Buenos Aires Blog 5

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 comparison to what we take for granted at BC High, where our sports facilities are just outside the classroom. Still, the fields were a great place to practice; some of us even joined the game! Later on in the evening, we came together with the students of Loyola High School in Los Angeles, Georgetown Prep in Washington, Colegio del Salvador, and BC High to celebrate ten years of the highly successful exchange programs between the United States and Argentina. The party reunited many past participants in the program, which included several of our own host brothers’ brothers and other familiar faces. Together we reflected on our wonderful experiences with the program, culminating in a video presentation that featured our own Mr. Joyce, who will arrive tomorrow to take over for the inimitable Mrs. O’Neill.

         Today was spent with a section of the senior class at Universidad del Salvador, the Jesuit university of Buenos Aires. The students often attend talleres, or workshops, at the university during which they experiment with different professions in order to get a better idea of what they will study next year. We all worked in public relations and were given the assignment of doing damage control for a fictional cookie company which recently experienced a contamination scandal. We then joined up with  the other students to simulate television interviews which were broadcast right in front of us.

         As a final note, as mentioned in the last post, we are all on track to be proficient in the art of the Rubik’s Cube by the time we touchdown in Boston.

-Jake Martens ’18