class trip to Córdoba

From Wednesday to Thursday I've been on a class trip to Córdoba and Villa Giardino. At about 6.30 Wednesday morning we left Arroyito by bus. By the way, it was the first time I left Arroyito since I arrived two months ago. Driving bus with a bunch of Argentinians is fun, annoying, great and exhausting at the same time, because they talk and laugh a lot and are full of energy. After about a 2 hours drive we arrived at the 'UNC', which is an university in Córdoba. We watched a presentation about Biology and ate biscuits.

At lunch time we got something to eat really close to the uni and when everybody was finished eating we went back to the bus. When we got comfortable with some 'mate' we drove to a museum in 'Valle Hermoso'. The museum was all about physics but still really interesting and I had a lot of fun, though I understood only half of the things they explained to us. We stayed a few hours and then finally drove to the hotel. Our hotel was really big and simple but totally fine for only one night. After we brought our bags into our rooms we drank some juice and ate 'alfajores' together. Later we all met at the pool, where we had a lot of fun. After we left the water everyone got ready, we ate dinner and then met in one of our hotel rooms where we talked and had a really good time, furthermore I brought my camera so we took a lot of stupid pictures.

The next morning we went to a hotel called 'Eden Hotel' after we had breakfast. This hotel was owned by German Nazis if I understood it right, and people like Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler came there. I'm a bit sad that I didn't understand a lot of what they told us about the hotel because I was really interested in it but I listened as good as I could. Anyways, they showed us a lot of the hotel, and we had the chance to see some of the bedrooms etc. I think we stayed there about 2 or 3 hours and after the guided tour was over we ate lunch at our hotel, which we left in the afternoon. On our way back to Arroyito we stopped in a city (I forgot the name) and stayed there a few hours. We had free time and were able to do whatever we wanted. My friends and I went to McDonalds (there are only McDonalds in bigger cities here), where I ate a KitKat McFlurry. After everyone was finished eating we explored the city and went into some shops but we didn't buy anything. Somehow we ended up in a small gaming center where we played pool:) We met the rest of the class at 6:30pm but before we went back to the bus I quickly bought new headphones, which I'm really happy about! We arrived in Arroyito at about 9pm and I was really sad that the trip was already over, because I had a lot of fun and was so glad to finally see that Argentina also has its nice parts. It was wonderful to see the 'sierras' and the lakes out of the bus windows. I hope I'll soon have the opprtunity to do a trip like this again.
In my next post I will tell you about 'el dia del estudiante', which turned me into a tomato.
Cara
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school

Today I'm going to write about something that might be a little bit more interesting and gives you an idea how it's like here. As the title says, I will tell you about the school. I already told you about my school a few weeks ago in my "first week of school" post but I think now I can tell you a bit more about it, since I've been here for almost two months.

I just start by explaining a typical school day of mine, but keep in mind that all schools here are different.

My first lesson always starts at 1:30 pm. Three times a week I have morning classes, too. Tuesdays I have Handball, Wednesday it's Music and Thursday I have Laboratory and after that Handball again. These classes are always in the morning, which is really annoying but I just have to get used to being in school almost the whole day.

By the way, Laboratory and Handball are the only classes where I'm not wearing my uniform. Furthermore I want to mention that in the gym there are street dogs running around all the time and nobody cares, but it gets annoying when they start stealing the balls or pee onto the floor. Oh, and another thing that is unusual (for me), is that the pupils wear the shoes they wear on the street in the gym and don't change them.

But let's get finally started. Usually my school day is like this:

