The trip started off a little rocky with our flight to Argentina being delayed by 12 hours resulting in a group adventure pulling an all-nighter in the Atlanta airport! Other than that “little” bump in the road, it felt so good to finally get to the city. We were welcomed into Buenos Aires with authentic Argentinian food with IES where we were able to see these amazing views at night! 

First impressions of Buenos Aires were the city’s unique blend of a European-inspired architecture, with lots of caffes, restaurants, and this charm that has been different from any other city I have visited. Today we had lots of adventures. Started off with a visit to the University of Austral where Gabriel Novick talked more in depth about the Argentine Health System. It was super interesting to be there with him in person after talking on zoom months ago in preparation to our arrival. In between that we took a little midafternoon coffee break and then we met with the former minister of health of all of Argentina Dr. Luis Gimenez. In his presentation he went more into depth about his process within the healthcare system here, how it is funded, goals, and policies that are put into place now and when he was also in his role and how they help the people of Buenos Aires. After those presentations at the University, we had another coffee break and then for the best part, TANGOOO! This was definitely an experience and journey as I am not the most coordinated when it comes to dancing. But it was super fun and entertaining to see all of my fellow classmates get really into. Watching the professional instructors as well as very mesmerizing as I have never seen any dancing like that in person. They were so nice and trying their very best to help us learn the steps, but the coordination definitely was missing for me. Lastly going to end the day with dinner at an authentic Argentinian restaurant and maybe walk around for a little dessert! Overall, I would say this was a very successful first day and I learned a lot academically with the presentations as well as culturally with tango dancing.