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Bio
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September 19 Journal and Pictures - "I spent my
first three days in Argentina just adjusting. It rained but I was fine
with that because the rain calmed me and I just regained energy from the
trip." |
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November 15 Journal - "They cook
almost every part of the cow. Including several of the inner parts.
Although slightly disgusting to think about, just don't ask and everything
tastes fine." |
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December 18 Journal and Pictures - "We
decided to see what the night life was like at the bottom of the world. We
paid our entrance fee and soon found out that the exchange students were
the party." |
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February 11 Journal - "On the beach
they had a bikini fashion show, and some of Argentina's biggest models
were there. I can say only one word. GORGEOUS! I love it
here." |
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March 14 Journal and Pictures - "It is
absolutely incredible how fast an accent can make you friends. Soon I was
surrounded by a group of people all asking me questions and things like
that." |
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May 19 Journal and Pictures - "I know
that I don't want to leave but I kind of have to when my visa expires and
governments don't really like illegal aliens in their country no matter
how laid back the country is." |
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Christian's Bio
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 Blessed by the mountains, baked by the beach, bound for Argentina
before the summer heat. Hola. My name is Christian Ray and I live in
Jacksonville, Florida. I am 16 years old and a sophomore at Bishop Kenny High
school. I live with my mom and dad and my dog Caesar. I am the youngest of three
children and along with that position got all of the tortures as being the
youngest and all the spoiling. I am originally from nowheresville, Montana, also
known as Libby. I spent most of my childhood outside, running all over our seven
acre property with my best friend defeating imaginary monsters, oh and who won?
We did. During the winter months I spent as much time on the ski slope as
possible and I started snowboarding six years ago.
I had never had any trouble making friends because there
was no need to. The school I attended was so small I knew every person’s
first name and most of their last names. When I moved to Florida, I was
daunted with the fact that I would have to be put into a larger school
(still very small for Florida’s standards). As soon as I adjusted I did just
fine and then I got to Bishop Kenny. I will not lie, Catholic school rules
are strict but Catholic school girls are HOT and contrary to popular belief
are not… well you know. Sorry about that I got ahead of myself. Anyway,
freshman year was hard since I was learning to develop my social skills and
I didn’t know anyone. Sophomore year is so much better and I am currently
making good grades and pole-vaulting for the track team.
I am interested in a wide gamut of different things
including but not limited too: music of all types except country and rap,
rock-climbing, skiing and snowboarding, kayaking, swimming, pole-vaulting,
horseback riding, scuba diving, and computer games. I love things that are
crazy and adrenaline inducing. I tried cliff jumping this summer and now I am hooked.
I have also bungee jumped off the Kawarau Bridge in New Zealand
and soon I hope to sky dive before I leave for Argentina.
I hope to make many new friends, learn a different
language and experience Latin culture. I also hope to learn how to dance
because I need some help in that area of expertise. In the future I hope to
do something that involves scuba diving, whether through underwater
archeology or the military. I expect this year will be one of the most
memorable ones of my life.
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September 19 Journal & Pictures
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OK
so where to start? I spent my last few days in the states saying my goodbyes
and last minute packing. The morning of my trip I prepared myself for a very
loooong trip.
The flight to Argentina was only ten and a half hours but I had to make a
detour to Washington D.C. like many other exchange students from around the
United States. Even though it was a little out of my way to fly three hours
north and have a nasty wait in the airport, it was worth it. The exchange
students on the plane with me were awesome. Like all exchange students are.
We were loud and rowdy getting on the plane and full of energy and stayed
that way for much of the trip to the chagrin of some travelers. I myself
have a slight problem with sitting in a cramped seat for ten hours. The
seats on airplanes really are not made for people over 5'5''. As the hours
ticked by, the exchange students talked and played cards, listened to music
or tried to sleep. Only about four people were able to get any sleep. As we
closed upon Argentina I was entertained by a wonderful lightning storm out
my window. It was so beautiful and I could see the flashes in the different
thunderheads because we were up so high.
Once we landed and got into the airport we faced the "challenge" of customs.
