Hola Amigos!

So I have officially been here three weeks now, and I can honestly say that I’m starting to feel comfortable living down here. I’m starting to develop my own little routine, and life is slowly starting to speed up. Nothing crazily exciting happened this week because most of the week was spent preparing for the CELU, but I’ll talk about that later in my blog. Tuesday I had my first oral presentation for my intensive Spanish course, and our topic was the environment in Argentina. With a little help from CNN.com, I found an article about sheep herders in Patagonia, the region in southern Argentina. Apparently, they are facing some difficulties right now because the fields are being overgrazed. To be completely honest, I was fascinated by what I learned about raising sheep and the developments that are being made in the sheep rearing industry. Did you know that a field for grazing can capture as much carbon from the air to reduce the greenhouse effect as a forest? That’s pretty neat! I talked to my host family to gather more information, and apparently it is a popular topic for discussion down in these parts because my family had lots to say.

After class on Wednesday, we decided to go to an art museum near campus because museums are free on Wednesdays for students. The museum was called Museo Emilio Caraffa and it had a bunch of different modern art pieces. Here’s a pic of the museum, it’s much smaller than it looks haha: It was definitely worth the price, seeing as the price was free, although I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of modern art. I love paintings of nature or abstract people and scenes, but geometry is not really my cup of tea. It’s difficult for me to look at a picture of two squares and a circle and find a deeper meaning, but hey, whatever floats your boat! Next to the museum is the Plaza de Bicentaurio, which is a plaza that was constructed to commemorate 200 years of Argentine history. Here’s a pic of what it looks like: There are 200 different circles in the plaza, each with a year and a fun fact/important memory from the year. Personally, I think it looks more like a plaza for the Olympics with all the rings, but I’m sure there was a reason for choosing the circles.

Thursday was the big day for us all; the day we had the CELU. Essentially, the CELU evaluates your ability to write and speak the Spanish language to provide schools and employers with an assessment of your abilities. The CELU is a standardized assessment that you can put on your resume to prove to an employer that you actually can speak Spanish. Although, I’m pretty sure if they interviewed you in Spanish, they could find out pretty quickly. For us, we had to take this exam so we’d be able to take classes at the University of Cordoba this fall. No pressure right? The first part of the exam is a listening activity where you have to listen to a radio announcement and then respond to a question about the announcement. Following this, there are three more writing assignments, each about a page in length. You have three hours to complete all of the written assignments, but I would say most people finished in about two to two and a half hours. After we finished the writing portion, we had a solid chunk of time before our oral examination so we decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch at a restaurant called Betos. Sarah and I shared a Lomito Mex, which is a lomito with a little Mexican kick. Boy oh boy was it tasty! Most of the food here lacks any kind of zest or kick whatsoever, but this Lomito was loaded with peppers so it definitely had a little zing to it. For the oral examination, we had to choose between two posters and speak about one of them for around three minutes. My options were data on how unemployment affects the cerebrum of future generations or a news announcement about a new whale sanctuary off of the coast of Chile. Can you guess which one I chose??? Seeing as I couldn’t tell you much about the cerebrum in English, I thought it wise to go with the whale sanctuary. After my little presentation was the role playing. It is very hard for me to act serious in a different role in English, so I knew this was going to be a challenge for me. I got so lucky with my situation because it didn’t require me to be serious at all. My situation was that I wanted to by a turtle for my son, but they are on the endangered species list in Argentina so I couldn’t. The examiner tried to talk me out of buying the turtle, but I was persistent. I’m not sure if turtles are actually endangered here or not, but it didn’t really matter for the exam. After the exam, I met my speaking partner, Marcos, and we went out to a bar to just chat and get to know each other. I was expecting a student from the university, but he is actually a 30 year old dude who works for Intel. He’s super nice and we get along really well. I’m excited to meet with him more so I can practice my Spanish as well as get some advice on international business because he’s been to the US twice for work and speaks perfect English.

This pretty much concludes everything that happened this week. I’m looking forward to the weekend but not at the same time because there’s a bunch of people from the previous semester that will be leaving this weekend so it’s going to be a sad one.  I hope all is well back in the US and I’ll talk to you soon

Chau Suerte!

