Working Towards My B.A. In BsA

Welcome to Buenos Aires!

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

Yesterday was my first day of school in Buenos Aires at la Universidad de San Andrés, where 6 other Trojans and I will be taking our classes until our finals end in mid-July. It was a beautiful start and I have high hopes for what is yet to come. The program that USC students take, PLAS (Program of Latin American Studies), includes a number of cultural activities so this past weekend we all had the opportunity to go on a guided tour of the city and at least have a frame of reference for all it has to offer (a lot!). 

Photo above: La Casa Rosada, the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri. It’s the White House but pink so perhaps a little more fun?

Photo above: Listening attentively to our guide in La Boca, a colorful neighborhood in Buenos Aires. The houses are painted all the colors of the rainbow which I have on multiple occasions suggested we do to my family’s house in Illinois to spice up the neighborhood and each time was ignored.

You might be wondering to yourself, “But, Grace, aren’t you gluten-intolerant and vegetarian? Why on earth have you chosen to study for a whole semester in a city revered for its steak and pastries?”

A brilliant question- one I probably should’ve asked myself months ago but here I am and here I’ll stay. There are a lot of local vegetable and fruit stores near where I live (and just about everywhere it seems) and when I go to my first “asado” (big barbecues where they grill slabs of beef on outdoor grills apparently), I’m just going to bring some red peppers and maybe have the host grill them up for me, too. 

I’ve been trying to do something out of my comfort zone each day and today’s was attending a Kropp 3-D (basically like CrossFit) class at a gym a few block’s away. There were some cringe-worthy moments, of course, one being when the trainer asked me to get down into a plank and I didn’t quite hear what he said/know the word, so I just flipped over my mat until he demonstrated his request. Also, I didn’t bring a water bottle so during the water break I just tried to keep busy even though I guess Argentines are less germaphobic than I was raised to be because everyone was offering me sips.

Finally, the trainer just came right up to me and handed me a bottle. Now if you followed my last semester in Nicaragua, you may know that due to some unfortunate intestinal issues I am a little hesitant to consume tap water that has been treated differently than what my body is used to. I bought a high-tech filtering bottle specifically for this purpose and to evade a lot of plastic bottle waste. But, here I was with this beautiful, patient trainer offering me his bottle despite my profusely sweaty face. I had no choice but to pretend to drink it. Much like I watched my fellow classmates to figure out what exercise to do, I watched the way their throats moved as they drank and mimicked the motion. This happened twice throughout the class. I feared he would notice that the bottle was still full and heavy, but thanks to its opaque exterior and his unrivaled strength, my stealth paid off this time.

As I finally left the class, exhausted physically but more-so mentally from constantly having to think about how not to embarrass myself, I beamed at the sweet trainer, triumphant, and went in for a well-deserved high-five. He, however, was going for the beso (kiss), as literally any Argentine person will do to greet another. There was no time to explain physical touch was not my love language, no time to even wipe my sweaty cheek- where his lips were heading directly-needless to say, it resulted in a short embrace as uncomfortable as you may be imagining.  

I’m going back tomorrow night after class. It can only get better from here, right?

Photo above: A beautiful statue in El Jardín Botánico. This place has everything- flowers, naked sculptures, benches, public restrooms, WI-FI, multiple species of butterflies- I never wanted to leave it, though I did as soon as I got hungry.

Photo above: First day of Fall Semester [cuz Southern Hemisphere] at Universidad de San Andrés. The sun in shining, the grass is green, and much like at the activities fair freshman year at USC, I’ve signed up for many an e-mail list whenever given the opportunity

Photo above: Used book fair on the way home from the gardens. Buenos Aires lives up to its “City of Books” nickname so far, can neither confirm nor deny it’s other nickname “The Paris of South America” because I have not seen Paris. I bought a used novel set in Cuba for 40 Arg. pesos (less than 3 dollars), a total steal. I wrote the relatively complicated directions to get to campus (a journey of about 80-90 minutes when I do it right) on the inside flap of the book so it looks like I am just extremely literate rather than hopelessly lost when I gaze at it in wonder.

Photo above: My current route to school passes right next to Barrio Chino or Chinatown and I may just be the luckiest gal in the world because this place is full of good stuff. I’d checked about 8 stores around town for “crema de maní” or peanut butter (I gave it up for Lent but Lent won’t last forever and your girl needs her PB) all to no avail. This supermercado in Chinatown did right by me, however, and now I have a hearty supply to indulge in come “Pascua”/Easter.

Buenos Aires is as enchanting as Google Images led me to believe. My classes so far are interesting enough to hold my attention in a language not my own, which is probably the highest form of praise I can give. My housemates (from France, Germany, and Belgium) are as friendly as can be despite language barriers that prevent some of my jokes from landing (it’s gotta be the language barriers right?). And perhaps most importantly, the dogs here are just divine, though the “clean up after your dog” trend may not have necessarily caught on just yet.

Of course there are things that are difficult and frustrating and one of these days I’m going to get mad enough to fall out of the honeymoon phase, I’m sure of it. For example- The local grocery store couldn’t read my credit card today so I had to leave all my groceries and run home for cash and mumble an explanation to cashier and potential friends in line. 

And another- Our first day of Orientation, the public transit voyage home from campus took us three hours despite diligent map-following. And another-  Our first night out on the town, we paid too much money to attend what I’m fairly certain was a club for high-schoolers, where the lights turned on every few minutes to break up another fight between the guys and where the cigarette smoke was as thick as it was carcinogenic. 

The little things can be frustrating.  I got lost and couldn’t get clear help home because people couldn’t understand me when I said “calle” (cai-yay is how I learned it, Argentines say cai-shjay). And my roommates and I waited 40 minutes for a bus to come only to take it too far and miss our stop and have to pay for a taxi anyway. And last but not least, I tried to exchange money at the bank today and they’re only open from 10 AM to 3 PM. I’m not even that mad about the last one though because now I finally know what I want to be after graduation- an Argentine bank teller. You can’t beat those hours!

It remains to be seen how Argentines feel about me, but if it’s half of what I feel for them…

Chau (that’s how they spell it here. I’m not wrong, I promise) *kisses your cheek*,

Graciela Carballo ‘17

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