Starting school and 3 weeks worth of update

I haven’t posted anything here for 3 weeks now and it is because in all honesty, my life has taken a turn for the crazy busy. Here though we finally have an update which I think will mainly be centered around the thing that has been occupying my time; school.

Firstly, my school is a public school and I am in sexto año (year 13). I’m in a social science course and this is because all the schools here have an orientation and you have to do the subjects of that orientation, for example we have arts schools, commercial schools and engineering schools (to name but a few). Mine is centered on science and so there is a natural science course and a social science course and I am in the latter due to it having less students. This means we do subjects such as History, Geography, Methodology, Philosophy and Political Economics and unlike in NZ, we don’t get to choose what subjects we want to do. My favourite subject has to be English haha because everyone else hates it and it is so amusing to notice how the people struggle to piece together sentences and pick up things and it reminds me of my spanish class last year and the difficulties I face everyday. Also I find that I can pick up quite a bit of Spanish from English class, as often she will say something in English, the students won’t understand so then she repeats it in spanish. Other subjects I enjoy are surprisingly Math and Chemistry hahahahaha. This is because the level they are working at isn’t quite as advanced as nz and so I find them very easy. Also they are very structured and often use equations so I don’t need spanish to figure them out. Also the vocabulary is often very similar to English, for example with chemistry, sodium:sodio, chlorine:chloro etc.

Something very different is that the teachers change classes and the students stay in the same class for the whole day, so you always end up sitting in the same seat for the whole day. School starts at 7am (when normally it is just getting light as you can see below) and finishes at 1:30pm (and some days at 12pm when we have to go back to school from 2-4 for Drama or other subjects) and while this is very ideal as it means we have the whole afternoon free, it means that the days are very long here (especially as we dont go to bed until 1-2am here). Also everyday I find that I am so overwhelmingly tired, because firstly I can’t live on 4.5 hours sleep per day and secondly because so much spanish 24/7 means that my brain is always in overdrive. Luckily sometimes I get to nap in the afternoon during “siesta” however I often have stuff I need to be doing and so miss out on the opportunity. Although sometimes in class when it’s a subject that I am not to fond of and it’s 7:30am, I grab a quick power nap.

Being in sexto año means that I am in promo (promotion) and this is a big deal here in Argentina. It is basically the idea that you are graduating that year and so for us we get to wear a specialized polo shirt and letterman jacket with our names. I don’t have the special uniform yet but as we speak it is being made for me. Promo also means that it is a year full of parties and very little work. For example, on the first day of school I arrived to find my whole course outside the school playing drums and dancing around with masks having not slept and been at the park all night partying. This meant that there were only 7 of us (out of 35) in the class on the first day and I ended up spending every lesson being asked ridiculous amounts of questions about NZ by the teachers. The good thing about that though was that I got a chance to get to know a few people in my course on a more personal level before school started the next day. Another thing that came of this though, was that because I spoke reasonable Spanish and understood a fair amount, all my teachers now just seem to assume I understand everything which is an issue haha but that’s okay, my teachers don’t often pick on me to answer stuff so it’s all okay.

My classmates are all crazy and I love them for it. It was so amazing how on the very first day of school they were so welcoming and willing to talk to me. Like within the very first period I had been added to 2 different chats of my course and already had plans for after school. I don’t really talk too much during class or when I’m with them unless I am asked questions as often I am still processing what had just been said and they are already onto a completely different topic haha. This is very different for me because I think anyone who knows me would agree that I like to be center of attention and am often really loud and someone who likes to voice their opinions. I know talking and conversing with people will get easier and for now I am happy to listen and continue to learn. However everyday that passes I feel like my classmates are getting to know a little bit more of the real me. I also know when my spanish is 100% great we are going to be so close, as the people (especially the girls who I spend the most time with) are so my type of people. It’s also really different in my course as we hardly ever have a quiet moment in class and often the students will just yell across the classroom to each other over the teacher and I can’t even begin to imagine this happening in NZ, but for me I love it. I love the craziness and vibe of my class. These are few of the girls in my course:

In the school we also have a massive inter school competition called UBES. This is basically a couple of weekends later on in the year when all the schools compete in things like dance, sports, singing, theatre etc. It’s in September but here they start practicing really early on. I’m really excited for this as it means that I get the opportunity to be involved in the school and have a couple of completely different groups of friends. Yesterday I auditioned and was selected as 1 of 18 out of the school to be a part of a group of girls to do modern dance which was really cool. The selectors were my classmates and so it was really weird having to dance for them but I knew I had to prove myself as they had never seen me dance and in all honesty I killed it. Now everyday (and yes I mean everyday for 2 hours+) I will be busy practicing and hanging out with these girls which I am so excited about but it means that everything is just going to get double as busy. 