Danny

Hey guys! I want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this blog because I forgot to bring my camera with me to the park on Saturday. Rookie mistake, I know. Don’t worry though you’ll still get the wonderful stories

One of the girls from Sarah and I’s program had her birthday this past week, so she organized an event for our entire group to go out Friday night. At dinner, I found out that it was my host brother Nile’s last night in Cordoba before he left for San Francisco. For his final dinner, we had some of his friends over and ordered around 60 empanadas. They were delicious, but after 10 my stomach had just about had it. His group decided to accompany me to the bar where the birthday bash was being held so we’d be able to hangout for Nile’s final night. The bar we went to was this hole-in-the-wall place that had a similar atmosphere to Hollister, dark and loud music. It was fun to just sit and chill with the people from our group as well as the people from the semester before us. Nile and a bunch of his friends wanted to meet up with some people and go to another bar as a sort of send off for Nile, this being at like 2:30 in the morning mind you, so I decided to accompany them because my group was heading to a boliche and I had no desire to go because Sarah was at home not feeling the greatest. Overall, it was a very relaxing evening just sitting and talking with both groups of students. For me, it was really interesting to hear the stories of the students from Nile’s group and to somewhat get a glimpse of what I’ll be experiencing 5 months from now. At this moment, that seems so far away that I cannot fathom what emotions are going to be running through my head. We ended up getting back to our house around 5:30 in the morning, a typical night out in Argentina, just an hour and a half before Nile needed to catch a bus to Buenos Aires.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired on Saturday and decided to sleep until the afternoon. Sarah and I decided to meet up at El Parque de las Naciones, an enormous park pretty much directly between our houses. She still wasn’t feeling the greatest so we decided to just sit and people watch for the afternoon. Watching other people NEVER gets old. You’d be surprised at how many interesting folks you’ll find at park down in Argentina on a Saturday afternoon! Before walking her home, we decided to try churros because my host brother told me they are phenomenal here and for 2 pesos, why not!? (that’s like 50 cents haha) There was a vendor at the park selling churros rellenos, which are churros that are filled with dulce de leche. For those of you not cultured in the beautiful filling called dulce de leche, I’d highly recommend going to the nearest grocery store and picking up a jar! It has a similar taste to caramel, but it’s not the same thing. Argentinians are obsessed with dulce de leche and they put it on EVERYTHING. I especially like it in ice cream These churros were by far the best churros I’ve ever had in my life. You just can’t beat a churro filled with dulce de leche. Here’s a pic!

Sunday was another day of relaxation. To my surprise, my host mom made me eggs and cheese for lunch around 12:30 and it honestly made me think of brunch and how much I miss my American cuisine. After lunch, Sarah came over to my house and we watched part of the championship of the Copa America with my host dad Ramon. Uruguay ended up defeating Paraguay 3-0, but everyone here knew it should have been Argentina in the finals We continued our weekly tradition of walking to an ice cream place before mass and trying new and exotic flavors of ice cream. I have to say this probably has to be one of my favorite traditions down here! Afterwards, we walked to through the park on our way to mass. I still cannot get over how much I love being part of the little parish between Sarah and I’s house. Everyone in the parish is so welcoming and happy to see us every single week. One of the elderly women in the parish is going to get us books on the mass in Spanish so we’ll be able to recite all of the prayers and creeds. Normally you can pick up on what everyone else is saying, but down here, it’s pretty much a free for all without any rhythm for repetition. After mass, Sarah and I walked back to my house because my host mom had invited her over for dinner. As usual, my host mom made a delicious meal of chicken and potatoes and salad, and for desert, we had an interesting mix of avocado, banana, and orange with chocolate sauce on top. It was soooo tasty!

All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend, which was nice because this week had been go, go, go, without many pauses or rests. I have a hunch that the week to come is going to be just as busy as last, but we have a three day weekend coming up, so I think I can manage On a final note, I’d just like to ask that everyone be praying for those affected by the terrorist attack in Norway. I heard about it over the weekend and honestly could not believe what I heard. The sheer evilness of the act is incomprehensible. All of those affected by this tragic event need our prayers and support right now.

Well folks, that’s all for now! I’ll definitely have some more pictures for next time and will not be forgetting my camera again! I hope all is well back home!

Chau Suerte!

