April 2013
From Rio de Janeiro to Lima in 202 Days About a girl that returned with a backpack full of experiences
by Suzanne de Boef It was on my last day in South America, drinking my last pisco sour in world’s most famous pisco bar, when a random guy told me I was like a mariposa – a butterfly. Since I am from one of the best countries in the world and flew over to discover other places. Like a butterfly, which you will always spot on the most beautiful places on earth.
Buenos Aires? True! Buenos Aires is a city to fall in love with (and ín, but that’s another story and I can’t tell) . It has an amazing vibrant atmosphere and the best parties in the world take place there (quoting David Guetta). After 4 months I still felt like a tourist since
I arrived a bit later during the first lecture of the year. All 3rd year econometricians gathered again in one of the small basement rooms. It was the first time I saw them again. Still the same people and we all knew what everyone did past half a year, because Facebook never lets us down. Though I felt kind of exited. Coming back with some visible tan and a nose piercing, I received a lot of curious faces.
there is so much to discover. It’s not big, it’s huge. I grew up in a ‘city’ with 4000 inhabitants and always thought Amsterdam was incredible big. Now I know better. Also due to the fact that I did barely speak the language.
When I think about my exchange I think about the traveling after my exchange which took two whole months. Probably because it is most recent – I write this two weeks after my return. Also because that is why I went to Buenos Aires after all. I simply wanted to travel in South America. I wanted to escape the structural culture of Western Europe for a while. And where better to go in South America than in
I spoke 10 words of Spanish before I arrived and chose not to take courses. I assumed living there would offer me enough opportunities to learn. I don’t exactly recall how I managed to pass my courses that were taught in Spanish, but I did. On the other hand, by 25