After staying at Martina’s country house for the weekend we returned to her apartment in Belgrano. The next day was my first day of school. I was a little nervous because the Spanish in Buenos Aires is not only spoken fast, but it is also spoken with a strong accent. The Belgrano Day School is a bilingual school so half of the classes are in English; however, English is not spoken much outside of class. The school is in a very urban environment, which I wasn’t used to at first. Unlike Athenian the upper school is located inside a four-story building. Because it is in the city there is no room for a sports field so we drive to one for P.E. The sports are also different here. Field hockey is an option for the girls and rugby is for the guys. Volleyball is the coed option. Martina’s friends are very welcoming and I’ve met so many new nice people. The food at the school is very good and they even offer dessert at lunch. Most of the time I go with Martina and friends to eat in the city.
The Belgrano Day School is very formal compared to Athenian. There are uniforms and the teachers are more strict. Most of the time taxis serve as our main form of transportation. Although in the morning we take a big orange-and-white school bus to school. Many of the classes here are new to me such as computer skills, which teaches computer basics and also shows students how to create websites and cartoons. After school we usually go to one of Martina’s friend’s apartments so they can do school work together. I’ve noticed that almost everyone who goes to the school lives in an apartment and has a maid who lives with them or someone who does housework and prepares food for them.
Yesterday we could not go to the sports field for P.E. because of the weather so instead we watched Argentina’s women’s field hockey team play in the Olympics against the U.S. Everyone cared a lot about the game and got really into it. I felt kind of bad when the U.S. won because I didn’t care that much about the match. A few days ago me, Martina and Sofi went to a rugby match. The game is very similar to American football but the play goes on for longer and the players can only pass the ball behind them. We decided to go to a rugby match rather than a soccer match because the soccer stadiums in Argenti
na are very dangerous. They are dangerous because the people are so passionate about their team that lots of fights break out. The rugby match was very fun to watch. Unlike American football, no helmets or padding are worn.
The last two weeks have been very exciting and I am having a lot of fun living in the city!
The Athenian School Exchange Blog 