We (my family) eat lunch together at home and after that I get ready and change into my uniform (I still don't have the right trousers). My host sister and I leave about two minutes before school starts. The teachers are always late themselves so it doesn't make a big difference, if we come also a bit too late. The school itself is really small compared to the schools in Germany, that's why the 1st to 3rd grade have classes in the morning and the 4th to 6th grade in the evening (I'm in 5th grade by the way). I talked to a girl in my class and she said that for her it is a very big school, while it is really small for me. When we arrive, all the tables and chairs are pushed together and the students have to push them apart. I don't really have a table so every school day starts with looking for a table and a chair in the room that nobody needs so I have a place to sit. I think that's not the best situation, because it gives me the feeling that they see me as a person that is gone soon anyways... Every morning a man enters the class room to check who is missing. We are about 40 pupils, which is a lot in my opinion. Teachers here of course are respected by the pupils, but they are more like friends. Of course that also depends on the age and some teachers can also be really strict. I haven't really figured out yet how long one lesson is, since they didn't give me a timetable but about every two or two and a half hours we have a break. I realised that the first break of the day is a bit shorter than the others. During the break we just sit outside and enjoy the sun or eat something. Most times they eat really unhealthy things, which they can buy at the schools kiosk. But you can also get fruits there, for example an apple costs about 0.45 Euro. After the bell rings, everybody just continues what they just did and waits a few minutes before they go back to the classroom. I'm really bored in school, because I can't really do a lot, so I'm always reading or use the free wifi (if it works). My school day always ends at 6:30 or 7:10, which I don't really like and I'm glad that it's not like that in Germany.
After school I directly go home and we relax with some mate and dulce de leche.
I hope I was able to give you an insight into my typical school day. All in all I have to say, that I don't really like it and I definitely prefer the German school system. Since my language skills aren't really good yet, I can't tell you a lot about the lessons themselves.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
Cara
♥

ghost stories

A few days ago I was sitting on my bed, listening to music and talking to my friends on WhatsApp. I was really exhausted, because listening to a foreign language the whole day needs a lot of concentration and takes so much of my energy away. By the way, that is something the people here don't seem to understand and they think I'm a lazy piece of sh*t (sorry for cursing) and laugh at me, which is so annoying!

Anyways, let's go on with the story. Like I said, I was sitting on my bed and suddenly I started feeling sick and my bed started shaking. I jumped up and ran out of the room but came directly back in, recording a voice memo for a friend because I was so scared. As I was standing in the middle of the room I felt like somebody was shaking me from side to side. I was sure there were ghosts in the room, and by sure I mean 120% sure. I remembered how sometimes the lights flickered and I got so scared that I ran into the living room. As I was there, the sickness was gone and everything was normal so I sat down onto the sofa. A few seconds later I took a look onto my phone. People were texting in a group chat of all the exchange students who are here in Argentina with EduQuality. 

Someone was asking if we also felt the earthquake, and I directly got red as a tomato in my face because I was so embarrassed of myself. 

It wasn't a ghost, it was an earthquake!

The first few seconds after I realised it, I was very relieved! Then I realised that I just had my first earthquake! A real earthquake! And I was directly scared again and had to tell all of my friends about it. 

Luckily nothing happened, unlike in Chile where the earthquake was really extreme (8.3). All in all I can say that it was an experience, but an experience I don't need again.

I'm sorry that I'm not posting a lot on here, but there are a few things I have to figure out for myself. I will tell you about it when I have a solution for all this.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

♥

the truth about my feelings

I haven't been here for a while... I think at least. 

My feeling for time is not really existing here. I have been here for over a month now but I can't say if it felt like a long month or a short month... It's like time is gone. I'm experiencing the same everyday and I think that is what's making me sad and makes me feel a bit disappointed and also uncomfortable. 

Yes you hear right. I've been here for only a month and I'm feeling unhappy. I know that it's only a phase but I'm mad at myself that I don't really enjoy it here... I mean, it's my big dream that I'm living but I've always expected it to be different. Everything is different than you expect it and I knew that before, but realizing it is hard. And know that I'm in this mood I'm comparing everything here to my life in Germany and only see the negative things even though I know that it's wrong. I'd like to be able to look back to my time in Argentina and just thinking of it will make me smile, but I can't help it right now! So I'm trying to process all my feelings by thinking a lot which isn't improving my situation. But please don't give me any advise... Nobody knows how I feel, I don't even know but I have to go through this alone so I can be proud of myself later and grow through this experience... This is what an exchange is about, isn't it?

And don't think I'm totally depressed, I'm not but I think everybody complains more than tells about the good things.

I really wish I could tell you something about my life here but like I said, it's like I'm living the same day over and over again and at the moment I'm not really a creative person, but as soon as I'm motivated and have an idea I will write a new post.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

♥