Gracefully Abroad: Being the Exchange Student
By Grace Carballo ‘17
When you study abroad you have a few different types of programs to choose from. You can go to one of the USC Abroad locations, which I did last summer in Madrid, where you are taught by USC professors but in a new city. You can also choose to go through a study abroad provider, like CIES or SIT, which I did last fall through SIT Nicaragua. The benefits to going with a study abroad provider are, in my experience, a strong relationship with the local community, reciprocity, authenticity, and well-organized group excursions included in program costs. Currently, I am doing a direct enrollment study abroad experience, which means I am enrolled as a student as this University and take classes alongside Argentinian students. During my time at USC, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a number of exchange students, and it’s been very interesting to now be on the other side of that.
A lot of things at my current university, the Universidad de San Andrés are very different than what I’ve grown accustomed to during my 4 semesters at USC and I’ve compiled a little list, because variety is the spice of life, am I right?
Observations as an Exchange Student at UdeSA
1) Class Etiquette- No one raises their hands.
It’s shocking, but true. The exchange between professors and students is like a friendly conversation in which interruptions are natural and commonplace. Much to my utter disbelief, my peers will just call our their questions or comments, even when the professor’s back is turned. You’d think it would be chaos but it works, although I’ve yet to muster the courage to blurt out something, poignant or otherwise. That day may never come, but as my language skills develop who knows what I may be capable of?
2) Book Buying – Photocopier
My textbooks are literally bound photocopied versions of the originals, or a compilation of several books photocopied and bound into one. So far I’ve only had to buy one and it cost me about $15. The rest of my required readings are novels or uploaded to the Campus Virtual. I’m assuming copyright laws are different here, but I’m not going to ask too many follow-up questions because my experiences waiting in line for an inexpensive photocopied version of my textbook have been pleasant to say the least.
3) Better Late Than Never
My professors tend to arrive five minutes late and that’s perfectly fine with me because so do I! I’m thriving here. One of my classes ends at 12:30 and another starts at 12:31 so I’m really fighting a losing battle, but no one’s mad if I lose! Luckily the campus is small enough that I’m learning my way around and can usually arrive before the majority of the class.
4) Commuting (will be the death of me)
The university is in the suburbs of Buenos Aires but all of the exchange students live in the city and a good chunk of the local students do as well. Every day to get to school I have to walk 15 minutes to the subway (Subte), take that three stops, walk 15 minutes to the train, take that for 45 minutes, and then walk another 15 minutes to school. I usually allow myself about 2 hours to leave room for error (I’m only human), but at my best I can probably do the voyage in 80 minutes if the timing worked out in my favor. I’ve been known to miss the train by mere seconds on multiple occasions and it’s heartbreaking for all present to watch. This 3+ hours of commuting every day has made me so so appreciative of the walks I once called “long” across campus. If your classes are visible from where you live on an un-smoggy day, count your blessings.
5) What’s Up with WhatsApp?
WhatsApp, a smart phone messaging application that you can use with WiFi to send texts seems to be the communication method of choice here. I’ve even had a professor during our first class instruct us to “send me a WhatsApp message if you’ll be late” because the public transit can be faulty (especially the days when Obama is visiting and certain lines are closed for security purposes #thanksObama)
6) Marching into Fall Semester
Because Buenos Aires is in the Southern Hemisphere everything is very backwards from what I’m accustomed to. This school year I’ve had two fall semesters, which might be repetitive for some but I feel great- it’s like aging backwards! The “fall” semester I am here for goes from March 3 to mid-July with our finals ending on July 16th. Obviously I am going to be a bitter bear when everyone I know back home is celebrating 4th of July and I’m knee-deep in textbooks and self-loathing in preparation for finals, but my obscenely long winter break was rejuvenating.
7) Drop everything and Midterms
Our midterm schedule involves two weeks set aside without regular classes. If I’m lucky, I could have all my midterms the first week and have a whole week off for travel or activities or recuperation but it’s also very possible I’ll have my midterms sporadically throughout, which is a bridge I’ll cross if I come to it.