The customs in Argentina were the easiest I had ever been through. Once
through customs we were taken to claim our baggage and then "herded like
cats..." as I heard it put, to meet our families. Feeling like I was in a
sauna with my Rotary jacket on I slipped it off and threw it over my bag I was carrying. And of course, with my great luck
I was not met by my family,
no, but my exchange counselor and most of the people in charge of the
exchange program in Argentina, the ones who told us to wear our jackets. You
just have to love first impressions.
Anyhow, I was taken to meet my first exchange family and in the process also
got to meet my second family and the student staying with them from Belgium.
Once I had slowed down and dropped my stuff in my room I realized just how
tired I was. I had been up for approximately 24 hours. I was just a little
tired. I spent my first three days in Argentina just adjusting, and letting
it sink in where I was and for how long. It rained for the first few days
but I was fine with that because the rain calmed me and I just regained
energy from the trip. My family are excellent cooks and are very warm and
caring people.
My first day of school was very exciting. The school itself is very large
and there are over three thousand students. Many of the students in the
class spoke understandable English and I realized then how lazy Americans
really are that we only know English and that is it. I also found that some
people here speak better English than people in the United states. So sad.
It made it very easy to make friends, but the subjects here are extremely
difficult for me. I am loving it here, with its new foods, crazy drivers,
warm people, awesome architecture, and the new lifestyle I am living. A
month has already gone by and I found myself saying, wow, where did all that
time go. I will have to make the most of what time I do have left.
From Argentina with love.
Christian
My first host family |
My school |
My friends from school |
Keys to my house (the keys
are so different down here) |
Inbounds to the Buenos Aires
district. Not many of us. |
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November 15 Journal
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Hey guys,
I am now closing on my third month in Argentina and
although communication is still somewhat stressed sometimes, things are
good. Right now I am feeling very good about my surroundings and the good
group of friends that I am making at school. Luckily I haven't been really
sick like some exchange students get when they travel but I do have some bad
allergies here, but it is a small price to pay for such an adventure.
WEATHER: Ok, so the weather here is really weird.
When I arrived in Buenos Aires it was somewhat chilly and from then
alternated between chilly and downright cold with some days of nice weather
thrown in just for kicks. Now as I am writing it has been quite hot and and
my school uniform which consists of sweatpants and a shirt that is literally
made out of the roughest fabric they could find is not the most comfortable
thing to sit in when the class has no air conditioning. Ahhhh, one thing I miss more than ever, the Floridians' over use of air conditioning. Although
is is hot right now, I am told it gets hotter in the months of January and
February... oh great. But that is ok because I am headed to the beach with
one of my best friends here and his family rented a house for a few weeks.
Rock on.
 SCHOOL:
The schools here are very relaxed and the teachers and the kids converse on
the same level when not in class. Although I heard the Latin culture is
somewhat lazy and have been seeing a little of it myself, they have really
really hard subjects in school. All of the classes are more advanced than in
the states and I am definitely lost even when I can slightly understand the
teacher. The kids in the school are great. Everyone is nice and many of my
classmates are helping me with leaning phrases and words. Even though some
of the things might be inappropriate, they think it is hilarious to have the
foreign kid say things he has no idea what they mean, I am still learning
nonetheless everyday. All of the classes are really kicking my butt,
trigonometry, chemistry, biology, and physics. All things that I have never
seen before or don't remember how to do, but the English classes.... I got
those covered. =) The English classes here show me how much you miss from
not learning a language where it is spoken. It is very interesting for me
also because I have to listen hard to the accent that is Argentinian and
British mixed because they learn British style English. The school is
gigantic and everyone is relaxed. On hot afternoons all the students go into
the courtyard and find any shade and just lay around talking and enjoying
the outdoors and good company. It is really a nice change compared to the
fast paced schools of the United States.
