By Alexandra Chukwumah, CASA Argentina Fall 2017 (Brown University ’19)
I am currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It has been a dream come true so far!
I absolutely love being in a big city and being able to feel rooted. I live with a host in a neighborhood of the city called Recoleta, which is one of the nicer neighborhoods.
I really wanted to see many parts of the country and the region as I’m here for five months. So far, I’ve been to three places in Argentina and I have another trip planned to Iguazu in a few weeks.
Last month, I went to Mendoza which is famous for its vineyards. It is home to about 8,000 bodegas which produce some of the country’s best wines including Malbec. I took a 14-hour bus ride to Mendoza with a friend and travel group. Yes, you read that right fourteen whole hours. It honestly wasn’t as bad as you are imagining it. Dinner was served, we had blankets and a fully reclinable chair akin to business class air travel. Plus, I really struggle to stay awake in moving vehicles so I slept for 10 out of the 14 hours.
I visited 2 wine vineyards in Mendoza and 1 olive oil vineyard? It was really beautiful to see where products are made and how they are made. Also, who doesn’t love wine tasting?
Whilst in Mendoza, I also got the opportunity to go to The Andes. It’s absolutely crazy how vast the geography of Argentina is. From sunny and green to cool and mountainous within a 3-hour drive. I was really in awe of how beautiful our Earth is.
The final day there I visited an estancia where I went horse-back riding along the mountain and had asado, which is basically Argentine barbecue. Argentina is meant to be meat lovers heaven, but I don’t eat red meat so I wouldn’t know!
*This featured post from a past CASA Argentina participant was originally posted in September of 2017.