I returned in a weekend to the city where I attended university.

Sometimes circumstances, fate, chance or simply the desire to reminisce and reconnect with old friendships lead us to return to places that have had a special meaning in our youth.

Returning to the same city we left several decades ago and finding it absolutely changed is a kind of shock.

But after having lived on both continents equally for half of my life (America and Europe) I have realized that in this southern part of the American continent everything changes at a steady pace: customs, adaptation to modern times and also the building aspect.

The cities are getting bigger and bigger because the increase in demographic density is constant and this leads to a constant modification in the physiognomy of the cities of the interior of the country, especially in continuous development and expansion.

Everything is built anew and modified, altering, sometimes with urbanistic sense and sometimes not, the previous aspect that the city had when we left it.

And in my case it is not an exception. I have returned several times to Europe and I have found the Italian cities the same as always, with the same inhabitants, the same buildings and the same customs in their inhabitants.

In my country of birth (Argentina) everything changes at a steady pace. Old buildings are demolished to give place to gigantic towers of horizontal property that rise towards the infinite sky.

The city I am referring to is Santa Rosa, the capital of the province of La Pampa, in the geographical center of the country, home to a thriving university that year after year adds new careers. There I studied, worked, raised a family, my children were born, in short, I spent a good part of my life.

Then the political, social and economic instability of the country made me take other horizons and I moved to Italy, where I lived for a long time.

The university town I left is totally changed. The square, the main avenue seem to be made again, I do not recognize any detail that has remained in my memory.

A brand new and modern Casino at the entrance of the city seems to welcome (especially those who want to try and test their fortune), collector streets surrounding the city and endless green spaces. Monuments to the fallen in the Malvinas War, to the victims of the military dictatorship that half a century ago ruled the country and to the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo who with their struggle allowed to clarify many crimes and recover many grandchildren illegally abducted from their murdered parents.

I even observed a greater purchasing power in people and a kind of consumer frenzy in the big shopping malls.

A municipal recreation center, which I will tell you about in a future post, and which when I left the city was a simple place to go fishing on weekends, has been transformed into a recreational complex with entertainment and tours for all ages.

The university, on the other hand, remains the same. Its classrooms, the entrance, nothing has changed. More courses have been added and students come from all over the region to study.

I was surprised to find even in the center some places where you can park your car without having to pay, something that surprised me a lot, since in Italian cities finding a free spot is like finding a needle in a haystack. Besides there are no free parking areas and fines are the order of the day.

Each society has its own characteristics, but I was overcome with a feeling of nostalgia when I began to walk the streets of a city that I barely recognize.

I participate with this post to the weekend-weekend-engagement-weekend initiative started by @galenkp.

For the technical detail of the photos I have used as background the Wallpaper designed by The Peak Studio to whom I thank for the kind and disinterested concession of use.