In less than two months, we will venture 5,374 miles from our familiar environs on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester to the sprawling and bustling complex of the Colegio del Salvador on Avenida Callao in the center of Buenos Aires. Two cities that share the Western hemisphere, yet so different in climate, culture, and way of life. This summer, our journey will bridge the northern and southern continents of the Americas through new friendships that perhaps would never have existed otherwise and promote American awareness of the countries of Latin America.
My Argentinean brother Nicolás and I had a great time together when he stayed with us in Boston. One experience with him stands out from all the others. In the days following Nico's arrival, I took him to meet my grandparents, Pat and Anna. Upon meeting Nico and shaking his hand, my grandmother smiled and said: "I've seen you before!" Of course, the both of us were puzzled. Over tea and cookies, she explained that Nico had an uncanny resemblance to some long lost male relatives that she met in northern Italy when she visited her family's original homestead in the 1980s. Her geological research through Ancestry.com years later had also revealed that other members of her extended family had immigrated to Argentina. Nico then told us that his great-grandfather immigrated to Argentina from northern Italy as well and that other relatives immigrated from the Italian region of Switzerland. "We must be related somehow," my grandmother declared. She was a practical and genuine person and I knew that she was sincere. In many ways, Nico had a strong impression on her and added some level of excitement and fascination to what would unexpectedly become the final weeks of her life. Though the probability of Nico being related to my grandmother is uncertain and I am not blood-related to her, I like to entertain the thought that they actually are. Nevertheless, I will meet him again down in Buenos Aires with a connection that stretches across continents and perhaps, generations.
George Bailey'17
