As a latino male, I didn’t expect the type of culture shock I would experience in Buenos Aires. While the pasta and pizza joints on every block are a wonderful representation of Argentina’s Italian influence, I’ve seen and met a lot of people that lead me to believe that Argentina is evolving into an even more culturally rich country. There are new and old incomers from South American neighbors like Colombia, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries.

Finals are nearing and emotions are stirring. My time here in Argentina is almost done. Can you believe that? I can't! I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the nearing end of my program. I felt like I needed some time to reflect on the last few months and think about how I wanted to close out my last few moments. This was a good enough excuse for me to pause studying and take the ferry across Rio de La Plata straight into Uruguay.

New Friends

When I was really young I thought it was funny how the Zoo in Seattle had an exhibit with the same type of Elk that would wander through my field back home making a nuisance of themselves. They were such a mundane part of life that I couldn’t imagine them being interesting to anyone. Living on these islands for the past three months strolling by sea lions every day on my way to school and shooing away Darwin’s finches as I eat my lunch, I have to wonder if those who grow up here feel the same. Do these islands feel as special as they really are?

¡Hola a todos y Feliz Navidad! ‘Tis the season to get into the holiday spirit, and Granada has really been showing off with beautiful lights adorning every street and dulces de navidad in every bakery window.

For a city that's literally named "good airs", Buenos Aires doesn't always offer the high air quality one's respiratory system would expect. A walk through its streets delivers all the enticing scents of city life: a breath of car exhaust, a waft of overfilling dumpster, a refreshing whiff of tar-flavored construction dust, the sweet aroma of whatever some poodle ate for breakfast.

These pictures provide only a taste to the beauty, wonder, and perplexity that is to be found in everyday life.  Despite the walls of divison that we often erect between us, may the short glimpses that follow be a small reminder of our shared humanity.  

It turns out that after living somewhere for four and a half months, it can feel very nearly like home. In Cape Town, this was certainly the case. I grew close with other IES Abroad and UCT students and finally figured out how to situate myself based on where I saw the three mountain peaks.