ARGENTINIAN NEWS: You may have seen some glimpses
of Argentina. Luckily my part of town is really safe. Here is a briefing of
what has happened in the past month in Argentina. In the middle of October
there were elections to choose the new senator. For the first time in
Argentina a woman was elected. There was very mixed reactions to this, and
resulted in some protests. Here is it obligatory to vote. Only if you are
disabled or too far away from the voting stations are you excused. The
penalty if you do not vote is you are not allowed to leave the country and
have to pay a fine of 1 peso. Kind of a strange penalty but it works. A
couple days later the trains and subways went on strike which resulting in
rioting and a train catching on fire. They do not know if it was on purpose
or not. The week after a huge shopping mall right near my house caught on
fire, there was over 20 fire trucks from all over Buenos Aires. Then came
the biggest news. The meeting of the Americas. 34 of the leaders of the
countries in South and North America, except Cuba came and had a meeting in
Mar del Plata. Which is 2 hours from my house. Huge riots erupted all over
Buenos Aires protesting the arrival of Bush . Fires and bombs were set and
many injuries happened. Although all this happened in Buenos Aires, I saw
nothing of it except on the news.
THE TRIP: So as I mentioned above I am going on a
trip to the south of Argentina. I am going with 25 other exchange students.
This will be really awesome because in my district there are only 10
exchange students, and most of them live at least an hour away. We are
visiting the provinces La Pampa, Neuquen, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz, and
Tierra del Fuego. The last province Tierra del Fuego is known as the end of
the world, with breathtaking views of glaciers, and penguins too! We are
also doing activities like whale watching, hiking, visiting lakes, and much
much more. We are going for something like 20 days and every day is jammed
packed with activities. I'll try to smuggle back a penguin for anyone that
wants one. HAHAHAH (just kidding Al, I promise I wont get arrested for
smuggling illegal birds)
HOLIDAYS: What to say about holidays? Holidays here
are really well remembered. Argentinians love a good time and will never
forget a time when they can have one. Birthdays are a huge thing and there
is a pattern that is always followed. Don't ask me why, I am still trying to
figure it out myself. The girls bring the cake and the boys bring something
to drink. Always. Makes it easy that way to remember. Halloween here is not
celebrated, much. I say this because no one decorates for it and only three
people came by dressed up. Anyways, every other holiday is celebrated with
an asado, or a barbecue.
FOOD: My favorite part. as mentioned above most
people have asados, all the time, which are barbecues, but these are no
ordinary barbecues. They cook almost every part of the cow. Including
several of the inner parts. Although slightly disgusting to think about,
just don't ask and everything tastes fine. Another part of the food here is
lack of seasoning. They do not season any of the meat. They say that they
wish to taste only the flavor of the meat and not the spices. The only spice
used in abundance here is salt. My dad would love this country. As he says,
"if it isn't liquid or chocolate, it needs salt." A phrase heartily upheld
by the Argentinians. Fresh bread, vegetables, and fruit are also a large
part of the diet. I found out the fruit was very fresh because it goes bad
after a week or week and a half instead of the fruit in the states that
stays fresh for like what.. three weeks. The fresh bread is great and when
ever I am missing home I go downstairs and break out the secret stash of
peanut butter. Yeah for peanut butter. Although I have found dulce de leche
which is addictive in its own way and when on a kind of Argentinian cookie
called an alfojor, it is to die for. I have liked every part of the food I have tried here except one. It is a sausage called morcella. It is made with
the blood of the cow. It has a very interesting taste and a very odd texture
that is disgusting to the touch. I can predict now that I will most likely
come home with the exchange student fifteen pounds and a craving for dulce
de leche and alfojores.
OTHER: My Spanish has improved so much since I arrived it is absolutely astounding.
I am learning words everyday and new
things also. I have been out to see the night life and dance the entire
night away and then gone to school the next day. Fun stuff. I'm definitely
going to miss how alive and booming this city is when I am gone, but I can't
think of that right now. I am going to have to soak up as much as I can and
live my time to the fullest. I can't think why anyone would not want to be
an exchange student.
From Argentina with love.
Besos
Christian |
December 18 Journal and Pictures
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Hey
everyone, OK I have heard the expression that time flies and that it goes
faster the older you get but this year is INSANE. Four months have gone by
and it feels like its been one... or scratch that I have lost all sense of
time. All I know is that I have seven more months to do everything that I want to do. Achievable.
I hope. But if I don't make it, maybe just maybe I will have to come back and visit. Hehehe.