Danny

This week of class has pretty much been about the origins of Cordoba and the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba to give us a background of the city we’ll be living in for the next six months. I was unaware that there has been an extremely large Jesuit influence in the province of Cordoba since it was started. It was also the Jesuits who founded the university, which is the second oldest university in South America. Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go on a mini field trip to the Manzana Jesuitica in downtown Cordoba. It is a museum that talks all about the Jesuit roots of Cordoba and how it all began. Here’s a picture of the Jesuit chapel: They have an extremely beautiful chapel, as you can see, filled with intricate detail. Later in the tour, we learned about how intense the process is for students who wish to get their doctorate from the university. Not only is it a ton of schooling, similar to universities in the United States, but at the end of the process is a three day long exam where the student defends his/her thesis in front of family, friends, faculty, and anyone who wishes to sit in. Oh, and I forgot to mention one detail, it’s ALL IN LATIN! I’m sure glad at finals at UST aren’t as intense as these. After the three day examination, family and friends patiently wait outside for the results, holding the nastiest smelling things they could scrounge up from their homes. When the student exits, whether they pass or fail, the crowd throws everything thing they can get their hands on at him/her. A weird way to celebrate huh? Guys have it the worst because they then proceed to cut the clothes you are wearing as well as random patterns into your hair. I think I’m going to stick to the traditional graduation dinner at fancy restaurant after my graduation, but hey, whatever floats your boat!

Wednesday, we had the opportunity to celebrate a holiday unknown to those from the United States, Dia del Amigo (Friend Day for all you non-spanish speaking folk ). I think the best way to describe this holiday would be like Mother’s Day, only for your friends. People buy small gifts for those friends closest to them and everyone goes out of their way to spend extra time with their friends on this day. All of the restaurants are filled for the major meals and tons of people host asados, or bbqs. After dinner, everyone goes out for the evening to the boliches to dance the night away with their friends. We were fortunate enough to have our midterm on Thursday, so while Argentina was enjoying Dia del Amigo, we were sitting in our rooms diligently studying. Our group unanimously decided that we will be bringing this holiday to United States next year so keep your calendars open on July 20! My host family was shocked that we don’t celebrate this day in the United States because the reason it is a holiday is a result of the United States landing on the moon. Kind of a strange thing to celebrate, but why not? Needless to say, next year we will be reclaiming our holiday

Any discouragement we had from our exhausting exam Thursday was quickly forgotten because we were going to see HARRY POTTER AFTER CLASS! I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to see a movie in my entire life. Before we left, Sarah and I were dreading not being able to see Harry Potter for six months. To our surprise, Harry Potter is just as big down here as it is in the United States. Even better, they showed the movie in English! Oh and I forgot to mention we had free passes I have to admit, the movie was an emotional rollercoaster for me. There were parts where I nearly cried and parts where I was literally on the edge of my seat, heart pounding. It was bittersweet because I absolutely loved the movie, but I didn’t want the series to end. Our generation grew up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and now their adventures are over. What a way to end it though! I can now resume my friendship with everyone back home who had seen the movie because I didn’t want them telling me anything about the movie haha.

On Fridays, we don’t have class, but this week we had a trip scheduled to Alta Gracia, a smaller city about 40 minutes south of Cordoba. While there, we visited the Estancia Jesuita, a Jesuit estate in the center of the city that dates back hundreds of years. Like a majority of larger cities in the province of Cordoba, the Jesuits were the first ones to establish the cities. Obviously, there were indigenous inhabitants there before them, but the Jesuits were the first to erect official cities. Here’s a pic of the estate: It was really interesting to learn about the first European settlers of the province of Cordoba, as well as the similarities and differences between how this area was developed compared to the United States. After the Estancia Jesuita, we went to the house of Che Guevara, a crucial leader various rebellions across South America. Here’s a picture of his house: They pretty much idolize Che Guevara here, to the extent that their word for “dude” is “che!” Being a tour guide, I tend to analyze all of the tour guides for whatever excursion I’m going on, and I have to say that tour guides are much more direct here. They flat ask you questions like a professor in class would and put you on the spot. To most of you, this may seem quite odd, but to my fellow tour guides back at UST, you know what I’m talking about! UST obviously has best tour guides in the business, not to toot our own horns or anything Alex and Mirella, here’s your shoutout haha! The tour was followed by an extravagant lunch, consisting of bread, salad, french fries, steak, and ice cream! What a wonderful combination

It’s weird to think that I’ve already been here for two weeks and that my summer class is half over. I’m finally starting to fall into a rhythm, and things are starting to move much faster than at the start. This weekend is an open weekend as of right now. Tonight we’re going to a boliche for one of the girl from our program’s birthday so that should be a lot of fun! Also, there is an art fair downtown Sunday night that we’re thinking of attending because we’ve heard it’s a lot of fun to just go and walk around for an evening. We’ve got options so we’ll see how things play out! I hope everything is going well back stateside and I’ll talk to ya’ll soon!

