1 Week Down, 20 More to Go!

Today makes one week that I've been on my journey. I guess I'll list everything in chronological order that's happened so far... Where to begin
1. On Wednesday I said "adios" to New Jersey, and Bienvenido a Miami. I can not begin to describe how awesome it was to arrive in Miami airport to the song "Miami" by Will Smith, it actually made my life. After landing I went to a hotel for my pre-departure orientation. Including myself, there were 17 people going to Argentina and maybe 6 or 7 going to Chile. The orientation was really boring because I had already heard the information about a trillion times, but it was nice getting to meet a pretty big group of people that I would be spending the next few days with.

 (The Americans)
2. On Thursday Los Americanos left for the airport for our 9 hour plane ride to Buenos Aires

(right before getting on the plane)
The 9 hours went by really quickly, and because we were all so excited no one could really sit in their seats. About every 45 minutes I would go stroll around the cabin talking to some of the other exchange students. At times we would pile about in the aisles around one person and the flight attendants would tell us to sit down or we would flip the plane.
3. On Friday around 6 or 7 (there was no clock on the plane anywhere) we arrived in BA and after we got through passport control and costumes we had to wait about 3 hours for some of the other exchange students to arrive from other parts of the world. When everyone got there we left to go to some camp site about an hour and a half from the airport. There we met the 30 kids from Thailand (by far the biggest group) and the New Zealanders. Everyone quickly got to talking and making new friends and started preparing for that nights event, the talent show.
4. The talent show was separated by country. The New Zealanders and one Australian head, shoulders, knees, and toes in a native language of New Zealand, the Scandinavians did a rendition of "The Princess and the Pea" but making it about the alcohol stereotypes of their respective countries, the Thai kids did a tradition Thai dance, and the Americans put some pillows under our shirts and wiggled and fist pumped to "I'm Sexy and I Know It" in an attempt to show how even fat Americans can have a good time.
5. On Saturday we had a few more information sessions and then the people that would we staying less then 1100 km from the orientation site left on their buses to go to their host families.

(All the exchange students and volunteers)
6. On Sunday the remaining students, including myself, went to a small airport in order to take a plane to our host families. In in my city there are 3 other exchange students, a girl from Austria, a girl from Germany, and a boy from Thailand. After 4 days of traveling and over a year of waiting, I finally arrived in Salta, nicknamed Salta la Linda because it actually has to be one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been!

7. On Monday I went to El Cerro, a beautiful mountain over 1000m high. I took a lot of pictures that I'll be putting on FB soon.

8. Lastly, I started school yesterday, and that was probably one of the most difficult experiences I've ever had. I'll make a post about my school with pictures of everything later when I've done more, but in a nutshell of my first day. I didn't really understand any class except math, no one really talked to me so it was really awkward, and my school is from 1:00pm -5:45 or 6:30pm depending on the day. However, today was a lot easier. I attempted to talk to some people and I helped my group answer a question in a group project thing.

So overall the last week has been a whirlwind of new people, places, and experiences. If anyone has something in particular they want me to write about message/email me your request. I plan on making other blogs eventually about school, food, my city, and other important events that happen like when I go to a boliche (disco).

15 Days Until Departure!!

I can't believe I only have about 2 weeks left before I go to Miami and then to Argentina. For those who don't know I'm going to Argentina for about 5 and a half months with the exchange student program AFS. AFS has been a part of my family for a long time. My dad came to the US back in 1978 with AFS from Denmark. When he went back to Denmark he soon became more involved in AFS and that's how he met my mom, who was working with the AFS New York chapter. They met for the first time at a conference in Italy and after a few dates around the world he moved in with her in New York City. A few years later my sister was born and 3 years after that I came along.

My sister was the first to become an exchange student out of the two of us. I remember the exact moment she started exploring the option. We had just finish a week long vacation in Denmark, which was the first trip we took to Europe without our parents. Because our parents weren't there we spent almost everyday at a different friend or family members house. Many of my dad's friends were also exchange students and many of their kids have followed in their foot steps as well. One of the friends we were staying with had just gotten back from an exchange to China, and we started grilling him with questions. On the plane ride back to the US my sister and I discussed the pros and cons of going on an exchange. After a few dinners discussing it with our parents she began filling out an application to go to Chile. Last year we also decided to host an exchange student from Italy, the infamous Federico. Having him stay with us was the deciding factor for me. After witnessing first hand how one can change, learn, and experience so much in one year is what really made me want to apply to be an exchange student.

I applied in the early spring to AFS Argentina for the semester program, and in late August I was accepted. On the first Friday of November I received an email that said I had received a host family. My host parent's names are Noel and Miriam. For most of the time that I'm there I'll have two host brothers, Pablo and Nacho. In my last month I'll have another brother, who starting two weeks ago is on an exchange to the US. I'll live in the city of Salta, which a colonial city in the northwest part of Argentina that is full of history. I'll be going to the Colegio del Cerro a small private school a few blocks away from my future home.

Words cannot describe how excited I'm starting to get. It really hit me today when I realized that this up coming weekend will be the last one that all my friends will be home for before winter vacation and that I only have one weekend left with some of them before I leave. I've also started hunting down gifts to bring to my host family and spent hours walking around the mall looking for blue pants that aren't jeans as they will be part of the school uniform, something else I will have to get used to. Now begins the final countdown until my departure. Its time to start saying goodbye to all the familiar foods, places, and people, and hello to a new world that I have yet to experience.