Dani Huckabone, our outbound Rotary Exchange student, is having a great time in Argentina! Dani is an Amherst resident and senior at Souhegan High School. Here are a few photos and be sure to go to the "read more" for a message from Dani!
Here's a message from Dani (reposted with her permission) -
Hello Milford Rotary!
I have just passed my four month point in my exchange! It is crazy how fast it has been going, but I have been enjoying every second of my exchange. It has been full of exciting adventures and also a lot of Spanish.
My first month here was very difficult for me, because my Spanish was not very good. I had taken some Spanish classes in my high school, but never really learned much in them. So when I was thrown into a country where they talk very quickly, and don’t always pronounce every syllable I struggled a little bit. I started in a mandatory Spanish class here in San Juan, in the beginning on October. By then I could understand a lot more, and I was not using Google Translate as much as I was the first couple of weeks with my family. My Spanish class helped me out a little bit in the beginning, but as I began to talk with my friends in school and my family my Spanish progressed and progressed, so much so that I found my Spanish class to be things I had already learned on my own.
At the end of October until the beginning of November I was lucky enough to travel with the other Rotary exchange students in my district all over southern Argentina, the Patagonia region! I met kids from all over the world, and we exchanged our pins (which helped fill up my blazer). The trip lasted three short weeks, where we got to see beautiful glaciers (and hike them), hike in the mountains, go on a whale watch, play games with local kids in the different cities that we visited, swim in the cold ocean, visit different farms and learn about the different types of foods and also the different Argentina lifestyles, and much much more! Meanwhile I made amazing friends on this trip, from all over Argentina. Some lived 19 hours in bus from San Juan, and others only two hours.
After the trip, I returned home to San Juan to spend time with my family and friends here! When I got back from the South (which was cold, temperatures similar to New Hampshire), I was welcomed by their hot temperatures here (which was about 85/90 degrees, and it was only spring). I spent a lot of time with my family at our “club” which is on the water (on a dam, because San Juan is the desert), and I was lucky enough to go waterskiing here and hiking with my family.
Around Thanksgiving time, I took a bus to my friends (from the Patagonia trip) house in Mendoza, which is only a two hour bus ride from my house. She is from the United States and had invited me to her house to celebrate Thanksgiving! Around this time we both began to miss our families a lot, because Thanksgiving is a holiday that is all about being with you family. Being with my friend helped me not be as sad through this holiday. We cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner together, and even the desserts! We invited over the other exchange student who was in her city, who we also met on the trip and celebrated all together.
When Christmas came around I felt myself getting a little bit sad and home sick, but with the help of my other exchange student friends here in San Juan and my host parents, I was able to enjoy a very special Christmas here!
My Spanish has gotten tremendously better, I am never using Google Translate and I am understanding everything that my family is saying to me. When I speak I am understandable but my grammar is not perfect. The hardest part of learning Spanish for me, is that they have masculine and feminine words, and when you conjugate the end of your verb you need to make it either masculine of feminine, we do not have this in English. B
There is definitely a difference in culture here, but I like the differences here. Family is VERY important here, every lunch you eat with your family, and every Sunday is family day. From 12 in the afternoon until 5/5:30 the town closes, and everyone is allowed to go home, eat with their family, and take a siesta (nap). The siesta is the BEST thing ever! For people my age here, it is very common to go out with your friends almost everyday, and on the weekends to go to “dances” which they call Boliche’s. I have been to a couple of Boliche’s with my friends here, and there is a special type of music that they listen to called cumbia. Cumbia, to me, all sounds the same, but it has been growing on me. I am starting to like (possibly love) the music here! The people here are much more friendly, and will try their hardest to make you feel included. I have learned that If you do not dance at the parties or the Boliche’s, YOU are the weird one!
The Rotary club here in San Juan is very…relaxed. For example, I have not even met my club, or my club counselor. Also when I first arrived they had told all of us that we would not be changing families (which we were all very excited about because we all LOVE our families here). And because we thought we were going to be with these families for the full year, we all became very attached to our families, and made plans throughout our exchange with them. About two weeks ago our Club here informed all of us that we now have to change families, and we will be changing families with the other exchange students in my city. There are nine other exchange students in my city, and we all have become very close. I know them, and their families very well now, and it would be very strange to have to leave my family and to be in one of my friends families. All of the host parents and the students are very upset about this, because our club decided to change their minds so late, and also it interferes with the plans and the vacations we have planned with our families here. If the club had told us from the beginning that we would be changing families, I do not think that we would be this upset.
To conclude for now, I am having the most amazing exchange! I love my family here, and I also love the language and culture. I have made life long friends from around the world, and also from my home here in San Juan. I am so excited for the following months to come, and cannot wait to share my experiences with the club when I return!
Dani