The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Student to spend three months in Argentina
Milan High School graduate to write column about travels
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 4, 2007
Chris Irwin has no set itinerary for the three months he plans to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. How he will spend his days there are kind of up in the air.
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His first plan of action is to walk the streets of San Telmo, where he is subletting an apartment, and get to know one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. After that, he's wide open.
"There's just so much I want to see," he said, including a visit to Easter Island. "I think I've got about two weeks' worth of stuff to do. After that, I'm going to be looking for something to do."
Irwin, 20, a Milan resident studying at Eastern Michigan University, has been planning the trip since his freshman year in college and has wanted to tour Argentina since a planned trip in high school fell through.
A two-week junket to Costa Rica during his junior year in high school whetted his appetite for South America. He initially didn't want to take the trip because he thought it would be boring, but his parents, Greg and Marybeth Irwin, insisted he go, and it turned out to be good advice.
"It was awesome," he said. "It was probably the best two weeks of my life."
The best part, he said, aside from the beautiful beaches and warm water, was when he found himself thinking in Spanish.
"I have wanted to perfect my Spanish," said Irwin, who began studying the language in high school. "I want to speak it fluently."
Irwin originally hoped to spend six months in Argentina, but he scaled that back to 90 days after he spilled a glass of water on his computer and had to spend some of his trip money to replace it.
"I'm going down for three months because that's how much money I have," he said.
His parents are a little nervous, he admitted, but they are also excited for him. Their advice this time is "Don't come back married," he said.
Irwin is taking the next semester off while he is in Argentina. He has not yet settled on what he wants to do after college. He's thought about film, law, medicine and journalism, but nothing yet has held his interest.
He said if all goes well on his trip, he might consider moving to South America for a few years.
"Someplace where in the winter instead of snow, it just rains," he said.
The trip is the fulfillment of a long desire and years of anticipation.
"I've been waiting for this trip for a long time," he said.
Irwin will share his experiences in Buenos Aires with readers of The Milan News-Leader and Saline Reporter in bi-weekly columns starting Jan. 18.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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