Willamette World News

I always remember when I was very little that my mum and my grandma talked about the “policeman on the corner”… A feeling of nostalgia comes to me when I remember those days. Those were the days in which there was no feeling of insecurity where I lived.

“Family is always first!” That is how important family is back at home. In Argentina, we still value family as our Italian ancestors did. The big family reunion every Sunday for lunch with lots of uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents is still typical in these days.

The Grape Harvest Festival, or “Fiesta de la Vendimia” as it is originally called in Spanish, is the most important festival in Mendoza and the Cuyo region in Argentina. Election of the Queen of the Grape Harvest 2014 Every year it attracts people from all over the country and many from all over the world. […]

In this issue I will focus on two very attractive topics for me: economic activities and renewable energy. Well to begin with, I will start describing a little bit about Argentina’s economy. My country is well-known for having one of the best steaks in the world, but contrary to what many people think, that is […]

Hi everybody! this is Matias Torres and I am the Spanish language assistant this year at Willamette thanks to the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program and  Willamette University. First I am going to tell you a little bit about myself. I am 29 years old and I am originally an English teacher in Argentina. […]

When I thought about friendship one of the words which came to my mind is “door”. I strongly believe that friendship is like a door which leads people through astonishing and sometimes mysterious journeys. I have to admit that this door has often been opened to me and I’m really grateful for all the friends […]

By exploring Argentinian music, you will not only realize its eclectic nature, but also that it is embedded with many aspects of the Argentine culture, traditions, ways of thinking and living of Argentina’s inhabitants. From the well-known Tango to the popular Folklore, singers and song writers express love, friendship, family ties and even anger and […]

Argentina, one of the countries with the highest literacy rates in Latin America and even the world, is the homeland of thousands of scientists and talented, professional people. One of the key figures responsible for this is President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who made education universal, compulsory, free and secular. In the present entry I’d like […]

Even though I tend to be a bit skeptical about weddings and commitment issues, I´ll try to provide the best look into the Argentinian planning, organization, and celebration of this important day in a person’s life; and I’d also like to share what weddings mean for me and my very close friends.

After taking a close look into the current crave for remembrance rituals, traditions, and ceremonies, I began to wonder how much importance people give to those who leave this world having strived all their lives for the high ideals of sovereignty, justice and freedom. I came to the conclusion that a good way to make […]

As US presidential elections approach, American people start to think about the history of their country, the current state of affairs and especially they start to wonder about the future. The diversity of people’s reaction towards the whole world of politics is enormous and so are the differences among the political systems of elections across […]

Hi everyone! My name is Gabriela Bustos and I’m the Language Assistant for the Spanish department. I was chosen by the Spanish department [editors note] to help students with their homework, assignments and conversations in Spanish at Willamette University. In this first entry for the WWN blog I’d like to tell you something about my […]

When I think back on all the things I’ve seen, all of them are memorable. It is hard to choose one of them because I have so many cultural moments that I would like to share.

Argentina has a unique vocabulary of slang expressions that you won’t hear in any other country, except perhaps in neighboring Uruguay. Below is a list of some of the most common slang expressions that I have heard used by locals in Buenos Aires, Argentina.