Chau Suerte!

Danny

This passed weekend was our first three day weekend so we decided that it would be fun to get away from the bustling city of Cordoba and explore other cities in the province. Sarah found out about a Chocolate Festival taking place in a city called Villa General Belgrano about two hours south of Cordoba from one of her roommates. We read online that there would be a bunch of festivities throughout the weekend, including a chocolate fountain where you could bring different items, typically fruits, to dip in the fountain. Needless to say, there was not much discussion on where we would be spending our three day weekend. In Argentina, bus travel is the cheapest way to get between cities/areas of the country. We left Friday morning and we’re in the lovely city of Villa General Belgrano by noon. Even though the city is a total tourist trap, it was so nice and refreshing to be outside of the hectic city life and just relax. Both of our host moms suggested we visit La Cumbrecita, an even smaller town about an hour bus ride outside of Villa General Belgrano, to get  a true sense of what Cordoba is really all about. Our host moms couldn’t have been more correct! The village was beautiful, especially with the mountains in the background. Here is the view as you enter the city. La Cumbrecita was the first peotonal city, which means people are not allowed to drive in the city. There is a parking lot just outside the city where everyone parks and then walks to their houses. The town is not very large at all and it is an excellent place to go hiking! We climbed a mountain called Cerro Wank, accompanied by two wild dogs as our guides, where we saw wild horses! Sarah was brave enough to pet one and I have the proof right here The view from Cerro Wank was absolutely incredible and here it is: After scaling a mountain, we made a trek to the largest waterfall in La Cumbrecita.All this nature in one place; how neat is that?!? The day was definitely a workout with all of the hiking, but the scenery was totally worth it. We got back to Villa General Belgrano around 8 and decided to walk into to town for a hearty meal after a long day of walking. One of Argentina’s signature dishes is the Lomito. I have to say it is quite the sandwich! Mine consisted of steak, ham, cheese, lettuce, fried egg, and tomatoes and boy was it delicious. After stuffing our faces, we made our way back to the hostel where we were staying, Albergue El Rincon. The hostel was on the outskirts of the small town and it totally reminded me of camp. It was definitely a family environment and the staff were extremely friendly. This was our first experience with hostels, and it was a great one!

The following day was the Chocolate Festival, or the 27th Fiesta del Chocolate Alpino as it is formally known as. We headed downtown where we stopped by a bakery to grab a quick breakfast before exploring the festival. After finding out that it didn’t start til later in the day, we decided to climb El Paseo de La Virgen, a mountain just outside the city. The climb took us around an hour or so, and it was a tough climb, but the view was totally worth it. This is the look of accomplished mountain climbers, who, although you can’t see, were terribly sweaty from the climb From the top, you could see the entire city of Villa General Belgrano, as well as all of the surrounding towns and mountains. Have a look for yourself! We made our way down the mountain and walked back downtown trying to contain our excitement for this Chocolate Festival. To our somewhat disappointment, the Chocolate Festival was much smaller than we anticipated. In our minds, we were picturing a festival outside with a giant chocolate fountain in the center. In reality, the festival was contained in what appeared to be a theater and there was no giant chocolate fountain On the plus side, there was an entire wall of chocolate vendors selling homemade chocolate! It was a little pricey, but how often do you get to eat homemade truffles at a Chocolate Festival in a small village in Argentina? Those truffles were probably the most TASTY truffles I’ve ever had in my life. Even though the Chocolate Festival wasn’t nearly what we were anticipating, it was still a terrific experience.

This weekend was so incredibly needed I can’t even describe it. Simply being outside of the city in the fresh air and breathing clean, pure air was fantastic. There’s so much stress associated with living in the city and constantly being on the go that merely having no obligations or schedules or traffic noise is rejuvenating. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Argentina in the six months I’m here and to getting outside the city more to discover the true Argentina. This week we have two trips planned with our program, one to a Jesuit museum near the university and the other is to Alta Gracia, a city just outside Cordoba. There’ll definitely be more stories to come!

Chau Suerte!

