Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Attitudes

I’m on the plane now from Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos. I just spent the last three days in an old nunnery with about 100 other exchange students from around the world learning about Argentine culture and customs. It was a little strange being closed off from Argentina with people speaking a dozen different languages yet knowing that just outside the gates of the nunnery was a foreign country.
Luciano, the AFS volunteer for Rio Gallegos, met with us in Buenos Aires to discuss life in Rio. It turns out he knows my host family pretty well and told me today that the family called his cell phone to say hi to me and that they were excited to meet me. How’s that for hospitality? Luciano has arranged for me to take special Spanish classes in the morning and go to “La Universidad Nacional de Patagonia Austral” in the evenings. He also told me he would talk to his friends that cycle in Rio and see if they can include me in some of their rides.
There are four other exchange students (all from Europe) that are going to Rio. But more about that later, we are getting ready to make a stop in the Southern most city in the world.