Week 5:
Independence for All

July 9, 2016

As this week wraps up, I once again feel overwhelmed at how lucky I am to be in this city, working this job. This kind of opportunity is truly unique, and I am incredibly grateful to the Cornell Fellows Program for making it possible.

First and foremost, the Fourth of July has passed, and with it a lot of the stress that was starting to take over Consular. Many of the main organizers work in this section, so it was all anyone could talk about for the past few weeks. With the end of the event has also come the culmination of one of my biggest projects, working in assembling the logos for the companies, so that’s exciting to have done as well.

The Fourth of July party was absolutely incredible, and luckily I was able to take plenty of photos this time, so the event was well chronicled. I worked under my supervisor Abdel as a runner, meaning I spent my time asking people if they needed help with various rooms, moving people out of the way when the ambassador was coming through, and essentially doing whatever needed to be done at that moment. Luckily for me, this meant that I could wander around the party en route to my various jobs, and I got to see some really cool things.

The event was hosted at Palacio San Miguel, a huge venue with multiple rooms and two stories, with openings from the 1 to the 0 floor so you could look down at the stage. The theme of the party was celebrating 200 years of America’s National Parks, and each room had a different theme relating to this. For example, one room was the “Scout Room,” where tents were set up, picnic tables replaced normal seating, and there was a photo booth in front of a blown up image of Mount Rushmore. There was also the “Glacier Room”, where a huge ice sculpture of an eagle was carved over the course of the party, and one of our technology sponsors had a “virtual parks experience” set up with goggles and 3D technology that is hard to explain, but was quite cool! Basically you sat down in a spinning chair, put on ski goggles, with a smartphone attached, and selected which park experience you wanted. Then you spun in your chair and it showed you a 3D image of the park. We also had the main room with the stage, the “Disney Room” where you met Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and the exclusive sponsor event upstairs.

During the course of the night, I ran around all of these rooms, and got to eat delicious food and drink absolutely incredible wine. We had a ton of fun with the other Argentine interns and the Marines, and the party didn’t end until 1 am. However, due to my health issues and an absurd amount of foot pain, I left at 11:30, a decision I was thankful for the next morning. I was told by Ambassador McMullen before my internship that volunteering for the event was something I needed to do, and he was right: Fourth of July 2016 is one that I’m never going to forget.

Other than that, this week has been rather low key. We had the work day off for the Fourth, and the work week ended at 1 pm on Thursday, so we have a three and a half day weekend! The other interns went to Iguazu Falls this weekend, but unfortunately I’m unable to go with them due to my health issues. But this weekend was everything but boring! Over the course of the weekend, I went to two birthday parties, celebrated Argentina’s independence, and explored the city on my own in a way I previously had not, something that I was very excited about!

On Thursday, I went to my first party, invited by my friend Vicky, which was fun but a bit overwhelming. I speak decent Spanish, but not well enough to keep up when the night got later and the Spanish got faster. Because of that, I ended up leaving at 2 am, before Argentine parties actually get going, but I still had a great time despite that. Then, the next day, I went to Barrio Chino, cooked for a good chunk of the morning, and that night went to the 9th of July celebrations that were happening at Teatro Colon. There, I met some other Americans on the Subte, and ended up tagging along with them for the rest of the night, watching the show from the crowd and taking in the celebration. The photo below is from the 200th Anniversary signs they had up outside of the event.

On Saturday, I took the Subte down to the Casa Rosada, walked around the Plaza de Mayo, and then headed to San Telmo, so far my favorite barrio in the city. I bought myself a shake, wandered around the market, and bought some of my first souvenirs from Argentina (yes, I have been here for over a month…). Later that night, I went to another party with my friend Vicky, and this time was prepared for the Spanish and the late night, and had a great time! My Sunday ended up being pretty lazy, with lots of time spent on FaceTime with friends, and ordering my first food delivery in the city, something that, now that I’ve figured it out, I see myself doing a lot in the future. Adulthood may be challenging at times, but the benefits by far outweigh the negatives.