andersargentina

[andersargentina]

A biiiig thank you to everyone in Santa Fe and Corrientes!  This is my second time traveling in other provinces than Buenos Aires and I only love Argentina more and more. I’ve been to Santa Fe, Avellaneda, Reconquista, Romang, Goya and Bella Vista. I went to a few schools, a YFU Camp, met locals and got to spend some time just having fun with new friends. Now I have a day back in Buenos Aires with my Host Mother and my friends, before I leave again on Tuesday. A lot of traveling, but I love every single moment of it. Hope everybody is doing well; everyone back home in Denmark, here in Argentina and wherever you are. Lots of love.

#YFU #Travel #Intern #StudyAbroad #Santa Fe #Corrientes #Buenos Aires #YFUArgentina

[andersargentina]

Spend the weekend in Epecuén with the photography group Porteña. Epecuén is a village in Buenos Aires Province that flooded in 1985. This makes for a tragic sight, but a spectacular photographic opportunity. It is a great place for starshooting, since street lights are non-existent and the nearest city is a good distance away. At first, seeing what’s left of the town, is absolutely breathtaking; in an agonizing way - jumping around on crumpled walls, going up a staircase that leads to nowhere, and finding yourself in a kitchen that is only recognicable from the last 3 tiles what seems to be a wall... you can’t help but imagining an active little city, full of people living their normal lives... these sights always put your own life into perspective: how lucky you are to have everything and everyone in your life. Be grateful for what you have - before it’s gone!

#argentina #epecuén #porteña #photography #Haaberphoto #stars #grateful

[andersargentina]

I ride the bus for one hour to the office every day. If you knew how crowded the buses are in Buenos Aires, and how bumpy the road is, and crazy the people drive here; you might think that it would be an hour of hell going to and from work every day. However, I have found the little secret of how to make the time seem less horrid - maybe even delightful.

First of all, getting a seat on the bus has never sparked joy in me before, because in Denmark there is always (almost always) a seat available. Now, I want to send a Snapchat to my friends, showing them an empty bus or just me, sitting down with a big smile on my face. 

However, what really made the morning journey a quick and smooth ride: a book! I have never been any good at opening a book and read for my own sake - maybe when traveling, but I never sit at home, bored, thinking: “hmm, what to do... maybe I’ll read a bit.” Never happens. I always turn to a good movie or tv-series I have been following...  and as dull as it sounds; I have always found pleasure in reading, but it is never first on the list. Although, when you find yourself in a position where you’re told that it is dangerous to have your phone out in public, you seek other sources of entertainment. Looking at the city and the people was fun the first week, but that quickly got tedious. So I turned to the one book I had brought with me from back home: Life of Pie. Even when I don’t get the luxury of a seat, I tend to stand with my backpack on backwards (to lower the risk of pickpocketing), one hand on the handlebar(?), one on my book, and my body tense in order not to fall in the raging  traffic (it has happened once and more often have I bumped into some poor fella’).

Even though it looks like Danish weather in the picture, soon it will be summer here in Argentina, followed by 30 to 40 degrees. Imagine a bus full of people (with no aircondition). I will be in serious need of a distraction! 

Now, more than ever before, I crave more books for my daily hour of reading. I bought myself a book in Spanish - probably for kids or young teenagers - but I found that I still don’t understand enough of the language to read it. So for now; I need a new book. Any suggestions?

#bus #public transport #Argentina #buenosaires #read #reading #book #books #suggestion

[andersargentina]

We adopted a new friend from Denmark

Hostfather

#studyabroad #exchangestudent #YFU #hostfamily #funny #denmark #usa #friend #adopt

[andersargentina]

Came home from work yesterday to the most wonderful sight: Marisa preparing empanadas! I have had many of these in my short time here in Buenos Aires, but this is the first time I try to make them myself. Veeeery tasty little dough-covered meaty goodness. The cool thing about empanadas is that you can basically use anything as filling. Different meats, cheese, vegetables, chocolate(!), you could shove a pizza in there, whatever you love the most. Food is a very cultural thing, and a great one for the ones who loves cooking (or eating). It's fun to make a little of your own culture and share with friends, and it's great to learn some dishes and bring back home to your home country. So if you're planning on traveling, studying abroad or just visiting someone in a foreign country; learn a one or two dishes that are significant for your culture, and learn them well, so you know it by heart, and you're confident you can make it as tasty as it gets. There is no better 'gift' you can offer a host who's providing shelter for your travels. Remember, it will always taste a bit different in other countries; products and ways of cooking are different, you might miss an ingredient or two, but I bet that your hungry costumers will appreciate it.

#empanada #Argentina #cooking #host #cook #food #tasty #hostfamily

[andersargentina]

Me: the first couple of weeks in Argentina. The language is always the most difficult thing to adapt to. Learning a totally foreign language from scratch by listening takes a lot of energy. All you can do is ask; ask again and again, ask a thousand times and then ask again. Talk, make mistakes and laugh about it. It is the only way you will learn. I still look like this in deep conversations in Spanish btw; really concentrating on every word and still only getting fifty percent of the conversation.

