I stepped off the plane in Buenos Aires and made my way to the baggage claim. Although I had taken Spanish classes all of my life and been to many Spanish-speaking countries, I was now alone in the Buenos Aires airport and I needed to find my way to a small town called Solis. I sleepily stumbled through customs and after a few awkward smiles and points to visas and customs forms, my passport was stamped and I was on my way out of the airport.

I found my way to a taxi stand which took me to a bus stand. I waited 3 hours to finally board the bus to Solis. I began to fall asleep as the bus left Buenos Aires and entered the farm country. I had now been up a total of 24 hours. The bus did not stop at Solis, but did stop at the next town; San Antonio de Areco. I got off the bus and waited at the gas station. I anticipated the arrival of the intern who would take me to the Equine Veterinary Hospital where I would be staying for the next six weeks while I interned at the Veterinary Hospital. Three hours later the intern drove up in a red pick-up.

This was my first exposure to the cultural differences between Argentina and the United States: Argentina ran on a much slower clock than the United States. During my trip I continued to discover cultural differences between the United States and Argentina. Although I was there to study equine medicine, I also went to horse sales where we had asados, race tracks where we had media lunas and coffee on our break, and a famous chocolate factory that was located down the street from the hospital where we went for alfajores. I also became accustomed to making and drinking yerba mate at every possible minute. I learned about traditional food such as milanesa and empanadas with ham and cheese.  My Spanish that I had learned in New Mexico began to change from Mexican Spanish the Argentinian Spanish which was evident by my pronunciation of words such as pollo andcalle.

When it came time to leave the hospital, I was sad to be leaving both my friends and the horses who I had been caring for. On the last night that I was in Solis we had a party. Everyone brought their instruments and music. We spent the night singing and reminiscing about the past 6 weeks and surrounded by food. This was the perfect closing to my internship that had doubled as a    cultural journal.