Spring Break in Argentina

To be completely honest, I did not even know that we had spring break until the others in my cohort mentioned it. I didn't have anything in mind for that break, and I intended to just stay in Santiago and get some rest throughout the week.  I knew at one point that I wanted to go to Argentina since it was so nearby, but I didn't have any set plans. But a couple of people in my cohort have mentioned that they were interested in spending the week in Argentina, so I joined along, and it was super fun. I'm going to give a short recap of the fun that we had that week, and hopefully, if you're studying abroad, you'll consider traveling elsewhere for the week of spring break.

The week started off with an eight-hour bus ride to Mendoza. The long-distance buses are pretty different in Chile, where you can upgrade your seat to these almost fully retractable couches.  We drove through the Andes, and the view was breathtaking. I wanted to try sleeping through the ride, but I couldn't with the amazing view. Eventually, we went through border control in Argentina, and we shortly arrived in Mendoza. We arrived to Mendoza on the weekend, and the majority of the businesses were closed, but it allowed us to explore the pretty quiet city. The first day was mainly spent walking around the town and enjoying all of the parks and cafes. Later on, we went to a winery where we did a horseback tour. This would be my second time riding a horse during study abroad, and it's probably one of my favorite experiences abroad. Wherever you are in the world, definitely do at least one horseback riding trip to go off the beaten trail and see amazing views.

After the weekend, we took a plane to Buenos Aires, a completely different part of life from Mendoza. No matter the day, no matter the hour, there were always people in the streets, in cars driving down the road. We went to La Recoleta Cemetery, a world-renowned Cemetery in Buenos Aires. The cemetery is completely different than the ones in the US, where instead of seeing fields of grass with tombstones scattered about, you instead see almost a city-like grid system of mausoleums. The architecture was impressive, and you could see statues and paintings of gold in the cemetery. Later, we went to the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art, where we got to look at various pieces of modern paintings and sculptures. 

We cooked for some of the evenings in our Airbnb, and it was a good way to save money while traveling. My favorite memory, though, from our week and Buenos Aires was definitely going downtown at night, where the city is illuminated and you can see bright Billboards everywhere. You Could See street performers dancing, and I even bought a football jersey from one of the corner shops. The city was impressive and I loved every moment of it.

 If you're studying abroad and you're lucky enough to have a fall or spring break, definitely take that break and take advantage of being somewhere new, and travel outside of your host city. The week was a lot of fun for me, and I got to travel somewhere I probably won't ever have the opportunity to travel to for a very long time.