Today was an extremely impactful day for me as well as my classmates. We learned and saw a lot that I believe truly changed our perspectives on certain things we take for granted. The first stop today was off to Hospital Paroissien, which was truly an eye opening experience. The hospital was another public hospital but in a more underprivileged area, whereas Fernandez was in the heart of Buenos Aires. So, this hospital was very run down, not as clean, and extremely crowded. It definitely made me realize how lucky we are in the United States, as our public hospitals for the most part are resourced and pretty nice regardless. This is a normal hospital in a more rural area such as this one, so I definitely think it was good to see, as we are not used to seeing that all the time. Seeing some bloody beds, unkept rooms, crowding of people, un-organization, and people seeming to be waiting for long hours, was definitely disheartening to see first hand.

We then traveled over to UNLAM (Universidad Nacional de La Matanza), a public university. I enjoyed this visit as everyone in the staff was friendly and I liked the campus a lot. It had some similarities to Pitt, in that it is a public university, and had a great nursing simulation room for its nursing students, very similar to the one we have for ours. I also really liked their library which was set up similarly in that there was a quiet side and a side where you can talk more. Some contrasts were that you do not have to pay to go to the university, which is unheard of in the States, you just have to take an entrance exam. It was also more of a gated private area, whereas Pitt is more urban and integrated with buildings within the city. They also do some degree programs a bit differently at Matanza, but not too much of a dramatic difference.

Toward the end of the day, we all ended up in Palermo for a street art tour. I found this tour very interesting, I have always loved looking at murals, graffiti, and art in different cities, so I thoughtfully enjoyed this. I was happy our tour guide included useful background about the town of Palermo, as well as powerful descriptions about all of the art. I also thought it was fun when she gave us prompts at the first wall of art, and ours was to find characters, give them names and tell a story. We got to use our imagination and so we made a story about a guy named Pablo, who was a vampire infecting the characters in the wall. It was something that made people laugh and let us use our imagination in a funny and creative way. I also loved the bookstore we went into, it was beautiful, and I was able to get a book for my baby sister as well as look around at the structure of the building, and all sorts of books as I love to read. What a great day!