So finally that’s it. Tomorrow I’ll leave my beloved Tandil towards Buenos Aires, then I’d like to see the Cataratas del Iguazú and later I will hopefully travel to the Provincia de Salta ….

Thank you very much everybody for having made my exchange semester to such a wonderful experience with innumerable memories I won’t ever forget. I will definitely come back to visit you and your awesome country!

Chicos, no puedo creer como el tiempo pasó tan rapido, pero mi intercambio en Tandil ya se acabó y hoy es mi última noche en esta ciudad tan buena …. MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS a todos por todo: venir a Argentina siempre fue un sueño mio pero nunca me hubiera imaginado que iba a tener una experiencia tan hermosa, sobre todo con ustedes en la pensión. Sinceramente encontré un lugar donde me sentí como si fuese “en casa”, viviendo con una familia. Espero que tuvieran también un tiempo lindo, la verdad que yo la pasé barbaro. Jamás los olvidaré y los quiero mucho. Tengo que irme pero una parte de mi corazón se queda acá, y estoy seguro que volveré pronto. Les deseo mucha suerte, que les vaya bien y hasta luego. Abrazo grande!
Marisa y Marcos, no sólo dueños sino más padres de la pensión – les agradezco por todo y a ustedes los voy a extrañar muchísimo Continue reading →

Aquí me pongo a cantar
Al compás de la vigüela;
Que el hombre que lo desvela
Una pena extraordinaria,
Como la ave solitaria
Con el cantar se consuela.

This is how José Hernández’ “El Gaucho Martín Fierro” begins, and it resumes at least a little bit how I am currently feeling. Okay, actually I must admit that I’m still really fine and now that all exams are over, I can enjoy the hot and sunny weather by going to the “piletas al aire libre” (outdoor swimming pool) very often But it also became very real that this amazing stay here in Argentina is about to finish very soon. We had a few “fiestas de despedida” (where we had to finish lots of bottles of Fernet ) and many of my friends have already gone back home or are travelling.

For my part on Thursday I will go to Necochea and San Cayetano with my (former) room-mate and now one of my best friends Nico, brilliant student of international affairs, Argentina’s next Minister of Foreign Affairs, future best-seller author and founder of the multidisciplinary socio-anthropological movement of the “Tedoldism”
We will go to the beach, visit his grandma and try to enjoy the last few days together before I’ll leave …. hopefully after having finally received all the certificates from the university! (but why on earth do I have some doubts about that?) Continue reading →

Okay, despite my suboptimal shape and my increased weight, I survived the “Tandilia” race It was probably one of the toughest race I’ve ever participated to, but also one of the most beautiful ones. As I previously told, we had to run 11.111 km through the whole city from one end to the other, following a REALLY hilly track (at least ~250m altitude both up and downwards, with one steep ascent of 100m). Fortunately almost all the inhabitants were outside making an great atmosphere, which was very helpful to forget the pain and “enjoy” the sightseeing tour!

Out of 1500 participants I was able to finish 190th in the overall classification and 85th in my age-group with a time of 48:38 (4:25 per km). To give you a small idea of the extremely high level of this race: the winner needed 35:00 (3:10 per km) to accomplish the race, which is simply incredible regarding the difficulty of the track, and the first woman had a time of 41:15 (3:45 per km). But I was told that both of them were Olympic athletes in London ….

Apart from that everything is still going at the best. Until now I had really good results in my exams, and the very last one is on next Wednesday. However, I haven’t totally realized yet that my stay here in Tandil is almost over and I should start thinking about what to do and where to go next, but since I have always made good experiences with being spontaneous, why should I change that relaxing way of life? Continue reading →