Making New Friends

I think this weekend was amaaaaaazing because we could meet another people that maybe we knew just their face and we could all learn about different personalities, thoughts, lifes, and a lot of different things. Perhaps a person is not just a face, is more than these, and I learned that this weekend, so I’m so happy.

Thank you a lot for that!

I want to see you again!

The Food in the Camp

The food in the camp is excellent. We all had three meals a day and each meal was a typical one from an English speaking country.

From fried chicken, sweet corn sauce, and potatoes, a typical food from the south of North America for lunch, to Sheperd’s pie and pears and custard from England for dinner. And that were only the meals from one day!

On Saturday, we had pancakes with maple syrup, toast with jam and butter, coffee, tea or milk a typical American breakfast. At lunch time baked potatoes with minced meat and apple crumble for dessert.

At dinner the dish consisted of Guiness stew and cheese cake, typical in Ireland.

Finally, the last day, we had a big English breakfast, the most expected one! Bacon and eggs, toast, tomatoes, tea and coffee for all of us. At lunch hamburgers and banoffee, a very typical American food.

I should also say that every night before we go to bed the counsellors gave us amazing hot chocolate and delicious cakes so that was a great thing about the camp.

To sum up, I think the food was perfect and at the time were meeting new people we were learning about the culture and the customs of other countries. In England, for example, they have only three meals a day and dinner is at 7:30 which I thought it was very strange as in my country we are used to having dinner at nine or ten. But, it was a great experience and I really enjoy it.

Tomy's Birthday

Well, it’s a windy day, but I’m happy because I can drive next Thursday. I’m not going to school because I’ll do the driving test and I’m going to pass the exam – those are the words that Tomy said, whose 17^th birthday it is today.

Today is my cousin’s birthday. I’m really happy because I grew up at his side. I love him and I wish him the best. It’s a fabulous stay the whole weekend with him because I enjoy a lot being with him.

By: Josefina Schmidt

La Nancy

The place is almost the same thing that I had in mind, I thought that it’d be bigger, but I don’t care about that actually. I think I having fun, and I don’t know how much more to say about that. Yo, another thing, the people are great and also very kind. Just that. Best wishes,

Santiago

A Different Weekend, Having Fun and Making New Friends

First impression:

Arriving to a place that you don’t know is something strange, and if yo know that you need to speak just another language all the weekend, knowing other students and staying with natives from different countries with different accents, culture and different lives, it makes you nervous. But the thing is that it is an amazing opportunity where you can practice and review what you have learned = have fun, love, friendship, respect, honesty, and especially make real your dreams and catch all the opportunites you can.

Interview with Florencia (teacher):

I totally agree with your first impression description. I always get nervous before starting something new. But that’s how life works. You learn through experience.

My first impression:

When I arrived I was happy to be here and I got nervous because I didn’t know if I was going to understand the counsellors and the other guys. But then, it was ok. The house is great and big, so my first impression was great beyond I got nervous before starting this experience. Thanks for all!

Spy Camp

This year, La Nancy brought to us an interesting topic to discover the spy world. In which we have to place themselves in the skin of a spy.

How can we do it? The aim is to find a terrorist that have escaped from the most dangerous spy’s film. The point is “trust no one” because the terrorist is part of us, everyone is a suspect, so pay attention!

It is a mission that not everybody can do. It needs bravery and no fears. Look out! Just trust in yourself, it’s the only way out!

The challenge will be difficult and definitely you’ll feel affected, you must become stronger and overcome all your difficulties.

Good luck and be careful!

By: Ro Agostino

Finding the Terrorist

How can we do it? It’s the question that everyone asked when we arrived and knew the mission. In the next three days, a secret message will be given and we have to find it out through a secret code. The message communicates to us the place where one of the counsellors is hiding. As soon as you meet him/her, two clues will be given to us and we have to invent two facts, but they must be a lie.

All the moment of meeting all together at lunch area, one of each group has to read the four facts, but without saying which is the true and which is false – this is the job for the other groups.

The last day, we’ll make an auction where clues will be sold, and the crystals that have been given will be used to buy them. Crystals have been given for speaking English, having an interesting conversation with the counsellors, helping at lunch and dinner time, or just for doing something that helps us to improve the handling of th elanguage or spening a really funny weekend.

I hope the terrorist can be discovered and Interpol will be thankful for your job.

Interviews with the Counsellors

Interview with Liana:

1. The kids are really nice – I have laughed a lot this weekend.
2. I got the opportunity to live in Argentina for 6 months and I took it. I wanted to do something different, learn Spanish, and travel.
3. I like the way they speak Spanish. I think they are friendly and value family life. I don’t like costilas and driving throught Buenos Aires in the back of a taxi. They are crazy drivers!!

