On this rainy Sunday morning, as a group, we sat down in the
conference room for an information session from speaker Matt Moran, former World Bank Consultant. He began explaining
his travels from Ireland and his personal experiences in Buenos Aires. He traveled here
for a World Bank project and over the years he has completed numerous projects
communicating with individuals and businesses. He explained that life in
Argentina is much different than the United States. For example, dinner here
starts very late around 11:00-1:00 o’clock at night and goes all night. Most individuals
do not even return home until 5:00-8:00 in the morning, very different from life in the United States. However, it was surprising to found out that after all these years, he still does not have a bank account in
Argentina, which is smart. The stories he told us reflected the negatives of
the city as well as the reason why he loves the city. He also touched up the
law of business and everything we need to know about the business life in
Argentina. Throughout the presentation, we asked numerous questions about
advice ranging from places to eat to adventures to go on. After the two hour
presentation, we concluded with a picture to capture the memory.
Getting on the bus for our tour!
Beautiful Church!
We then had two hours until heading onto the tour bus for
a tour around the city. Most of us grabbed lunch at places near the hotel. Two
o’clock hit and we boarded the bus. We traveled and approached the University
of Buenos Aires which is free for everyone. It's crazy to think that college for them is free. Many individuals here go to law
school or med school. We then passed a monument that opens by day and closes by
night, which was very unique and fascinating. We noticed as we drove around that there are
numerous parks in the city and individuals are very active and healthy. Many
spend their days outside running, biking, or relaxing in the sun. Our tour
guide explained that the culture here is different from ours. For instance, in
Argentina there are four meals, breakfast, lunch, tea time, and dinner which also explains why they eat dinner so late typically. Over
the course of the next few hours we traveled to the church, elementary, and made
a few purchases at the market. Erica purchased two reversible brightly colored skirts for her
sisters at home. We then traveled to La Boca and were able to exchange money
before shopping around. Here, Lizzie and Courtney exchanged their dollars for
pesos easily. Lizzie said “you really get to emerge yourself in their culture as you
shop around at the markets.” From here we then got off the bus at another
market and individually traveled around until dinner on our own.
Shopping around at the markets!
Back on the bus for more tours!
Sunday was a very eventful day and we cannot wait for much more adventures during the week in Argentina.
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