Danny

Wow this week has flown by! I apologize for not posting this sooner, but the internet in my house went out so I had to wait until I got back to school and could use their internet. This week has been a little more difficult for me in terms of adjusting to the new schedule. Right now, my mind is in summer mode so I’m thinking of going to the lake, spending time with friends, fishing, and all of those fun things associated with summers in Minnesota. This is problematic because it is winter here and I’m in class for a good part of the day. As well, I’m on the other side of the world. I have accepted the fact that I will most likely be hungry and tired for the next six months because my body does not like waiting until 10 PM to eat dinner. My intensive Spanish grammar class is really draining. It’s not terribly difficult, but sitting in class for 5 hours a day when you’re accustomed to enjoying summer this time of year takes a toll on you. Acting out situations that we may or may not ever encounter in class is pretty funny. If you don’t have fun with the situations, the day would take forever. There are four girls in our class of 11 from France, and it is really cool to hear their perspectives on different things. Also, they are extremely good actresses in the various situations, which makes class more interesting. I’ve always found humor in the sayings people starting to learn English for the first time learn and say, but I know realize that I am doing exactly the same thing. I’m sure the people hear try extremely hard not to laugh when I attempt to communicate with them. The whole language barrier thing is not as terrible as I thought it was going to be. You’d be surprised what you can accomplish when you’re thrown into a situation where you have no other option but to speak Spanish because nobody understands English. My host family is extremely helpful and they talk to me all of the time. Not only does this help my speaking and listening abilities, but I also learn different things about Argentinian culture. I was not aware that they made cars that run on natural gas, but apparently they do because my host family has one! The call it Nafta, and it was “invented” after there was a drastic price increase in their gasoline.

I watched my first Argentinian futbol game this week at a bar downtown, and was it an experience. Sarah and I went with like 6 people from our program downtown to find a place to watch the match, and we found this little bar without too many people in it when we got there. However, the bar was packed by the time the match started. Fanta in hand, which by the way is absolutely delicious down here because they use real sugar, we watched Argentina play Costa Rica. On the way to the bar, I saw buses filled with people heading to the stadium in Cordoba to watch the game because that is where the game was being held. Flags were flying out the windows, horns were sounding, and people were cheering the whole way. It was so cool to see an entire country rally behind their team and be so passionate about their sport. The game was pure Argentinian domination. Costa Rica is not one of the strongest teams to begin with, and they didn’t stand a chance with the way Argentina was playing. Argentina routed them 3-0 in an impressive performance. During the game, everyone in the bar was silent and focused intently on the game. The only time there was noise was when the ref made a bad call or when Argentina scored. I learned the hard way not to keep your hands on your lap and under the table during the game because when Argentina scores, everyone throws up their hands and starts yelling. I hit my hand on the table all three times Argentina scored and had a bruise the next morning haha but I consider it a battle wound and I like to think I’m a legit fan because of it!

Also this week I was able to do something that’s been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember; GO TO A FUTBOL GAME IN SOUTH AMERICA! Sarah and I got tickets with a bunch of students from our program to the Brazil versus Ecuador game at el Estadio de Cordoba. Although I didn’t have a personal draw to either team, the experience in and of itself was truly incredible. I’ve never been to a sporting event with so much passion and excitement before in my life. It was like Tommie/Johnnie times 10! People brought musical instruments that were sounding periodically throughout the game. Each set of fans had their songs that they’d sing to mock the other team. It was truly remarkable! We decided to root for Ecuador because they were less of a threat to Argentina in the Copa America, which was evident in the large number of fans rooting for Ecuador while holding up Argentinian flags/wearing Argentinian jerseys. Brazil won 4-2, but it was still an exciting game. Towards the end, all of the people rooting for Ecuador revealed their true colors when they began an Argentina cheer. The atmosphere gave me goosebumps and Sarah and I decided that if we have the opportunity to attend an Argentina futbol game, we will without a doubt be there! Here’s a pic of el Estadio de Cordoba:

This past weekend, Sarah and I planned a trip to a Chocolate Festival in Villa General Belgrano, which is about 2 hours by bus from here so I’ll have plenty of stories from that trip as well that I’ll be posting within the next couple days!

Chao Suerte!

