The Last Days of School

As the days got hotter students scrambled beneath the shade of the trees, our dreaded finals were around the corner. I had missed the past two and half weeks of school to travel to the south. I scrambled to study all my materials. At night I would take my papers and sit out in the grass using the street lamp as my light. Everyone was stressed at school. I was happy to see my classmates two and a half weeks felt like forever. I brought everyone back little seashells form Puerta Madryn. Here in Argentina when you finish your classes you have a two week period of finals. Each day you are given one test; you go to school for an hour and a half only. I was to pass my five materials… gym, history, geography, French, and English. History came easily to me. I scored an 80% on my last history test which came as a surprise considering I did better than most the students in my class; and due to the fact that I was able to talk about fascism and the ramifications of World War II all in Spanish. But I’ve always been sort of a nerd for History. Geography consisted more of history. I studied about populism in Latin America and the political, economic, and social connections of Latin America with capitalistic societies. Gym consisted of a volleyball game which I passed successfully. Everyone laughs when I say I choose gym for one of my 5 classes but I’m missing the credits due to the fact that gym is not offered at DCIS. I was surprised what I learned in English. It’s one thing when a language is your native tongue but to learn it from another perspective is very interesting. Often my classmates know more about the grammatical rules of English then I do, for me it just comes naturally. How I managed to pass French is beyond me; learning another language in another language is just about one of the most confusing things I have ever done. The students have three opportunities to take the finals. I passed all mine on the first try and am now on summer break till March. Originally I thought I would die of boredom but have been surprisingly busy. Everywhere I turn I have an invitation to do something. Tomorrow I will be heading to the main plaza to talk politics with a few classmates. We have set forth the topics to Cuba and communism as well as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Others might laugh, but I enjoy sipping warm mate from a bombilla and arguing politics with a group of friends a common pass time here in Argentina.