Hellos and Goodbyes

Hey everyone! One weird thing about being in Bahía Blanca since March and living in the international houses (casitas) is that I’ve seen a lot of people come and go. I had a lot of close friends from the international house last semester, but then they all left in July. I then saw more international students come in August. One person I’ll particularly miss in the casitas is my housemate, Vanessa, from Canada. I’ve lived with her for only 2 months, but she has been a really nice addition to my time in Bahía Blanca. Despite popular thinking, she is from the part of Canada that speaks French, so she and I spoke Spanish in the house as I don’t speak any French. She’s been a good friend to me here and she has already left the casitas and is set to travel a bit in Argentina starting tomorrow, leaving Bahía Blanca on Tuesday. With her leaving Argentina, I got two new housemates on Friday, Sandra and Carla from Paraguay. They are very sweet and are only here for 4 weeks, one week less than the rest of my time here. They are doing intensive Master’s classes and will also do a bit of traveling in Argentina. I’ve gotten to show them around Bahía Blanca a bit and it makes me realize how much I’ve grown since I got here in March. I have my routines here and it feels a bit like home to me at this point. Maybe I don’t always know everything, but I know enough to show people around the city, highlight important areas and recommend good restaurants. I even took them to the food truck festival on Sunday! While I’m excited to have more housemates and meet new people, it feels weird at this point of the Fulbright to still be meeting new people from new countries. I’m glad for it, but it’s odd to be saying hello when I feel like I’ll be saying goodbye so soon. I have a feeling the next few weeks will be a whirlwind of emotions full of hellos and even more goodbyes.