Traveling is always a rewarding experience, enhancing our knowledge of the world and crossing geographical boundaries into cultures unknown to us. It has always been one of man’s greatest pleasures, and will always be a strong urge to satisfy the curiosity and the never ending desire of any traveler. However, to be able to settle somewhere else in the world for a while and to experience the day by day inner workings of any community, whatever its size, is a must for those who do not only crave for beautiful landscapes, unique places, tasty and exotic food, but also for those travelers who need to develop a deeper and better understanding of human nature, and want to grow in the capacity of improving their communication skills within the context of  this ever changing and evolving multicultural and globalized world.

Last February, a group of teenage students from ICA Instituto Cultural Americano, visited the United States for a month to upgrade their English skills at the prestigious University of Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia, or ’Philly’ as this city  is commonly known by the locals.
On campus, our students lived side by side with foreign students from all over the world, while they attended the English courses given at the ESL center.

On this occasion, there were twelve students:
Eliana Berardo, Sofia Truppel, Sofia Shepherd, Agustina Rodríguez, Martín Bacigalupo, Agustín Roldán, Camilo D’onofrio, Inaki Amor, Ramiro Collar Lopez, Ignacio Kaufman, Ernesto Anuncibay y Gianluca Iacono, a wonderful group which was able to take to the place and to the people right away.

After being accommodated in the dorms, the group toured the campus, and became acquainted with the university facilities and the diverse academic, social and sporting activities provided. Our kids got fascinated with areas such as the fully technologically equipped library, the modern and well cared for sporting facilities, like the indoor swimming pools, indoor basketball court and the football field, which was a witness to many of the ’picaditos’ that our students contended with both local and non local students every evening as night fell and the cold invited anyone else to the warmth of their rooms.
Wherever our kids went, they carried their music around, getting everyone involved with their songs and dancing, their Argentinian jokes and their friendliness. Their shopping sprees also deserve to be mentioned, since they could bewilder even the occasional passer-by, when our kids walked by chit chatting in Spanish , clenched to a myriad of shopping bags spreading the word around about ’the best bargain ever not to be missed’.
We also had the pleasure of being invited as lecturers to the School of Economics in St. Joseph, where some students and myself lectured on Argentina, its geography and its political and economic system, to a group of American PhD students and the Head of the Department of Economics, who were planning to travel to our country for a few weeks. For that purpose, we prepared a power point presentation with an outline of the talk, photographs from different areas of our country and a video. For all of us, this awesome opportunity still remains in our minds as an amazing experience!