With my spanish, yes it continues to improve everyday, yet I find the students so much harder to understand than adults. Often when I talk to adults I can understand nearly the whole conversation which is very helpful but with my classmatess it is honestly a whole other language. This is because it is filled with swear words and colloquialisms but, more than that, it’s because I don’t know about the things they talk about. So basically not only can I not understand the language but also exactly what they are referrering to I don’t know haha. On a backwards note though, I seem to find that sometimes I can’t find words in English when people ask me “how do you say it in English?" or I will write in English and write words in the wrong order and it’s so odd to see my English deteriorating, especially as I have always been very good at English and it’s like my brain needs a switch that flicks me from English and then to Spanish. 

Something else I find so crack up, is that nobody can say my last name: Stanbridge. So everyday when Roxy (a teacher) comes in to take the roll she always goes through everybody’s surname and then with me it’s always “Molly”. It’s so crazy though because in all honesty I have such a normal last name compared to everyone else haha. Also all the names of my classmates are so odd, like Guadalupe, Lautaro, Candela, Gimena, Leandro and then they think I have a weird name?! It’s really cool though because it means that I’m getting to know a whole array of different names. 

My family here are continuing to be amazing. I swear everyday I get more and more personal jokes with my host dad and my host mum and I have bonded over everything as she is someone who I can always talk to. I’m so happy with my family and am going to miss them a lot when I move families. Like yeah sure there are times when we don’t agree but that’s part of being a family and here I am much more level headed about voicing my opinions and it’s probably I should take back with me to nz haha. 

Last weekend was also quite exciting and so I will tell you about it day by day because of it:

Firstly Friday after school there was talk of going to the park (which is a place where my classmates always hang out) but then after school everyone kind of dispersed so I returned home. I ate lunch only to then get a message from Lupe saying to come to the park and so I changed and made my way there. I remember walking through the park, past other groups of people in promo from the other schools and hearing them whispering about how I’m an exchange student and it was so weird, almost like I was famous haha. I finally found my classmates and they greeted me with a chorus of my name. It was really chilled and they had a bbq going and we played a bit of football and chatted. Later I returned home, got changed, showered and ate dinner before going over to Candela’s house as that was where we were having the Previa. It was my first time partying with my schoolmates and they danced basically 24/7 and if they weren't dancing they took photos (as you can see below). It was a really good time and Lex called me on Skype during it and they all met her and screamed down the phone at her in Spanish which was very amusing. At 12:30am everyone took taxis from Candela’s house to the bus station to catch a bus to Morrison (a neighbouring town) and I walked the 2 blocks home as I couldn’t go to Morrison. In all honesty it was probably good that I didn’t go as I was already so tired and I managed to have a decent nights sleep while everyone else had about 3 hours that night. 

On Saturday I went to Cordoba with my family. The journey passed quickly and once there I saw Vir which was really really great! After that I went with Ignacio (one of my host brothers) and Fati (his girlfriend) for a walk around the neighbourhood. We went into this really cool art museum that was in this old palace. It was ridiculously antique and amazing (you can see just how cool below). After that we went through the park and to this gorgeous church (as you can see below on the top right) We finally ended up at this place which they call “the hippies” and it’s basically a massive market with live music and loads of people! We had a bit of time constraint and so i didn’t get the opportunity to look around but i know that I am going to return next time I’m in Cordoba because it is close to Vir’s apartment, there are loads of really great shops and I just love the vibe of it. 

After that I went home and got changed before heading off to a dinner for my host dad’s sisters birthday. Ignacio and Fati picked us up and we drove to their house. I was a bit nervous but also excited to meet a whole new bunch of people. When we arrived everyone was so so welcoming and I immediately felt at home with everyone. It was also a good chance to catch up with Vir! We ate the most ridiculous dinner with about 500 million different salads and an asado (bbq) with an endless stream of meat filling the table. It was so so delicious! Benja’s sister was honestly so lovely and she said that if I was ever in Cordoba that she would love to have me over! I was asked numerous questions about nz and I could see the family resemblance between Benja and his family as they were always joking and laughing. There was also about 5 little kids and they screamed the majority of the night, but they made up for this frustrating racket by batting there long eyelashes and laughing for the rest of the time. One of the girls was called Azul (which means blue) and she had the cutest big blue eyes and dark hair and now I really really love this name. We left at about 1:30am and returned to the apartment to sleep because I was honestly so shattered. 

The next day my family and I went on a round trip to visit some of the tourist attractions of Cordoba! Firstly we went to a place called Laguna Azul which is where I was supposed to be going as a part of a Rotary meet up. My family had never been there before and so we proceeded to get very lost in the process. Google maps took us on this ridiculous detour in which we ended up driving through an over grown trail before we finally figured that surely this wasn’t right. After this we asked numerous people for directions and finally found our way there (on a decidedly more normal road). It was a really gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains and there was a gorgeous little hippy bar there as well (as seen below). They also had this flying fox type thing over the water except that instead of a seat, it had a board so you could wake board without a boat (as shown below)! It looked really nice and hopefully we can go back and enjoy it with a day trip or something. 

