Even though this is technically our second day after having some travel issues and spending the night in the Atlanta airport the first real day in Argentina has been great! When we got in last night we were greeted by the IES coordinators and given our first taste of Argentina, Alfajores, two cookies with caramel in the middle covered in chocolate. Which were delicious! Since we missed our orientation due to the flight delay when we dropped off our bags in the hotel we went to IES headquarters and were given a welcome dinner. We were given a homestyle cooked meal which was needed after the airport snacks, we had chorizo on a roll, potatoes, squash, and eggplants and then for dessert, we were given ice cream that was like a Klondike bar.
This morning I started my day by exchanging my money at an exchange house, for 1 US dollar, you get 950 pesos. The currency exchange rate changes constantly here so it will most likely be different by the end of the trip. After that, I enjoyed the hotel breakfast which is definitely better than American hotel breakfast. Then we made our way over to IES for our safety orientation and lunch.
Once done with orientation we took the 10-minute walk to Universidad Austral which is the university our program is paired with. Once we arrived we had our first lecture of the trip. We got to finally meet Dr. Gabriel Novick who we zoomed with before coming here. During this lecture, he talked to us about the different sectors of the Argentine healthcare system. They are sectioned into private, public, union, and Ministry of Health. It’s so interesting to compare how their system works compared to ours. After our lecture with Gabriel, we had a quick coffee break and had our second lecture with the former Ministry of Health. It was so interesting to learn about the different ways that each sector pays for healthcare.
To end our day we had tango lessons! It was so fun to learn more about the culture here. I’m not the best dancer but had fun learning how to tango and it was so cool watching our instructors dance together. Can’t wait for tomorrow!
