Agustin Cassano
03/09/2020 - 14:25
- Clarín.com
- Society
As one approaches the Arenales square of Villa Devoto it intersects with small groups of boys who walk in the same direction. At 30 meters, the silence of the night turns into a whistle and the noise of the drums offers the feeling of approaching a football stadium. There are many and each one in their own way seems to be living a unique and unparalleled party: this is how each of the students of different schools in the area live their Last First Day (UPD).
The nerve center of the party is the center of Arenales Square, where an Argentine flag flies. At the entrance to the square is full of agents and patrolmen of the City police. Together with transit personnel, they guard the place and check the backpacks and what they carry: they cannot access with alcohol. But it shows that they have drunk before.
Last first day at Villa Devoto. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
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It's 4 in the morning and in Villa Devoto drizzle. But nothing prevents more and more children from arriving. All will graduate at the end of the year from the more than 10 secondary schools in the area
They arrive hugging and celebrating, with joy, a little "handle", as they say, for the celebration and another little because already the alcohol consumed previously began to take effect.
Each group of graduates distinguishes which school it is by using different shirts that they painted with different colors. To all, they wrote UPD or different phrases with numbers and nicknames. Or simply wear the shirts with the shield of your school customized to your liking. Juan, Nicolás and Emiliano are with their blue shirts from the San Ramón school and while they celebrate at night they stop to tell Clarín that they are having a "very good time" or simply that everything is "on the road" .
The Zubizarreta Hospital works as a refuge for children, as do the surrounding houses, because of the rain that now begins to be a bit more intense. However, young people keep coming to the square.
Last first day at Villa Devoto. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
A policeman says that "this year (the UPD) is quieter than last year." While saying so, two troops stop a boy who wants to enter with a vodka. They take it out and let it in .
Last first day at Villa Devoto. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
It's 4.10 and more and more students arrive. They chanting cantitos of court reformulated with the name of their school and enjoy this unique night, with some lack of control but without incidents. Bariloche and December are still far away and live this moment as if it were the last night of their lives.
Last first day at Villa Devoto. Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
There are also many parents who observe everything that happens from their cars or standing in a corner of the square. Some prefer not to speak, others do. Fabiana, who is the mother of a girl who is graduating from Nuestra Señora de Gracia y Buen Remedio school this year, says: "I don't agree with this, but I can't help it." He is on top of his car, on Chivilicoy street.
"In the case of my daughter's school they rented a room from 1 to 4. Obviously there was going to be alcohol. But there were six parents, three men and three women, who controlled everything. They had fun and had a good time. I was worried, but luckily everything went well. Anyway, she wanted to come to this celebration, "says the mother and explains that when her daughter finishes partying, she gets into the car and takes her to school at 10.
"They are things that one as a father would not want to happen, but they happen the same. You just have to be present. Accompany them and see them. My son does not know that I came. The truth is that with what happens in society you have to be present," says Adriana, who preferred not to name her son's school.
Two boys, Pablo and Nadia, are chatting leaning on a car. They say that they "previewed" in a room from the first hours of the night until 2 in the morning, when they arrived "running to the square". Pablo says that they are having an "excellent" time and Nadia nods while the father of one of the boys arrives and says that the UPD is living it "badly". "We are without sleep," says the man. His wife, on the other hand, says she is happy because "at least there are controls."
"It's to see how this is," say two parents who chat.
Thunder bombs sound, there are colorful flares and the sound is deafening because of the drums, cymbals and whistles. Many boys sit on the benches that are in the square and talk about what they lived at night and what is coming in the next few hours: how they are going to "fall" to their schools.
"On the road, I don't care what they say today I'm going to a party because for you I don't cry anymore ..." is heard from a group of girls who are singing along New York Street. They sing the melody of the new theme of Dipy, which these days is the song that can not be missing in the playlis t of each previous. "We started in a house until 2.30, the police came several times to fuck us that if we continued with the quilombo they would put us a fine," says Juan Martín. He adds that the UPD "is very good. And that everything is very 'Nazi'. Because you get together with friends from other schools to have a good time and nothing else. "
It's 4.30 and it's the peak of the party. Within the square each school joins its own shirts, its own cotillion, wireless speakers and its alcohol (cans of beer, fernets and vodka with juice) -which managed to dodge police control- to dance and do pogo in the center. Selfies reign, greetings among acquaintances of other schools and joy. You do not see an uncontrolled alcohol and debauchery. The boys have fun without fighting or conflict.
"We are having a great time. Super good. When we finish we go to school walking," says Julieta, 17, who preferred not to mention what school she is. The same goes for Valentín, 17, a student at Colegio Gracia y Buen Remedio: "I'm having a good time, watching all the kids have fun. This day is interesting and bizarre for me."
At five o'clock, Sofía and Tomás, from the Evangelical Institute, leave the square after having had a "very good time". They say they go to a friend to change and then they will start the walk to school. Changing clothes for some children is mandatory since many schools do not let them in if they do not do so with the corresponding uniform.
At 6 in the morning, the deafening noise begins to cease and the place is deconcentrated. The boys go looking for each course to go together. Some get on micros that they hired, others get in cars with their parents or just walk away. All to one destination: their schools. There will be again bombs, flags and party favors to celebrate his UPD that will be diluted with the dawn and only the next celebrations that are too far away will remain: the trip to Bariloche and the feast of graduates.