Cultura, Clases, y Amigos

Hiiii,

So today was my first day of class at the University of Buenos Aires. I think I´m in the right level, it doesn´t seem too difficult. I made a friend today, her name is Banu and she is from Turkey. I realized that my Spanish class is not really the place to meet people from Argentina as the name of the class directly translates to ¨Spanish for foreigners.¨ Most of the students in my class are from the US. I briefly met a woman from Smith College who was in my room before we got split into two classes. Sadly, we are not in the same section. There was another guy from Boston, but he also was put in the other section before I could talk to him. Hopefully I can bump into the tomorrow. My class is Monday - Thursday from 9-11am, quite early for me. I get up at 7:15, eat breakfast with Evi and then catch the Subte (subway) to Plaza de Mayo, and walk 10 mins from there to my class. Everyone seems nice, but as I said most are estadounidenses (US citizens) Almost half the class is from one particular program, flaxo, and they have already been here a month and know each other quite well, so that kind of killed my hopes of meeting a lot of people in my class, since they already seem to have their group. Butttt we´ll see how it goes.

It was interesting to hang out with Banu today, because she seems to be having an even bigger culture shock than LB and I. It really made me recognize the daily differences. Something that I really love about the culture here is the familiarity and automatic comfortability. Everyone kisses hello and goodbye, whether you know each other or not. I had a stomach ache today and three people at LB´s house were concerned for me and offered to get me medicine. It just feels like family, which is really nice. The lifestyle is also very laidback, which is nice for me. It´s focused on spending time with people. Everyone takes breaks in the day to sit over cafe and ¨Charla¨or chat. Meals, especially dinner, last a long time. Sharing mate is a communal activity and ritualistic in terms of hospitality and who is the server. Also, simply sitting on the bus it easy to see that people are aware and friendly to one another. Most young people give up their seats for older people or women with children, without ever being asked. Today there was a protest in the square, about what I don´t know, but LB´s professor today was complaining of how there are protests everyday. And the culture of going out on a Saturday night is much different. LB and I went out until 8am the other night, and that seems to e a normal thing for argentine youth. It´s one bar, followed by another, followed by coffee at a cafe when the sun comes up. Not something I think I can handle every weekend. LB and I have also found ourselves in a ¨couples culture¨. Usually when you see women on the street they are holding hands with men, which sure enough is a symbol of the machismo. And PDA is the thing to do. Lb and I went for a walk in Puerto Madero and every which way we looked men and women were making out on the street. VERY different to see, and sometimes awkward if we´re sitting right next to it. But culture is culture and certainly takes some adjusting to view it through my own cultural lens. That´s what I have so far of a mini ethnography of my first week. If anything it has all made me much more aware of my own conception of culture in the US. Even the realization that calling myself an American is wrong. Everyone here in South America and in North America are Americans, I´m a US citizen. And even in talking to Banu (who by the way speaks four languages), who was most comfortable speaking with me in English, realizing again (a key learning from GCD) that being a native English speaker is such a privilege, and for me learning a second language is a luxury, not a necessity. I could talk a lot more about that, and I think fellow New Road students would agree, that language is also a privilege that oppresses. Buttt my internet time is running out, so maybe another time.

Ok, love and miss you all.

Jill