Argentina Stories #1

I arrived here in Buenos Aires, Argentina two weeks ago exactly. When I got off the airplane I knew I was in a different place. Maybe it hadn’t set in yet, the excitement. But I got off the plane and realized that I had changed environments. This was not only a place in which they spoke Spanish only, most of the time, but a different ambiance. Not only were there Spanish words being hurled around by everyone, but there seemed to be a slightly different pace to the atmosphere. And this was only in the airport that I noticed this. This was my first impression of what Argentina was like.

I got to the meeting point where I was supposed to meet everyone else from my program, spoke a little Spanish with the person who was collecting us all, and then boarded a bus they had arranged to take us to a hotel. As we rode the bus through the city, I noticed buildings we passed; many, many buildings. Some were constructed of white bricks, others, pure glass and metal. The city left a distinct impression on me as we rode through its heart.

There were activities arranged for us when we arrived at the hotel. First, a welcome lunch during which we had to learn the Argentinian way of greeting one another or meeting someone for the first time. Women, and sometimes men, were to be kissed on the cheek and hugged. Men were to be hugged at the very least. This had to be done, otherwise, it could cause a cultural misunderstanding. So, all of us in the group kissed one another on the cheek and doled out hugs like free hug day. (None of us knew each other terribly well at this point).

But there was a camaraderie between us all already. All of us had chosen this program for a reason, of course. Thus, I feel like we all had a similar mindset. We all wanted to be in Buenos Aires, whether it was to study literature or to experience the culture or to travel around or to speak Spanish. All of us, I felt, had a reason to be here, and nobody really had the same reason.

Chronologically next was meeting my host family. Mariana greeted me at the hotel. She’s a lovely blonde woman who lives in Buenos Aires who has two kids, both of whom I’ve met, named Daniela and Hernán. The kids are older than me, though only by a little bit. The family is very warm, very nice.

I’ve taken every form of public transit now in the city. I’ve also taken Uber, which I was told is illegal here, but I took it anyway. The bus system is quite good, as is the subway. I will probably not get into the habit of taking Uber much, since it is far more expensive than the public forms of transit.

I will start my classes at UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires) next Monday. I will be taking Metaphysics and a Superior Logic class (the extension of symbolic logic). The classes will be entirely in Spanish. I will also be taking a Spanish language class at FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) which is centered on oral production, as in, giving speeches, I suppose, though I haven’t looked at the syllabus extensively at this point. The FLACSO class starts a week later than the classes at UBA. The classes at UBA will be with local students, while the class at FLACSO will be with the other kids on my program, who hail from all over the United States, and a couple from outside of the States.

I am enjoying my time here so far, and I hope to write a lot more this semester about my experiences here. I have seen multiple cultural landmarks, including the Casa Rosada (the place where the president works), and the Teatro Colón, where aristocrats used to socialize and see shows, and where people still see shows (various operas and classical music) to this day. It is a luxurious theater with some of the best acoustics in any theater in existence today. There are large boxes, seats on the floor, as well as standing room up above at the top for people to enjoy the shows that are presented there.

I am glad to have had time to sit down and write this post, as I’ve been busy here, but not busy enough to prevent me from writing this post.