This morning was more relaxed, so I woke up and decided to go back to La Boca with some friends. I had a good time the first time we went but we were not able to be there long the first time so I wanted to go back and enjoy it and I got an art piece I really love. After this morning of free time, we first headed over to the immigrant museum.

Our tour guide was wonderful, and it was intriguing to see how this museum was set up. It used to be a hotel for immigrants coming into Argentina from all over the world but mainly from places like Europe, Russia, the Middle East, etc. All of the artifacts were fascinating to look at, as well as how the building was structured and what materials were used to house that many people in one space, as well as keeping it safe and hygienic to prevent sickness and infection.

Immigration patterns in the US versus Argentina are similar in many ways but also have some differences. I realized how similar the patterns are between the US and Argentina in terms of demographics and how it’s a lot of people from certain countries in Europe, and Asia, however, Argentina definitely has more of a variety as it is a bit closer to reach for some. They both are large melting pots of immigrants, however I do feel that Argentina makes it a lot easier to be an immigrant in their country. I learned that to come to Argentina for example as a student, you request a student visa to work and go to school here, and after being here only 6 months you can be granted an ID that you have to renew every year for the first three years of working and schooling. After those three years you are practically a citizen completely, and you do not need any language tests or other straining processes. Where as in the U.S especially now, it is extremely difficult and takes a while to become a full citizen, and so some find it easier to go to countries such as Argentina, Chile, etc. I truly did learn a lot about how similar the migration patterns both are, but how much easier Argentina makes it to be a immigrant, and then citizen.

Then we headed over to the museum of Etnografico, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It held a lot of historic artifacts important to Argentinian culture, and I loved seeing how different they all were. I had never been to a museum like this one and so it was definitely great to see. The tour guide was also very sweet, and I loved all the llamas! Later in the night, we had the alumni dinner, which was a great opportunity for us to meet extremely impactful people, and I had an amazing time, it was a pleasure!