I have just returned from the Rotary trip to the south of Argentina. WOW it
was crazy. There is every type of land formation you could ever want in
Argentina, well at least to me. There are the plains of Wyoming and the
mountains like The Rockies and then again aren't they part of The Rockies,
well anyway they were beautiful. There are gigantic lakes of emerald and
wonderful waterfalls in every national park. I have to say that I think we
saw every national park in the south of Argentina. After a while they all
look the same though, but that's after about the fifth one. But I am not
complaining. There were twenty two of us on the trip so it was quite
diverse. Many of the students were from the states. A lot from New York and
Minnesota. I have no idea why. But they were all cool and there were four
people who spoke German so they spoke German almost the entire trip and
anyone that was paying attention picked up on some of the words... even if
they were the bad ones. We also had people from Belgium, France, a Swiss, a
CRAZY Dane, a Hungarian, and a Austrian.
The trip itself was very tiring since we had to cover three thousand
kilometers in twenty days. This meant several days were spent entirely on
the bus. We only got grumpy when all of our ipods and cd players ran out of
batteries. Otherwise we were always in a fairly good mood except on the
mornings that we had to wake up at six to the sound of CHICOS, CHICOS! Those
two words struck irritation into all of our hearts when we heard it...
unless we were making fun of it. The trip traveled down the Atlantic coast,
not right on the coast but sometimes we did catch glimpses of it, and
traveled down to a place called Tierra del Fuego. We did stop in other
little towns along the way to get there but they are not super important so
I won't bore you. But there was one town that we were right on this
lake/port thing and all the boys and some of the girls went swimming. Really
cold but super fun. Anyways Tierra del Fuego is part of Argentina but you
have to pass through Chile to get there unless you fly. Yeah!!! Now I can
say I have been to Chile and its stamped in my passport. Yeah!!!
Sorry. Once you pass through several hours of what seems to be desert and
wasteland you come to the southern part of the area and it is really quite
nice. Ushuaia is the southern most city in the word and is really a nice
little town. A little chilly for flip flops which were quickly changed out
for closed toed shoes. HEHE. Many of the students went around and bought
things in the town and the Crazy Dane as before mentioned bought a cowboy
hat. We all though this was stupid at first but it was really cool and
everyone came to love the hat and girls were always wanted a picture with
the hat. SWEET. Well we only were staying for a day so that night we decided
to see what the night life was like at the bottom of the world. We paid our
entrance fee and soon found out that the exchange students were the party on
the bottom of the world. We stayed out until we had to leave because our bus
was going to leave without us. In the south there we got to stop and walk on
a glacier and drink glacier water and eat Argentinian candy on top of the
glacier.
On the way back north we stopped at a lot of national parks but a few were
very cool because one was by what seemed like a jump off point for tourist
hikers and mountain bikers. There we had some great fun. We hiked three
kilometers into the national park/tourism thingy-ma-bob and stopped at a
waterfall for lunch and spent the entire day there just sun bathing and
having fun. The water fall was about thirty to forty feet tall and me and
one other guy named Joe from Minnesota (amateur photographer) went to the
top of the waterfall and got great pictures and found a little secluded spot
that had its own private waterfall and a pool area. Later that day some of
us just laid out and looked at the stars because they were so clear. Another
major town we stopped at was Bariloche. Bariloche is the party capital of
Argentina. Although of this fact we decided to forgo the partying because it
was fifty pesos to get into the club and we didn't feel like walking twenty
three kilometers each way. Because the last few days left us with very
little to do. In one small town four of us dyed our hair. I am now
officially a black haired boy. As the trip came to a close and we were on
the bus for the last night, Argentina granted us with a beautiful sunset.
That morning as we rolled into Buenos Aires, we were all destroyed but had
so much fun that we didn't care at all. We all said our goodbyes and hoped
that we would see each other again on the trip to the north. Now I am
feeling free and having a great time because I am on summer vacation and
about to go to the beach. yeah!!!! I hope you all enjoyed my rendition of
the trip but I know that you will never know the true amount of fun unless
you experience it for yourself.
With love from Argentina.
