My arrival to Fundación Ciclo´s expectations

After waiting in uncertainty for a few days, the final answer was sended by e-mail: Dear Miss Kuijntjes, Congratulations!!! We are happy to inform you that after the interview and having evaluated your personal qualifications and references, you have been selected to participate in an internship at our Institution.
This was really great to hear, it was like a dream come true! I am going to do an internship in Buenos Aires, one of the most unique and modern cities of Latin America (as I was told in the vacancy at the website of my University)!! After studying Latin American Studies for four years, and never visited this country before, I am going to live the Latin American life by myself!
But after a few days, when I slowly got used to the idea that I am going to Argentina, I began to wonder what it would be like to live like an inhabitant of Argentina. Friends of mine, which have been in Buenos Aires before, told me the City was like Berlin, or London, or a mix between these two cities, or the city could not be filled in a space at all.
Others told me I am going to eat meat, loads of delicious meat from the barbeque and that I could buy empanada’s at every corner of the street and whenever I wanted! They told me the people from Buenos Aires are really nice, the area of La Boca seems to be very cool and I should make a boattrip to Uruguay, visit the enormous icebergs and the icy waters of Lago Argentino, and definitely visit a football match!
All these tips made me really curious about the city, the country and the people. But one of the most important things that keeps me wondering every day, is my internship. I am really curious about my tasks I am going to fulfil during the next six months. I hope I will learn a lot about Fundacion Ciclo and the way they achieve their goals. I would like to learn every different aspect of a non governmental organization, help wherever I can, meet people from all over the world and get to know different cultures. And at the end of my internship it would be great if I speak Spanish fluently!
From now on I am gathering together all the requered documents, papers, signatures and agreements. This is not an easy job to do and it takes a lot of time, but the final purpose is really great! I allready booked my ticket and when I arrive I finally will meet my hostfamily. I am so curious about these people, the place where they live and their way of life.
From the 8th of February on, I will change the snowy city Utrecht (the place where I live and study) for a beautiful and huge metropolitan city named Buenos Aires. I will say goodbye to my family and friends, the freezing weather, the tipical Dutch winter food called ‘stamppot’ (mashed potatos and mashed vegetables, see the picture), the cheese, the cannels, the small cities and most of all, my bicycle (in the Netherlands we cycle a lot!).
Doing an internship for six months also means that I will leave my parents, sister and friends for quite a long time. But everybody, included my grandmother is really happy for me! This is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ and I should grab this chance definitely and that is why I cannot wait to start my internship!

Dorien Kuijntjes, 24 years old, from Utrecht, the Netherlands