#language #argentina #internship #YFU #studyabroad #understand #ask

[andersargentina]

Speaking of spirit (in my last post): I just came back from my first Argentinian football match with my hostmother, Marisa, she lives but one block away from Estadio Diego Armando Maradona. So we went and the first thing I recognize as different from what I am used to is that there are no seats, just a staircase of concrete, not thinking too much about it I sit and wait for the game to begin. Once the game started; however, it made sense because no one was sitting down for the entire game. Also, I am very used to chanting along with the songs of my team, and even though I had no clue what was being said I got caught by the moment and tried my best to keep up with the other 20.000 Spanish-singing fans. What I wasn't prepared for, but happily surprised by the fans energy; the chanting and dancing for 95 out of 90 minutes with the same level of energy all the way - with sugar on top when our team scored. And so they did. Five minutes before this video and 75 minutes into the game: Argentinos Juniors got a 1-0 lead against Racing Club (and almost killing half the fans from nearly falling down the concrete staircase because of pure excitement.) Second goal: overwhelmed, happy, jumping, screaming, hugging Marisa and various bare chested men; another chant broke out and one I was confident in singing along to: "Argentinos!" Now I am determined on learning all the chants by heart, getting a team shirt, and becoming a part of the neighborhood - as the football culture here in Argentina isn't just about sport, but social identity. And as the Argentinos Jrs. chant go: "Yo soy del Barrio la Paternal" - I am from the neighborhood Paternal.

#argentinos juniors #argentina #football #studyabroad #travel

[andersargentina]

My year abroad started about five years ago from now; a year in California that still is my biggest adventure yet. I lived in California with these five crazy and absolutely lovely people. The picture, as you might have guessed, was not taken where we lived; however, it was taken in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where we spend New Years. We lived in a non-snowy town an hour east of San Francisco: a lovely little town called Pleasanton. Here I went to school at Amador Valley High School, where I learned about the importance of friendship, the difference in school systems and above all the beauty of American school spirit (GO DONS!)  Whenever I meet someone who is about to go on exchange or is on exchange I get a few flashbacks to my time in “P-town”, nostalgic memories about good times with friends and family, and a huge envy to go back and visit everyone and everything. Luckily, being a volunteer and now an intern lets me embrace my year in USA over and over again; talking about good and bad times with fellow volunteers who have more or less experienced the same things in the sense of being foreign to everything, making mistakes and creating good memories.

If you are ever considering to go on exchange, but not reeeaaally sure if you want to or dare doing it... let me know, I’ll give you the extra push to a definite “I have to go!”

#studyabroad #host family #california #usa #exchange #YFU

[andersargentina]

Meeting your hostfamily for the first time is really exciting and scary at the same time. What are they gonna be like? Are they gonna like me? How do they live?  This is the second time I get a hostfamily; the first one being in California on my exchange, a family of five: mom, dad, and three younger brothers. First time was definitely more scary, but I couldn’t have asked for a lovelier family to spend the year with. This time I live with “just” a hostmother, Marisa. She’s had both students and interns live with her before, so she knows the drill of having a stranger live with her months at the time. She is absolutely crazy in all the good ways (just like me) and we have a lot of fun together. She loves photography, which is great ‘cause so do I and it’s nice to have something in common. She even invited me to be a part of her photo group, “Porteña”. The hostfamily is the best way to really understand the culture and how the daily life works in a foreign country - and, it is an incomparable help with learning the language. Here’s the two of us having an Argetinian grown-up-soda ^^

[andersargentina]

Saying goodbye is a funny thing. It means something different to us all, and we all react differently to the words and the action of going seperate ways; wether it is for a couple of day, weeks, months or maybe years. Some people cry, which I completely understand; some smile, thinking of the good times that has passed, or just because they are happy to get rid of this person (haha); and some are speechless, not knowing what to feel. To me, saying goodbye is one of those things that seems unrealistic, like "it's okay, I'll see you in a couple of days" even though I know I won't. But that's how I feel when saying goodbye to someone I hold dear, eventhough I know I won't see them for years to come. It's like one of those feelings when something happens to you but you haven't quite realised it's actually true, that this in fact is not a dream, and then one day it hits you. Like getting the highest score on a school project, or winning that football match that was bound to be a loss, or getting that internship you applied for two years in a row, which means you are going to live in Argentina for a whole year. This feeling (or not feeling) probably makes me seem unaffectionate; however, I think it just means that for everyone I say goodbye to, it's really a "see you later". This is a picture of me saying goodbye to my grandmother in Copenhagen Airport the day I left Denmark, the 4th of September 2017, to begin a new chapter in my life: a life in Argentina.

#Anders #argentina #goodbye #studyabroad #atrejseeratleve #YFU

[andersargentina]

What is an Anders [ˈɑnːəʂ]?

Anders is a name - my name!  It’s a traditional Danish name (yes, I am Danish (a person from Denmark)). I am a 22 year old guy currently living in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. How does a Scandinavian kid end up living in a South American country one may ask... well, I’ll tell you. I was an exchange student in California, USA, back in 2012; and after a year going to High School in the States, I became a volunteer for the international educational organization, Youth For Understanding (YFU). After four years of volunteering I decided to apply for an internship with the same organization. I applied for both Uruguay and Argentina; luckily, I was offered a Design and Promotion Internship with YFU Argentina. So, here I am. 

In this blog I will tell you more about my story, but mostly about my year here in Buenos Aires. I will be sharing a lot of pictures and writing some of my thoughts about...well, everything! I hope my story will interest you and please, feel free to share it on facebook, twitter or whatever websites excists now’a’days!

#Anders #Argentina #Haaberphoto #Me #Porteño #Intern #YFU #Danish