Month5 : Enfin les vraies vacances!

¡Hola!
Un court article pour vous tenir au courant de mes vacances jusque-là, et ce qui m'attend.
Pour être honnete, je n'ai pas fait grand chose ce dernier mois. J'ai vu quelques etudiants d'echange et passé du temps avec mes tantes (qui ont 23 et 24 ans..). La semaine derniere, une amie Suisse qui habite a Jujuy (la province tout au Nord) est venue chez moi pour visiter Tucuman, c'etait tres sympa (et j'ai pu parler francais!). Mais la plupart de mes amis argentins sont en vacances, a la plage surtout, donc c'etait pas la folie tous les jours. 
Apres-demain en revanche, mes vraies vacances commencent, et je suis sur-sur-surexcitée! Je pars dans la province de Buenos Aires, EN BUS, chez une amie hollandaise, puis je rejoints Bs. As. capitale pour un mini-camp national CISV d'une semaine, ou je vais rejouer mon role de JC. Puis je vais chez une autre amie belge quelques jours, toujours dans la province de Bs. As. De la, le 11 février, on va ensemble a Bariloche, dans une province qui s'appelle Rio Negro, en Patagonie, pour le camp organisé par YFU. Je rentre chez moi le 20, puis j'irais quelques jours a Jujuy avant la rentrée scolaire qui est debut-mars.

Plein de projets donc, mais je ne pourrais rien ecrire jusqu'a que je revienne a Tuc parce que je ne suis pas sure d'avoir Internet pendant un bon bout de temps! Mais je promets de mettre des photos des je rentre.

¡Chau!

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¡Hola!

A short article to let you know about my holidays up to now, and what I'm looking at. 

To be honest, I haven't done much this last month. I saw a few ES and spent some time with my aunts (which are 23 and 24 yo...). Last week, a Swiss friends who lives in Jujuy (the region most North of the country) came to my house to visit Tucuman, it was really nice (and I got to speak French!). But most of my Argentinian friends are away, mostly at the beach, so it wasn't crazy everyday...
The day after tomorrow though, my real holidays start, and I'm more than excited! I'm leaving for the Buenos Aires province, IN BUS, to the house of a Dutch friends, and then I'll go to Bs. As. capital for a week-long national CISV camp, where I'll play my JC role again. Once it's over, I'm going to another friend's house, still in Bs. As., and from there, on the 11th, we'll go together to Bariloche, in a province called Rio Negro, in Patagonia, for the YFU trip. I'm coming home on February 20th, and I'll then go a few days to Jujuy before school starts again, in the beginning of March.

A lot of projects, but I won't be able to write anything until I come back in Tucuman because I'm not sure I'll have Internet for a while. But I swear I'll post pictures as soon as I get in.

¡Chau!

Sail away!

Imagine yourself. Describe your life. Your parents, your friends, your school, your hometown, your siblings, your country, your traditions, your home. Your life is pretty great right? Now imagine leaving all of this, all of your basis, all of what you ever knew. Feeling ok about it? Congrats! You could and should be an exchange student.
Exchange students are the ones who dare. Dare to explore, to discover themselves as well as another culture, to take risks, to step out of their confort zone.

Because that's the truth. Being an exchange student is amazing. An life-altering, incredible, mind-blowing year. But it's also very, very hard. Because you have to start all over again, in a new language if that's not enough. You have to get used to a whole new bunch of things, including a family, a school system, a culture, the food, the weather (I can't stress the last two enough).
You probably won't understand a thing for a few weeks (or months), people might make fun of you for it, they're just kidding of course, but still, won't be fun for you. You're going to do things, usual for you, but totally inapropriate for people in your host country. You'll see your friends in your host country go to parties together, or your family gather for a birthday, and you just won't be there.

It can get pretty tough. But of course, this is a year you won't forget, for so many good reasons, The first time you dream in your host language is pretty amazing. And the feeling won't get away. Being able to understand jokes, hearing your little sister says she loves you, tasting all the amazing traditional dishes, being treated like a Hollywood star because you're that "cool exchange-student". I could go on for hours. It is, without a doubt, one hell of an year.

So if you're thinking about it, take the step, sail away! It's an adventure. If you want it, you're ready for it.
I'm going to finish this by telling you what literally everybody who's been on an exchange year will tell you :

IT'S NOT A YEAR IN A LIFE. IT'S A LIFE IN A YEAR.