Week 10:
Don’t cry for me, Argentina…

August 25, 2016

Just as I started my first blog post, it only seems fitting that I title my last one with another Evita lyric.

On August 12th, my time at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires drew to a close. The end of this experience was bittersweet, and while it’s hard to come to grips with the fact that my time in Buenos Aires is over,  I am now home with my family, friends, and dogs, and about to start my last year at Cornell.

In the two months I was in Argentina, there have been ups and downs, but I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life. These ups have included working on visits for both the Secretary of State and the Second Lady, helping fund raise for and attend the Fourth of July party, assisting with both ACS Injury and Death cases, visiting American citizens in prison to check on the human rights abuses they may face, meeting with officers from sections and bureaus across the Embassy, and so much more. I helped American Citizen Services improve their capabilities and efficiency, and completed projects that full time staff members need but have trouble getting to. I left Argentina knowing that I made a difference, and that I came back to the states not only with a wealth of experiences under my belt, but having met some amazing Foreign Service Officers and Argentines, and that for two months, I lived in the city I’ve dreamed of visiting since I was sixteen.

My last week at work was focused on wrapping up my big projects, and culminated with the Warden Training that ACS hosted on August 11th. Wardens are volunteers that the Embassy has across the country, which we utilize in situations in which we are unable to reach the province in question, or need help with logistics. They are extremely useful in a variety of settings, from prison visits to injured Americans and many more potential situations. We hosted our training in order to announce the new name of the program, Citizen Liaison Volunteers, and to offer guidance and protocol for these volunteers to learn about how to handle potential situations that could occur. We offered this training in the Embassy, but we also created an online streaming for the volunteers who couldn’t make it to Buenos Aires. A lot of work went into setting up that training, and along with that, multiple test runs. Unfortunately, the day of the training, the internet in the Embassy crashed multiple times, leaving us scrambling. With the help of the tech team, we managed to recover by the end of it, but it was still a bit of a disaster. However, we learned a lot from the experience, and for future trainings that ACS hopes to host, we now have the standard operating procedure and the knowledge to execute that successfully.

My last day at the Embassy was everything I could have wanted. I spent the morning wrapping up my last few projects, including setting up the Google Earth software on the Embassy computers and backing up all of my completed projects, before heading to lunch with all of the other interns. Upon returning to the office, I met with Abdel, having been told that we had an “outbrief” meeting scheduled for that afternoon. However, upon entering the back area of the section, I saw that there were cakes and wine set out, and that the office had surprised me with a despedida (farewell party). It was the sweetest thing, and we spent the next hour or so eating cake and going over the list of the last few things I needed to do before returning home. To my surprise, I had accomplished a lot more than I had realized, and had some new insight on how to spend my last few days.

After that, I headed over to the Chief of Mission Residence, where we had a final goodbye toast with the Ambassador. We sat in the French Room, had a champagne toast, and discussed our favorite parts of the internship and things that could be improved. We ate fancy mini BLT sandwiches and were presented with our completion certificates, and after one last picture, I was done. The other interns had work to complete, but as my section’s work started an hour and a half before them, I was done. I turned in my Embassy building pass and headed home, my time at Post had come to a close.

I spent the next few days hitting up the greatest hits from my trip, including San Telmo, Recoleta, Tigre, and others. I ate an incredible last meal with the other interns and our coordinators at La Cabrera, where we treated ourselves to some incredible Argentine steak and Malbec at the “Gringo Special” prices (where you arrive at 7:00 and leave before 8:30, and receive a 40% discount for finishing before the ‘real’ dinner customers arrive). I also spent the following days preparing our apartment for the next tenants, scrubbing and washing everything to as clean as government housing can get. It also took me lots of that time to pack, a feat that to this day I cannot believe that I managed to pull off. I had to acquire a second suitcase from a generous colleague to fit all of my stuff, and even then it was an ordeal. I really didn’t think that I had gotten that much more stuff, but apparently I did. Luckily, I did manage to fit everything in, and on the 18th, I boarded a 8:18pm flight from Ezeiza International Airport. By 10am the next day, I was in Chicago, and within the next 48 hours I was headed home.

“You know I’ll never leave you…” has never felt more relevant. The past two months were two of the most incredible in my life, and I can’t wait for the upcoming year at Cornell and future adventures to come, some of which will involve returning to the country that now has a permanent hold on my heart.

Chau Argentina, hasta pronto.