this, we all got a little piece of paper that had the name of a historic shop, cafe, or building and a description of it. As we walked along Av de Mayo, we had to locate our site and, once we did, read the description aloud. It was a neat little activity, and we got to know the city a little better in the proc...

Continuing with our adventures in the beautiful country of Argentina. The last two days have been very eventful. On Wednesday, we started the day off with a tour of Colegio del Salvador. The school is very beautiful and is filled with kids from kindergarten to high school. The school is pretty big, however it does not compare to BC High. The student body consists of 1200 students, which is not that much compared to our school. After our tour we were able to have a short break and get a snack, “Medialuna”, which is a croissant with ham and cheese. After break, we attended our host brothers' English class. This experience was very interesting, it was comforting to know that the students at Colegio del Salvador struggle learning the English language just as we do with Spanish. After we attended class, we headed off to the “MALBA”, or Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. The museum was very beautiful and had, interesting to say the least, pieces of art. We spent the res...

Estadio Boca Juniors - La Bombonera  On our first "real" day in Buenos Aires we met in homeroom with our host brothers and were then dismissed for a meeting where we learned about the school and some of the rules. Then had snacks and most of us tried  “medialuna”, a warm croissant with ham and cheese. We then left for “La Bombonera”- the BOCA Junior soccer team’s   stadium.   At “La Bombonera” we visited the team museum where there were trophies and videos of the team; similar to The Hall at Patriot Place. After the museum we took a guided tour of the stadium. We learned about the stadium’s traditions, for example, one tradition is when BOCA scores, the fans that stand behind the goal jump three times and yell gooooooooal. Then they proceed to climb the giant fence that separates the field from the seats. Once the tour ended, we headed to   “Caminito” - a street in the Boca neighborhood   known for its many houses painted with vibrant colors. We had ...

After a long journey we arrived in Buenos Aires.  Mr. Juan Cruz picked us up at the airport and brought us to the Colegio del Salvador for a warm reception. Then the students left with their host families to rest and get settled.