Christian
Waterfall |
Glacier! |
At the bottom of the world |
Incredible sunset |
Church in Bariloche |
Me in front of the seven best view in
the world (ironic to say the least) |
Welcome to Chile - oh yeah watch
out for mines (little red sign) |
Me just chillin in the
Patagonian desert |
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February 11 Journal
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All
I can say right now is "wow I am really tired". I have just returned from
the craziest month of my life. For the past month I have been chilling on
the beach and having fun during the night nonstop for the past thirty or so
days. Alright now that you know why I am tired I will tell you what happened
during that crazy month.
To begin, Pinamar is one of the best beaches in Argentina so I was extremely
fortunate to be invited by a friend to go and stay at a house they had
rented near the beach. We left on the 29 of December so we could make it for
new years. For some in the states twelve pm is late and they stay up until
midnight like twice a year, well here if you even made the suggestion of
going to bed at midnight they would seriously check to see if you are ok.
Normal curfew for kids around here is about thee or four in the morning. In
other words the new years dinner lasted until midnight and everyone was
having a good time. If there is one thing Argentinians can do, it is eat. It
is absolutely incredible how much the people each here and then most of them
are in good shape.
Anyways the dinner was asado or barbecue. The asado is almost a
reverent ceremony but with the drinking of lots of beer and good good
company. The meal consists of several different courses and different
types of meat. First there is a sausage called choriso and is almost
always with bread, and then it is called a churipan. Really good and only
the beginning. Although the meat here is only seasoned with salt I find that
I enjoy it as much as seasoned meat. Along with the choriso
is salads of lettuce and potato and eggs. The next course is several
different types of meat from different parts of the cow. Such places
as the neck, intestines, and other places I didn't ask. The next
course is meat from the ribs and pork. And the last course to come in
is the regular cow meat cooked the slowest so it is the most tender.
When the cook walks into the room with the last part of the meal everyone
claps and cheers and praises the cooking. After everyone has had their
fill of meat and the chatter starts to build the plates are cleared away and
ice cream is brought out. That is the overview of an asado. In
some families there is one every week and in others they have one only once
a month. But every one follows this pattern whether big or small.
After the magnificent meal all the kids go into town to have some fun.
Pinamar is relatively small so it is a lot of people is a very small area.
A very common and favorite game of the kids here is metagol or table soccer.
It is very easy to meet lots of people because if you know one person they
know five more and those people all have friends and so on and so forth.
I was amazed at how well I could remember the names now. The names
here are all different so I couldn't remember the names to save my life but
I started to remember all the names. Yippy. After about a week of
having fun and getting to know people the next big thing was The Wailers
concert. For those that don't know who The Wailers are, they are the
band that performed with Bob Marley when he was singing. And the
coolest thing was that the concert was free.
After the concert we were all starving from dancing to reggae for several
hours so we went to a place called Pancho Pueblo. The name means
pretty much "hotdog town" but these are not your normal hotdogs.
nooooo. These are foot long hotdogs with with ham and cheese melted on
the top and then two sauces of different kinds such as spicy, four cheese,
and things of this nature with little crunchy potato fries on top. One
thing I have to complain about here is the french fries. They are more like
potato slivers. In other words the panchos are awesome. Every
morning around four we would eat one. I am addicted.
The next really nice thing was on the beach when they had a bikini fashion
show and some of Argentina's biggest models were there. I can say only
one word. GORGEOUS! I love it here. Just about the only
advertisements here is beautiful women. For everything, drinks, drugs
(legal ones), clubs, beaches, and clothes.
The last week was the best and by this time I was well tanned also after
being on the beach for the minimum of four hours a day. I went out
twice to party and had a great time. The first time we started the day
by playing pool and then went to a little bar/club. The dance floor
was small but there was a lot of people on the floor and a really good DJ.
The second time I went out was the last night I was in Pinamar. We
left for a place called Ku. One of the biggest night clubs I had ever
seen. It was so big it needed three entrances. The main building
was two floors and then it had several smaller building surrounding it.
