SIT/IHP: Cities in the 21st Century: Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Buenos Aires: September - October, 2022

I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my study abroad experience than in the capital of Argentina. I was looking forward to being able (or even forced) to practice my first tongue, Spanish. Being in Spanish-speaking countries fills me with a deep pride and admiration for my background and culture. I grew up in a latin household but at times feel out of touch with my ethnicity because I was later raised in a predominantly white neighborhood. Argentina was good. It was interesting getting to know what was different about our host country for my classmates versus what I already had an inkling to. Some of my fellow classmates of color were shocked to find out that the country wasn’t brown, but more so the “Paris of Latin America”, or european. I am grateful for my time in Buenos Aires and its provinces; never having been in Europe before this trip, I got a fair glimpse of it within BA and thanks to the program leaders of the Buenos Aires leg, got to see people that reminded me of my family abroad in El Salvador and Dominican Republic. I got to see the city and got to know the country life with themes being introduced to us, like “quiet encroachment” and being “pushed to the peripheries” outside of the classroom and later supported in the classroom by lectures and scholars who wanted us to genuinely understand their country’s government and why its past and future have commonalities that have yet to change. I learned a lot more than I thought I could or would there. One quote that stayed with me by Isi Martinez, a local-turned-friend (very randomly but organically) who said to me, “this city has a lot more than meets the eye, huh?” It was easy to make friends and connections that I wanted to nurture. I even got to see Isi this past spring break when I went to Southern Florida.

Some things I learned while in Argentina...

•  Patagonia isn’t just a brand, but the tundra of southern Argentina... Major facepalm, but what else is travel good for other than to teach us? 

• It was surprisingly easy for me and my classmates to get away with our English and limited Spanish. 

• I would need more time to explore it. I want to see and get to know more of the country and not just its capital city. 

• The power of the people will [should] always be more powerful than the power of government

 

I would say the biggest concept that I was introduced to was collectivism and the power of a community coming together to defeat something bigger. During the four weeks that we were in Argentina, we met with so many different groups and figures. I got to know many gold-hearted individuals and women who have the hearts of a million soldiers. It was an interesting time being in a country whose economy and government are failing. My host-mom would have the news channels going on the TV all day and every night. My roommate for the month Kylie, my host-mom Alicia, and I would watch and discuss current local happenings as well as how the information was being portrayed over dinner, having political discourse and getting to know one another more. Before getting to know the nation for myself and through my own experiences, the only knowledge I had of Argentina was how proud they are of their nation and of their accent (which I learned is unique to Buenos Aires whose people are called porteño, or people of the port). I was looking forward to Argentina, because my mother would always mimic the porteño accent when I was growing up. After being there, I must say, she was pretty spot on! After some time I began to understand the pride. Throughout my first month abroad I never felt like I was in a foreign place although I also never felt completely settled. This being said, I really fell for Argentina. I felt a certain level of comfort being there because of similarities in cultures. It felt as if everyone I was able to have a conversation with was family and could have been a cousin of mine. Any country that survives a dictatorship and manages to work with their government better be proud as people. The program focus during BA was sustainability and how Argentine’s overcome adversity through collective action. 

         A program expectation was a small group of students introducing each city and country leading up to our departure for it. Some of the warnings of Argentina was the Latin culture of touch and using terms of endearment, even with strangers. For some of my classmates this was new, for me that was home! Buenos Aires was safe. I took public transportation everywhere and walked plenty as well. I really enjoyed that part of my travels– the walkability of where we were. 

        At the time I was there the conversion rate was one US dollar equalling around 140 Argentine pesos at the official rate, and 226 at the Western Union exchange rate. Today one USD is the same as 226 pesos officially and 446 with WU– scary. Had I not packed as much as I did for the three months, I would have probably bought a whole new wardrobe while there. The fashion in Buenos Aires was beautiful, and I definitely window shopped on my walks. 

        As I was budgeting and it was the first month of the trip, I didn’t spend much, but I’m happy to share that my father was able to send me some money through Western Union– he simply told them my name, birthday, pick up cit, and I was able to get money from any storefront (Monday-Friday) with my passport. The simplicity and convenience of it all even gave me thoughts that I could live there… lol! The food of Buenos Aires wasn’t extraordinary… Come to think of it, Argentina doesn’t have many staple foods or a palette outside of dishes like empanadas, yerba mate, milanesa, and parilla. It was a lot of fried food and minimal vegetables. I also ate a lot of sweets and meat!

