One down, two to go

            Amazing to think I’ve been in Buenos Aires for over a month now! I finished classes at the end of the month and passed my final exam without breaking a sweat, ha-ha ;) I did my oral exam on the preparation and tradition of drinking mate, a sort of herb tea that’s brewed in a gourd or wooden cup and is very popular in the Rio de la Plata region. As soon as I get back to Marquette, I’ll be sure to show you how to “take” mate, porteño-style (in Spanish you often use the verb tomar – to take – in the sense of drinking something). The written exam wasn’t terribly easy, but it wasn’t impossible either. I didn’t have a perfect exam, but my final cumulative grade ended up being a 10/10. Yippee!

            It was a good way to end the week, because I’d been feeling a lot of frustration at that point. Four weeks is usually the point in any study abroad experience where the “honeymoon” of living abroad ends, often abruptly. All of the times I’ve lived abroad or spent significant time away from home – Ireland, Germany, even going away to Minnesota for college! – I’ve experienced a similar feeling after approximately 4-6 weeks into the experience. Every little thing about the host culture starts to bother me, from the food, to people’s modes of interacting with each other (and me), to the weather, all across the board. Any little thing that’s different suddenly becomes a massive annoyance, where before it was just a curiosity.

            Even things I knew about, like the fact that random men will make comments about women as they pass by (these are called piropos, a word which refers to both the comments and the men saying them) and that this tends to happen more foreign women. Even though I knew this, I didn’t honestly think it would happen to me, especially after I noticed I didn’t exactly fit the standard of beauty here. But much to my surprise, I started getting piropos all the time (and noticing them more as my Spanish improved). Initially, it amused me, then it annoyed me, then it got me hopping mad. I don’t like people I know complimenting me normally, and I certainly did not enjoy creepy (in my opinion) strangers leering at me and whispering “Que linda sos” as I strode past. One day a security guard at a park asked me where I was from and, after letting me talk for a few minutes, started commenting on how pretty my eyes were and then asked me if I wanted to go have coffee with him (in Argentina, a woman agreeing to go off somewhere private with a man always means you want to do something much more than just have coffee…). Initially, I laughed about it, then it made me feel icky, and afterwards a little scared. Wasn’t it this man’s job to protect people from such lecherous behavior? If even a security worker looked at me as a piece of meat, what hope did I have against someone with actual bad intentions? After this encounter, each piropo made me more and more annoyed and I started projecting my annoyance onto everything I saw and did in Buenos Aires. By the time I was taking my exam, I was feeling really homesick and just wanted to run away back to Marquette.

            It wasn’t just the piropos, there were other things that were causing me a lot of frustration. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s worth getting into the details anymore, because that feeling went away. It took some work on my part: all I wanted to do was sit in my room and pine for Marquette, for Will, for yummy vegan food, for cooler weather. But I knew from my experiences in Ireland and Germany that the only way to get past this point was to keep going, keep doing things and find something interesting to do. So I did. I went to parks, I went to a museum, I went to the feria in San Telmo, I went to the movies with friends, I went to dinner. I kept myself busy, and I’m still keeping myself busy. And yes, I did spend a lot of time talking to Will and to my parents, because even though I know I need to immerse myself in the host culture, the three of them are good listeners, and they always give me the little boost I need or a different outlook on things. Just enough to keep me grounded. Plus, I feel almost an obligation to put on a cheerful face for them, so it helps me think of how to put my experiences in a more positive light.

            I hope to write one more entry tomorrow before I leave for Patagonia early (4am!) Thursday morning. Now that my class is over I’ll be volunteering with FundaciónCor about 3-4 days per week and I’ll be writing more about the kids and the organization. I’m getting really excited after hearing about the kids from Lukas, another NMU student who’s volunteering with Cor. I’m interested to know how the child and family services organizations are run here, because it seems like there are a lot of key differences between the programs here and those in the US. And after visiting the Evita Museum today and reading about all of the social welfare programs she founded, especially for children, I want to know if Cor is in any way related to the hogares de tránsito, which were a type of shelter for women and children. So much to learn!

            For those of you following this blog who don’t have a Facebook account, here is a link to some of the pictures I’ve taken over the last month. Sorry there are so few, I didn’t have a lot of time to go sight-seeing while doing the intensive month class. There are sure to be a lot more once I get back from Patagonia next week. So until next time, ¡chau chau!