End of the internship abroad at the Lopez Hostel

It should have been on March 11th that my journey to Uruguay would continue. We celebrated my farewell by my boss inviting me and Hector to a Parrilla for dinner. In addition to Mocillas, Entrañas, Bife, and Asado, we ate a huge plate of fries, bread, salad, Chimichurri, and another sauce with water and wine. There was no more room on the table for anything else. For dessert, we finally had strawberries with cream and Tiramisu until we felt like we were going to burst.

The next morning, Ofelia, an incredibly sweet older lady who lived in one of the hostel rooms, Thelma, one of my colleagues, with whom I could always chat about anything and who was always there for me, and Hector, who had become very dear to me as we spent time together from morning till night or late at night, had breakfast with me, and I could say goodbye to everyone.

Our taxi driver Carlos finally took me to the ferry terminal from where I was supposed to cross over to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.

I was asked by many of my friends if I would do it again exactly the same way or if I regret spending five weeks in the same place, as it sounds relatively boring and could potentially be a waste of time if you want to get to know all of Latin America. YES, I would definitely do it the exact same way. An internship during the trip is not wasted time, but an opportunity. You don't need to stress about getting to know the surroundings and the culture of the country, you have the chance to learn the language by speaking with native speakers every day (which is definitely not comparable to a 5-minute conversation with a taxi driver or placing an order at a restaurant), you gain professional and intercultural experience in dealing with guests, and last but not least: you meet wonderful people and make new friends. Of course, you can also make new friends while traveling constantly, but those are more acquaintances with whom you decide to stay in touch after 1-2 days and see each other again at some point, as you have to say goodbye to each other again shortly after. In contrast, during my internship, we spent a whole 5 weeks together, cooking, eating, watching movies, dancing, listening to music, going out together, talking about personal, funny, trivial, or serious topics; we lived and worked together. I'm glad that no one can take that away from me anymore, and I hope to see them all again in the coming years.