8) Yerba Mate
People here love their mate (pronounced mah-tay). Also they would probably be mad the GIF I’ve chosen is of the tea bag version because they tend to use leaves. I’ve tried it once and I hope I don’t get kicked out for saying this, but for me, it didn’t live up to the hype. Still, mate culture has been very beneficial for me because at la Universidad we have water fountains with boiling water so everyone can refill and drink their mate all the livelong day. I’m partial to Green Tea so I can go to the drinking fountain and make myself a hot cup of tea at my leisure during class. This has been particularly awesome this week as I have a slight sore throat and tea makes me feel like a literal queen.
Also I have a good chuckle every time I go in one of the bathrooms and see a sign about not flushing the yerba leaves down the toilet. There’s trash cans for their disposal but I just get a kick out of how that would never even need to be a sign in the U.S. and here obviously enough yerba was getting flushed to do some serious damage.
Last note on the mate front- people here are as far from germophobes as can be and I, for one, am on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Yesterday, the girl sitting next to me offered our professor some of her mate and she accepted and drank right out of the same straw. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. No attempts to drink out of the other side or wipe it with her shirt beforehand were made. Will report back later on how common mono is here when I have recovered from the shock of this and gathered more information. (Also on a related note: when I was very sweaty at the gym and had no water, everyone offered me a sip of their respective beverages and I had to politely decline incessantly).
9) Sports!
I’m now a college athlete, believe it or not. After an unexpected burst of confidence I decided to join the fútbol team, which was a bold move, almost too bold, retrospectively. But the coaches of all the sports came and talked to the exchange students and were very convincing in their attempts to get us to join. I’ve only been to one practice so far, wearing running shoes and no shin guards and still a little hazy on the rules (off-sides?) since my retirement from soccer circa 2005. But I’m back and better than ever and shocked at how welcoming my new teammates are, despite my lack of ball-handling skills and fútbol vocabulary.
There’s also a tango class during my lunch hour on Thursday that I plan to try (given my positive experiences in my first #gracefullyabroad post) and an art workshop on Tuesday afternoons that sounds like a dream.
There’s a lot of perks to going to a small university for your abroad experience and I love perks- that’s why I have a very hard time walking away from a great bargain.
In addition to these 9 interesting contrasts I’ve noted, being an exchange student has given me a lot to ponder. I learned last semester a lesson that applies to this one and life in general, “Arm yourself with patience.” There will be days when your train may never come or when your WiFi fails before you’ve submitted your assignment; there will be days when you are too tired to think, let alone in a different language, and even days when all you crave is one particular food and no grocery store carries it and they’re all closed inexplicably. But if you’re armed with patience, and extend yourself that same courtesy, you’re equipped for all this and more.
I also have realized (and am still working on) the importance of getting involved and putting yourself out there. I remember feeling the same initial discomfort waiting in line to move in to Birnkrant freshman year while my mom kept nudging me to talk to the girl in front of me and I was having none of it (though we ended up on the same floor and she’s probably the most approachable girl you’ll ever meet. S/O to Kat). But if you want to make a new place feel like home, you’ve got to work your way into a posse of some sort and to do this, you have to leave your comfort zone. My phase one this semester was going to fútbol practice but my next goal is to blurt out something in class next week and maybe arrive on time (but not early) to make small talk with the other students.
And finally, I want to acknowledge the huge respect I have for all those who are exchange students or international students at USC because it is sometimes overwhelming to do this even for just a semester. If any of you reading this feel stressed or alone, please don’t hesitate to contact me because I’d be happy to listen to you or talk you through it and I’ll be back next semester if you need another pal.
It’s so important and beautiful to expand your horizons and keep an open mind, whether you are a domestic student or international student and this diversity makes the Trojan Family significantly cooler.
Fight on forever *sips mate and pretends to love it*,
Grace ‘17