There were rooms for every type of music you could want. There was the
techno room, my personal favorite, the rap and hip hop room, the
cumbia room, kind of like Argentina rap, and then several areas of
normal all around mixes. It was really nice - if you didn't like the
music, change the room. We entered around two and watched the sunrise from
the back of Ku over the ocean. A real sight. To accompany the
sunrise was another fashion show.
Around six or so we left to go home and get some rest and then the next day
we left for Buenos Aires and back to normality again. Well almost.
When I got back we realized that the family that was my next family was in
Brazil and will be there for the next two weeks. So maybe normality
isn't the word I want to use. I will never forget my month in Pinamar.
I still can't wait to see what comes next in an adventure
filled with surprises of every shape and form.
With love from Argentina.
Christian |
March 14 Journal and Pictures
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Hola
muchachas y muchachos,
Wow things are really starting to speed up or slow down. I have no idea which but
I do know that I have lost all track of time. I have
also lost all of my spelling abilities in English. fun huh. That will not be
fun jumping right back into school when I get back. Alright but where to
start with my story. There are so many stories and side stories and I want
to tell them all but then I think I would definitely win the prize as
longest journal ever. As the life of a the normal exchange students goes,
nothing is ever easy except in rare occasions and then usually someone is
messing with me. But anyway I can take and keep on ticking.
When I returned from the beach I was welcomed with the
news "oh yeah, your host family is in Brazil for another two weeks." At that
moment I was having pictures of me sleeping on the street. But that has
never happened to an exchange student before so I quickly dismissed the
thought and went on to think about where I was headed to next. To my
surprise I was headed to the house of my club's president. His family warmly
welcomed me and I felt like one of the family in no time. But when two weeks
were up I was headed to my next family and spent a month there (I don't know
why) and then I was switched again to a family that is great. But I was
rather surprised when I walked into my new room and it was pink. Not just
pink but TWO different shades of pink. Their daughter Dana is in
Jacksonville right now and to tell the truth I am a little jealous. I really
miss my big semi boring city for some reason. Maybe it's the beach.
The last few weeks for me have really been busy. I had my
birthday for which I was surprised with trip to a theme park for a day with
several of the exchange students here and my host brother. Lots of fun and
there was this thing that they towed you up about twenty stories and I was
strapped into a harness with Oliver the student from Switzerland and then
they proceeded to drop us into a huge parabolic swing. It was wildly fun but
extremely hot. Surprisingly I don't miss air conditioning a lot and I am
most likely going to freeze my butt off when I get back though. Exactly
eight days later one of my good friends here had his birthday and we partied
and had... you guessed it. An asado. This was his 17th birthday which
is pretty big here because here it means you can drive. It's like our 16th
birthday. After that I had the good luck of the exchange student with me and
I got tickets for a show of Argentinian history. All of the show involved
horses and some form of Argentinian cowboys. A very good show and a quick
history lesson for me. hehehe.
I am starting my second week of school this week and the
past weekend was I think the busiest weekend of my entire life or maybe not
the busiest but definitely the most tiring. On Saturday I went walking
around the capital trying to see everything I could see in the tourist
aspect of the city. It's like trying to see all the things in Washington
D.C. - it's not possible. I have to say since I haven't seen Washington or
Europe, Buenos Aires has awesome architecture. I spent seven hours walking
around the capital and when me and my friend decided to head back we both
fell asleep on the train. Not the most safe thing to do but we were
exhausted. But that didn't even finish my day at all. My day was not going
to end until six thirty in the morning. After I got home I got cleaned up,
said adios to my host parents again, and I was off for an asado
(barbecue) with my friends. An asado here always includes meat,
music, and friends, lots of them. And after that you can do whatever you
want. During the party I was invited to a party and of course I want to go
party with you guys. Well, lucky for me that I was a foreigner because
otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get past the door. There were so many
people they had bouncers at the gates. Once inside it is absolutely
incredible how fast an accent can make you friends. Soon I was surrounded by
a group of people all asking me questions and things like that. The party
wrapped up around six and I caught a cab back to my house. Around three the
next day my host mom woke me up and I sleepily ate my food and then took a
shower and I was much better and then the entire family went to a place
called Palermo. A place full of culture and noise of Buenos Aires. During
the weekends there is a market of sorts like a old medieval town or
something with lots of people and lots of little tents with vendors calling
out to people to buy their wares and other people performing for money and
things that are all colorful and alive.