Danny

Well everyone, I made it to Argentina after a solid 24 hours of being on a plane/waiting in an airport. I flew from Minneapolis to Dallas where I met up with my girlfriend, Sarah Mlsna, who is a Junior at UST as well, and then from there we flew to Santiago, Chile, and then finally to Cordoba, Argentina! We made it without any troubles other than a 2 hour delay in Santiago, but I think that was because down here they wait until EVERYONE is on the plane. They literally called somebody’s name a dozen times and waited nearly a half an hour for them. A little different than the US, but it all worked out! Sarah and I treated ourselves to one final American meal in Santiago because the airport had a Ruby Tuesday’s. Of all the restaurants in a Chilean airport, I would not expect to find a Ruby Tuesday! The food was delicious, accompanied by classy American music from the 90′s such as Oops I Did It Again. Remember Brittney Spears before she went crazy??? The Andes mountains are probably the coolest/most impressive geological feature of earth I have ever seen. Two words to describe the view from the plane window: powerful and majestic. Take a look for yourself! Do you ever have those moments in life when you think, man, this seemed like a good idea originally, but WHAT was I thinking? Yeah, I definitely had plenty of those moments on the way down. I think that’s pretty normal though when you step out of your comfort zone and immerse yourself in something totally new. Needless to say, I was not as confident getting off the plane as I was getting on. My host dad, Ramon, met me at the airport with a warm, Argentinian hug. If you ever heard that Argentinians are crazy drivers, you’re assumptions would be correct! Their roads go every which way, and there’s so many people in the city that you need to be aggressive to get anywhere by car. All that I had heard about Argentinian drivers was confirmed in my first taxi ride from the airport to my house. The house I will be living in for the next six months is located in the residential area of Cordoba, so it’s an extremely safe neighborhood where the houses are

a little more spread out than the downtown area. I have my own room and it has a balcony! Here’s a picture of my room, and the cat you see there is Tigre or Tiger in English, and he likes sleep on my bed/my luggage if I leave my door open during the day. There are two cats, Tigre and Mefisto, or Mefi for short, and they hate each other. My host dad told me that Mefi is like an assassin and will attack Tigre and other animals in the yard. In my host family, there is my host dad Ramon, my host mom Roswitha, their son Hernan, another international student, Neil, who will be here until the end of July, and myself. I was told that Roswitha is the best cook out of all the host moms in the program and the food so far has been nothing but delicious! At first, my stomach had a hard time adjusting to the food, even though it was delicious. However, now I can eat anything without worrying. That first night, Neil, Hernan, and two of Hernan’s Argentinian friends took me our for ice cream, and it was soooo good! Getting to orientation the next morning was definitely an experience. The buses are extremely crowded and they make frequent, jerky stops, but they get you where you need to go. Day numero uno of class was orientation, and to our relief, it was

done in English. I literally had a headache the entire first night, partially from lack of sleep on the plane, but mostly from my brain trying to make the switch to Spanish. We ate lunch at a nice Argentinian restaurant where I had my first encounter with Argentinian steak and boy was it tasty! Next, we had a tour of the city to orientate ourselves with our school and the city where we’ll be spending our next six months. It’s a big city, and it’s weird to think that we’ll know the ins and outs of it within a month or so.

Argentinians begin their nights at 11:00 at the earliest, and Sarah and I experienced this for the first time last night. Two of the girls in the program before us had their birthdays so we went to a boliche, which is like a club almost where people go to dance at night. It was a lot of fun to experience that atmosphere, but staying out until 4:30 in the morning was exhausting haha. I discovered that people here can do that because they just sleep all day on the weekends. It’s a totally different lifestyle and the other international students said it takes a few weeks to adjust to, but then it becomes normal.

Going to mass tonight at a small parish almost directly in the middle of Sarah and I’s houses called Schoenstatt tonight was probably my favorite experience thus far. The old ladies in the parish were so excited to have us attend their parish and everyone was so welcoming and friendly! It amazes me that so much in my life has changed coming down to Argentina, but I go to mass and it’s the same mass that I’m used to back home. Of course it’s in Spanish and I need to learn all of the prayers and creeds in Spanish now, but I know exactly what’s going on in the mass. It was an incredible experience and I’m looking forward to going back and getting to know the various members of the parish.

All of these stories already and I’ve only been here for one weekend! I’m going to try and post twice a week to keep y’all updated on what’s going on down here on the other side of the world. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to fill you in on as I continue to learn the language and the culture. It’s an amazing opportunity that I’ve been blessed to have, and I cannot wait to see what experiences come out of it! Classes start tomorrow at the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba at 9, so I should probably get to bed, unlike the rest of Argentina who’s nights are just beginning haha.

Chau Suerte!

Danny