Virginia Thomas
Buenos Aires Columnist
Hug an international student. It’s hard being foreign.
I don’t know why I thought I would automatically fit in in Argentina, or why I always looked at exchange students like they should just know social norms. I remember the dorky exchange students in high school to whom everyone liked to teach swear words. Now, after being taught swear words by at least 20 different Argentines, I understand. I am that dorky exchange student.
I’m OK with being a foreigner though. I’m in love with this city, it’s affectionate culture, beautiful European architecture and incredible nightlife. But at first, it was a little overwhelming to adjust to every little thing being so different. The last month and a half have had some of the best, most eye-opening experiences of my life, but adjusting to living abroad has been one of the hardest things I’ve done as well. It was like being a child again, learning how to do the basic things in a different manner.
The 38 of us learned to kiss on the cheek instead of hug, not to eat on the street just at the table, how to watch our steps for broken cobblestones and dog poop on every corner, how to take a taxi and hold on for dear life because the drivers here are out of control, how to roll the bottom of our jeans because, well, it’s just the cool thing to do, and how to join a gym in Spanish because Argentines are ideally a size zero, (Buenos Aires has the highest rate of plastic surgery in the world, and sky-high rates for eating disorders), and how to put up with people smoking everywhere. In banks, in our school hallways, in elevators, everywhere, everyone smokes. Sometimes I think Argentines subsist on cigarettes, coffee and Diet Coke.
“La ciudad que nunca duerme” or “the city that never sleeps” is more than a nickname for Buenos Aires. In America, dance clubs close at 2 a.m. Here, they don´t get fun until 2 and are crazy until 7 in the morning. People are going to work as people are coming home. And the style is a little different; people don’t really “freak” in clubs, often they’re not even really paired up but dancing in a group circle. And, most of the drunk people you see are foreigners. The drinking age is 18 and people often drink wine at home before then, so alcohol is just less of a big deal and is abused less frequently.
Everyone asks for whom we’re voting. John Kerry fans have found themselves in the company of the entire nation of Argentina, and Bush lovers have learned to either listen to tirades, pretend they like Kerry or say they’re Canadian to avoid being asked. This didn’t work out so well for one of our girls who was asked where in Canada she was from. I think her answer was, “um, the eastern part?”
Though it has taken a bit of adjusting, we are so blessed to be in this culture. Since we’re one of the two international programs who live with families and commute to a university, we’re actually living semi-Argentine lives verses living in an American mansion in another country. Already this is making me look at my own nation differently, as stepping outside of it forces me to discover things I both love and hate about our culture. I’ll bring a bigger worldview back with me in April. I’ll also bring back kisses on the cheek for international students — they deserve them.
10-28-04
