In my time here in Argentina, I have been very lucky to be able to travel with my family. One trip we took was to Asuncion, Paraguay. It is the capital and the largest city in Paraguay and around five hours from where I live. To me, Paraguay is very similar to Argentina in a lot of ways. I find everyone just as outgoing and welcoming as in Argentina, and there are many similar cultural traditions and foods. Of course there are some major differences as well, especially the language. Most Paraguayans are able to speak both Spanish and the native language of Guarani. I’m finally able to understand and communicate more in Spanish, but going to Paraguay totally threw me off. Paraguayan Spanish is heavily influenced by Guarani and has a totally different sound, making it not so easy for me to understand. It’s a similar situation with Argentine Spanish, which is very different from the Spanish or “Español” we learn at Westside. Technically, the language spoken here is “Castellano” or Castilian Spanish, which is basically specifying its origin in Spain.

The language here has more of an Italian accent and uses many different words and phrases than the Spanish spoken in Latin America. There are also many differences in the language from region to region across Argentina. Recently, I traveled to the city Posadas in the Argentine province of Misiones for a squash tournament. My host family loves to play squash and my siblings somehow convinced me to play, too. This time the five-hour trip was on a bus with the rest of the kids traveling to compete. Posadas is located in the northeastern corner of Argentina on the Paraná River. We were lucky enough to stay near the river and be able to walk down to a landing where you can see Paraguay on the other side of the river. We spent most of the weekend at the squash tournament where players from all over Argentina and Paraguay came to play. Never having played squash before coming to Argentina, I’m pretty terrible and was nervous about playing. I played in four matches – losing them all, which was totally expected – but I still had lots of fun.

Although I’m definitely never going to be a professional squash player like my host brother, Dylan, I’m learning a lot about a sport I knew next to nothing about before arriving. It’s that way with a lot of other sports here too. Of course soccer is the most popular but a lot of my classmates play other sports such as rugby, field hockey, handball and other sports that we don’t play as much. It’s unbelievable to me that I have less than two months left of my exchange and I have lots of mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I’m looking forward to getting back to see all my friends and family, eat my favorite foods again and even just sleep in my own bed. But I also know it’ll be hard to leave the new people I’ve met, the new culture I’ve experienced and most of all the family who were just a bunch of strangers to me a few months ago. They have embraced me and made me feel like I’m part of their family. Despite the difficult days and rollercoaster of emotions, I know studying abroad is an experience I’ll treasure forever and will leave a lasting impact on my life.