The main struggle I've had has not been the spanish, surprisingly. It has been the transportation. I like to joke with my friends from South Carolina that I know what city life is because I'm from Knoxville and they are from small towns. But in THIS city, I am completely out of my element. Knoxville may be big-ish, but I can still drive everywhere I need to go. Figuring out the subway and the bus system may be the death of me. Hopefully by the time I leave in June I will be able to get on a bus in the right place, and get off in the right place. Hopefully. Just to put this in perspective, Spartanburg has approximately 38,000 people. Knoxville has approximately 183,000. And Buenos Aires… 3 million. Living in a city this big also means getting used to the noise, at all hours of the day. I sleep with earplugs because there are train tracks directly next to my apartment building. If the train doesn't wake me up, speeding motorcycles or screaming people or barking dogs or a car alarm will.
A story about one of the many time's I've been lost in Buenos Aires: It was the first day of actual class, and I was determined to get back home on my own. My host mom accompanied me to school that morning to teach me the route, and I stubbornly denied her company returning at the end of the day. I'm twenty years old, I don't need to be walked to and from school. Wrong. I got off the bus three stops too early and wandered around for about 15 minutes before I took out my map and found a policeman. I then managed to get to the correct street, but couldn't remember what my apartment building looked like. I called my host mom and she had to come find me. I was beyond frustrated with myself, but this is the spirit of discovering a new place! I'm learning to have fun with my mess-ups, and also that being twenty years old does not make you above being walked to school.
Speaking of my host mom, my host family is the best. Mario and Maria Luz are an older couple who have three grown kids and several grandkids. They are incredibly sweet and accommodating. My first weekend here they took me around the neighborhood and showed me all the things I could ever want or need that are within walking distance of our apartment. Maria Luz has toast and coffee waiting on me every morning, and also an apple for me to take to school in case I get hungry. She is also my secretary (her words, not mine), and knows my class schedule better than I. She cooks things for dinner she knows I like, and gives me ice cream for dessert. She also insists that I talk to my real mom to tell her that I am eating and sleeping and doing fine. Mario always starts very profound conversations with me at dinner. At first it was intimidating, but having these long conversations has already significantly helped the fluency and vocabulary of my spanish. We talk about politics, religion, family, education- anything and everything. It fascinates me to hear about these things from his point of view, through the lens of his culture. He also loves to read, so he looked up everything there is to know about Tennessee before I came. He asks me about the weather, the economy, and the famous people born there. It makes me feel special that he cared enough to read up on where I'm from. He has also traveled to many places in the US for his job, and gladly informed me that he prefers the cities in the south.
When I'm not with my host family, I'm with the other students in my program. There are about twenty of us from all over the United States, and I enjoy every single one of them. It's refreshing to spend time with people who think about the world like I do, and who also love the adventure of figuring out a new culture. A typical lunch conversation among us would be a very deep commentary and analysis of the topic we learned about in class that day. I love it.
The first week was definitely hard, and emotions were high at times. But I'm feeling more like myself than I have in a long time, because I'm doing what I am most passionate about. I was made to travel, and I was made with the desire to learn about different people and places. People who love sports can practice anytime they want. People who love to draw can pull out a paper and pencil. But people who love to travel have it hard. Buying a plane ticket and leaving your job and family are not as convenient. So right now I am very content as I settle into the Buenos Aires life, public busses and all.
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