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May 19 Journal and Pictures
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Hey
everyone, the last month or two or however long I have been off the grid for
have been absolutely amazing. All the exchange students know exactly what I
am talking about when I say that we have really come to be a part of our
country and love and enjoy it. I am apologizing in advance if my English is
somewhat unsatisfactory. I guess that means I have really become immersed
when your mother tongue is horrible and it's easier to understand things in
Spanish.
I know that I don't want to leave but I kind of have to when my visa expires
and governments don't really like illegal aliens in their country no matter
how laid back the country is. It's amazing how much I have changed in the
last months here. I don't know exactly when or how I changed but I can tell
there is a definite change in me. I have been trying to do as many things in
the wonderful city of Buenos Aires as possible in the short time I have
left. Right now I have been visiting the free jazz festival that is being
held right now all over the city. I have never visited a city like Buenos
Aires and I hope to visit more but BA will always have a special place in my
heart forever.
Over the past two months I have seen ever more of Argentina in the trip to
the north with the some really cool exchange students but not as cool as the
group from Jax. While the trip on the bus was a little uncomfortable it was
unbelievably fun with the crazy Germans and the one and only Swiss. I will
remember them forever and always have fond memories of getting into trouble
but never really because we were just too darn cute and charming. As I said
I spent most of my time with the Germans and the Swiss who also spoke German
so my German has also improved incredible. hehe. In every place we visited
we tried to do something out of the ordinary, not on purpose, but because it
was something to do so that we would remember the trip even better. We did
things like hiking in our boxers or trying to always find the highest place
and get to the top and back down before we had to go. It was things like
that that I will always remember about this trip. Gracias Matias, Philip,
y Oliver por las memorias. Some of the places we travel to we places
like Jujuy, Tilcara, Salta, Mendoza, and Tucuman. Very nice all of them but
a little dry for me. Almost all of those places are high altitude desert so
my lips died on that trip.
We visited the Waterfalls of Iguazu or however you spell it I forgot.
INCREDIBLE!!!!! If you ever have the chance to go there DO NOT turn it down.
There are also a ton of butterflies and tons of wildlife. Its just too bad
that I think I got water in my camera from the falls but its all right, they
were amazing. We also went to several restaurants that had special people
come in for us and dance and play music and we got to dance and have a grand
time. We also visited some ruins that were really neat and reminded me of a
series that I read when I was little that the castle was made of all red
stone just like the ruin we went to. I have a ton of pictures despite the
fact that my camera is a piece of crap and always can't focus or doesn't
have batteries. Well the last one is partly my fault but I like to blame it
on the camera anyways cause it can't fight back.
One of my most vivid memories is the last night on the bus when all of us
were on the bus singing and dancing and talking and enjoying maybe the last
time we would ever be together again. It was in that moment the national
anthem of Argentina came on because it was one on of the cds and all of us
started singing at the top of our lungs the national anthem of Argentina.
when it finished we then proceeded to sing the national anthem of every
country represented there. Canada, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and the
United States. After all the anthems we all cheered and went immediately
back to singing and having a jolly old time. I have now traveled this
country from top to bottom and there really is no other country like it in
the word. It's beautiful. I can't believe it!
My host family is incredible. I am saddened that I will have to leave and
finish my year in another house but I guess that Dana, their daughter will
want her room back. Wow that's right my year is almost over. I only have two
months left. But in the same instant I am happy to see my friends again but
like when I left I have to leave the friends I have made here and there
isn't the known chance that I will see them again because I don't know when
I will return again and that saddens me but I know that every student in
another country will be doing the same so I must go on and look to the
future that I will see them again one day, or just save my money and come
back next year.
And recently I have started taking salsa classes in my neighborhood. The
teacher is very nice and it's very informal and there are only a few people
per class so every class is very personal and fun. I have never taken a
dance class before but it is really fun and now I can impress the ladies.
heheh.... yeah anyways.
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Christian Ray