After that we continued to drive up north towards the Sierras and stopped to look at these gorgoeus views you can see below and also to have lunch in a small, open cafe on the side of the road. It had a really cool vibe with music, fresh goats cheese hanging from the roof in bags and loads of people. I had a goats cheese and tomato omelette and it was so delicious! After that we continued the journey, passing through Carlos Paz and finally going up into the Sierras. 

The Sierras are basically some very high hills (or a small mountain range) and we wound our way up them in the car. I peered out the window the whole time as we climbed higher and higher and passed through gorgeous villages. It was so special and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then drove back to Cordoba and stopped to get something to take back to the house for a light snack. We got back to the house, drank coffee and snacked on rice biscuits with a drizzle of chocolate before making the journey home. I slept for the majority of the journey home and so it passed rather quickly haha. After this we had dinner and then went to bed for an early night before my first full week of school.

I really really miss my family and friends at home, if I am being honest. It’s not that I’m homesick as such, it’s just really weird to think about life going on at home and people carrying on their day to day lives without me in it. Also I really do miss the normality and the ease of NZ and often in moments where I feel very apprehensive about something or unsure of myself, I feel homesick and miss home. However I Skype my family normally once a week but am also in contact with them nearly everyday through messenger and for me this helps. I knew it would be hard being away from my family especially as we are really close but I am really looking forward to seeing them in June. I know that I can’t spend time pondering about life in NZ as I need to make the most of my life by living in the here and now (which I am don’t you worry).

I keep a schedule of my life and things coming up and I can already see how increasingly busy I am going to be. This past week alone I has been hectic and this coming week I am adding a whole bunch of extracurricular activities to the schedule. I have also signed up for the North trip with Rotary, and this is happening at the end of April! I am so so excited for this!! I cannot wait to meet all the exchange students of my district as I know that we are going to get along so well and make amazing memories. Something that is quite unfortunate though is that one of the boys from another district, went with Rotary to Iguazu falls and got Dengue (a really dangerous disease) and so now we aren’t able to go. This really sucks as it is one of the most spectacular falls in the world and now I probably won’t get the opportunity to go there. 

I have now been here for over 7 weeks and yet I feel like I have been gone a lifetime. The weird thing is though, is that everyday seems to fly by and the weeks keep going faster and faster and yet I feel like I’ve been here way longer? It’s honestly such a weird feeling. I know this exchange is going to fly by though and yesterday we got confirmation of our flights home sent through from Roger. It’s weird because I have so much time ahead of me but I can already feel the clock counting down and ticking away. 

The food here is so different and yet not? Here there are definitely more gf alternatives than I first thought there was, for example yesterday we made the most scrumptious spinach and boiled egg pastry with this amazing store bought base. The base was more delicious than any I’ve tried in nz. However with things like bread it is definitely not on an NZ level, and same with cereals. God what I would give for a bowl of Brookefarm’s muesli or smoked salmon on toast. The food here is really really good though and I am happy with it all no matter how much I miss my bread haha. At least 4 times a week we eat Milanese (which is basically schnitzel) and most days we have meat in some form.

The music here is so crazy. It is just plain dance music and everyone knows all the lyrics to every song haha. While I don’t know the lyrics I am now becoming familiar with the tunes and some of the choruses. I love the music here as it has such a cool beat but whenever English songs come on, I jam them so hard haha. Often the people will stare at me like I’m crazy haha especially the people that don’t know I am an exchange student as often here no one knows the lyrics to English songs. A song we find common ground on though is “hips don’t lie” by Shakira as it has both spanish and english lyrics, and my school friends and I have such a great time with this song. Also there’s a popular song here that has a chorus that goes “tumba la casa mami” and every time it comes on, my school friends all sing “tumba la casa molly” and so it is kind of now my song and we always have a great time together with this song too.

Before I left, one of the mums of the other exchange students said that being nice was one of the hardest things she found. I understand this on so many levels now. Like yes the language is hard, yes becoming integrated in the class is hard, yes homesickness is hard, but being nice all the time is harder. It’s like I don’t have an opportunity to vent or voice my opinion and I always have to be on my best behaviour. Although this is so hard, I know it is honestly so good for me as I know I am not someone who is always very nice and so hopefully this is something that can help me grow as a person.

What’s more, in the past few weeks I have taken some big steps! I managed to go to the supermarket myself and buy a shopping list full of things, I managed to give a lady on the street directions and also managed to buy a pair of pants at the uniform shop. These are all big things for me as I honestly have an irrational fear of people asking me stuff or having to ask people stuff in Spanish. It’s ridiculous but with these steps I can already feel myself overcoming it.

I can feel myself changing and growing more and more independent everyday and essentially growing up. It’s really weird but I think it will be so interesting to see where I am at the end of the year and how different I am when I return to NZ. I think being in a new environment, with new people and facing new challenges really does make you reflect on things and helps you to learn a lot about yourself.

So yeah, that’s basically what’s been going on with me over here in Argentina, well a relatively quick overview, and basically in a nutshell I love my life here, despite the ups and downs.