Interview with Kristian:

1. It has been very interesting to see how well the two institutes have interacted. Also, I have been very impressed by everyones’ level of English and the amount of effort they have put into the work they have been asked to do.
2. I chose to come to Argentina because it is an amazing, beautiful country with very diverse landscapes and people.
3. I like the country and the friends I’ve made here, but dislike that I can’t get any spicy food.

Interview with Kevin:

1. I found it most interesting how the two different groups of students bonded by the music played at night. It was nice to see music bring peace and unity to teenagers in the beautiful setting that is La Nancy.
2. It has been my dream to travel and live in Argentina for six years. The country has a very rich culture. The people, music, landscapes, gastronomy and language are just how I imagined it; and I love it!
3. I found it odd how all the garbage cans on the streets have holes in them; the trash just falls straight through!

Interview with Laura:

1. I find lots interesting in this camp. I think that this is a really great group of people and everyone has a really good command of the English language. I have met some cool, funny people and have enjoyed the camp a lot.
2. I chose Argentina because I grew tired of Ireland and I wanted a change and to get away for awhile. I have always wanted to travel to South America and experience a new culture and learn Spanish and work in a teaching job, and to see if I liked teaching, and of course for the weather.
3. I like the food, it’s a lot better than Ireland. The people are lovely, very welcoming and very nice and friendly. I am loving this experience and my host family are wonderful and because they speak no English, I have had a great opportunity to learn Spanish. I sometimes dislike my location in Argentina because my life in Ireland is related to the sea and I miss the fact I am not close to the ocean here in Argentina but otherwise it’s been fantastic.

Interview with Joanna:

1. Everyone speaks incredible English, so fun loving, energetic, and enthusiastic. It’s amazing!
2. I always wanted to visit Argentina, and I came here for a two week holiday, fell in love with Argentina, th epeople, th eplace, the culture and I want to stay for two years.
3. There is not enough room to put how much I love this country. It’s aaamazing!!! Although, I do miss vegemite.

The Counsellors

In the spy camp from La Nancy, there are five foreign young people. They are all from different places. One of them is called:

Kevin – When I first saw him, I thought he was too quiet, a teen very shy and introvert. He didn’t speak, he didn’t tell us off, and the most difficult it was that he was in our group. After just two hours he started talking, talking, and talking (like me). After all I realised that I had been wrong, he was sociable and kind.

Liana – My first impression of Liana was completely different, now that I “know” her. I thought she was the one that would be shouting all the time, the one that like jokes and parties, but she is quiet, shy, and mysterious. She might be ther terrorist. She is kind and always with a smile on her face.

Joanna – She is sociable and party like. Always joking and running from one place to the other. I thought she was the “bad girl”, the one that would complain about what we did. I was totally wrong, she is an extrovert person.

Laura – At first I thought she was a little childish, like too quiet. I discovered that she is the kindest girl I ever met. She has a good relationship with kids, easy-going and not quiet at all.

Kristian – He is kind, clever, and he’s always teling jokes. So he is totally different as the way I thought. When I saw him for the first time I thought he was going to be strict and he is! But not as I thought. Although he is the one that manages the house and group like a dad :-) he is as friendly as the other counsellors.

Arabella Giambelluca

The Journey

Coming from Neuquen

The teenagers started their journey at 10 in the evening from their institute called Rainbow. They were wanting to have a very quiet journey but they were wrong. The trip about twelve hours and the weather was terrible. It was very windy and very cold. Apart from that the heater of the bus got broken, so the teens had to do something to forget all that, that’s why they started to play the guitar, to sing, and to eat. Everything was ok...

They got to La Nancy at 10 am of the next day. They were ready to start the weekend with the best weather, but they were wrong again. It rained all the morning and, of course, it was windy. In spite of all the bad things, they were ready to spend the weekend with all their energy, having fun, meeting new people, and more.

Coming from La Pampa

The kids started the journey at 6:30 in the morning. They took their things and all started. While they were travelling they sang songs, talked about what would happen in the camp. The weather was terrible because the night before it had started to rain. So it was difficult. In addition, the teens couldn’t find La Nancy because they had passed the entrance, so they got to Goyena. There someone told the teens how to get here, La Nancy.

They finally arrived at 10:15 am, but they found terrible weather again. It seems like they don’t care, they just want to have fun and live a new experience.

Coming from Coronel Suarez

We started our adventure at 3 o’clock from the academy. It was raining. It had been raining all the night before and all the morning, so we were a little bit worried. We were on the road and suddenly we stopped. We had passed the entrance, so we had to go back a few kilometers. Then we took a road full of mud, so some cars got stuck. We were almost feeling that we were not going to be at the camp on time. After all that adventure we realised that was the wrong way again, so we had to go back to the place we were before. It was very stressful.

To sum up, we got to La Nancy at almost 5 o’clock in the afternoon, very stressed, nervous, and full of mud. But we just don’t care because we’ll enjoy this excellent experience as a very close group.

By: Juliana Fernandez Belloni