         I used my time in Buenos Aires with friends and trying out the nightlife, understanding the flow of how my assignments would go during the program, and editing videos for my music career. In terms of how much of the countries we saw, I would say that we saw the most of Buenos Aires and Argentina because we traveled the furthest (and the most often) outside the city center, learned about peripheries, and were able to connect and speak to many interesting and unique individuals/organizations. Now I have plans to spend a minimum of three months in Argentina to explore the south and the natural islands, with a clause. I’ve been telling locals and friends that the next time I go to Buenos Aires it will be because I’m booked to perform a show. With this intention set in place I really wish to make it happen. Whenever I recall my time in BA I remember a smell, a climate, and a gentleness; with myself, the people around me, and from experiencing so many moments that made me think. I met amazing and interesting people in Argentina. People that I would love to see again. I appreciate how everything was established for us by the SIT team in Buenos Aires. They made sure we were adjusting well, were fed, and generally taken care of for any need. I’ll admit I missed a lot in Buenos Aires but I’m not allowing myself to feel regret or to view it as such. I think it’s a great thing to be able to say I stayed in the city for a whole month and very much plan on returning because of the people I got to know and the spaces I didn’t get to experience fully. Argentina is rightfully prideful, but it is a tragedy about the government and the corruption that it has seen for the last decade and beyond. 

        I’m so grateful that I even stepped foot in Argentina. I hope to someday return with my mother and get to introduce her to the places that I got to get familiar with and explore everywhere I never got to go to.

SIT/IHP: Cities in the 21st Century: Spain, South Africa, Argentina

 

    My mother tried to talk me out of doing a semester abroad. What pushed me towards putting myself in debt for the first time in my life and over school was being with people my age in new and different environments and being open minded enough to not only embrace, but ask for change and adversity. Being a student both within the classroom and outside of the classroom for the last 15 years of my consciousness has taught me that I learn in different and inconvenient ways. Knowing this, I entered my higher education already having deferred my freshman year at Hawai’i Pacific University to travel, study and live in India. While learning more about my major, International Studies, I was teased because of the world’s inability to travel during a global pandemic that has killed millions and continues to further deepen world crises. 

    In the last four years I have been transforming and can begin to recognize those differences within myself, my perception and why I do what I do. After my first semester at HPU, I knew that I was interested in knowing more about the world through people and their movement, and had grown a curiosity for why disparities happen and continue on. 

    I had already dreamed of studying abroad during my higher education having only heard good things. After starting at HPU, and reviewing the program requirements at the time (pre-Covid), I noticed that it was a part of my degree plan for my international studies track! I was excited to see this, and would not only go through with it but would also be expected to! Once I had found out about SIT, I didn’t think to look at other programs, especially because a friend was sent back during her semester abroad because of Covid by the other popular offered program. The program I chose is taught by the School for International Training, and the program I completed is called the International Honors Program, Cities in the 21st Century, or SIT IHP for short. From the time I applied and was accepted to when I actually went abroad, two years had passed. Due to the pandemic, I had deferred my acceptance four times and would be the first cohort to go on my program since the global lockdown. 

    My semester abroad was essentially 3.5 months of learning while traveling. The courses I took with SIT perfectly satisfied my concentration on anthropology, development, and sustainability. The biggest “pro” to the program I chose was spending a month in three new continents (four weeks in Latin America, four weeks in Europe, and four weeks in Africa… Unless you’re me, who spent an extra two weeks in Cape Town). At the beginning of the semester, we had the choice to focus on one of four subjects: Housing, Economy, Monuments, or Transportation, and were expected to create a research project stemming from individual interests to influences from our time on the field with or without the program, our host families, and from readings that were required throughout the semester.

    Now-a-days being in school in general is hard for me because I have varying interests that have been changing ever since I graduated from high school. I say this because had I been fully invested in my studying career, I would have taken different advantages these last few years instead of being a somewhat passive student. From the conception of my time with SIT I would say I carried myself in a reserved way, because I didn’t want to be someone who was unaware of the space they took and was generally being conscious of how my actions may affect those around me (and myself). The intention behind my study abroad was to learn about (and immerse myself) in different cultures, meeting individuals from all walks of life, and spreading my music and brand across all four continents! Having hindsight, as I write this reflection, I can recognize that the program I was a part of for the Fall semester of 2022 tested me, forced me to grow mentally, and had me questioning everything. The structure of it all (itinerary-wise) helped minimize my anxiety that I got from traveling during Covid. All we had to do as students while traveling from city to city, or to cite visits and to the classroom, was say our number during headcount (I was number 7 :)) and make sure our travel groups were all together and with their luggage whenever we arrived in each city. I’m also appreciative that I can’t talk about my experience during my study abroad without getting political because of the program I was a part of and the topics that were highlighted during our travels. By the time it came for me to leave home in Massachusetts and the United States, I felt as if I had manifested the three countries that we ended up in. 

New York City: 26th of August - September, 2022.

During the entirety of the trip I was pleasantly surprised— while I was leaving my comfort zone, I was also being supported. At the beginning of the semester we talked about research/ethics, expectations (of the program and one another), and learned about New York City’s development by getting around via public transportation/walking and meeting with leaders of nonprofit programs. Additionally, our first 10 days of the program were hosted in New York not only as a meeting point (my classmates were from all over North America) but also to introduce us to how the program curriculum would function in practice. Essentially, as small groups, we would split up and visit different sites and attend seminars hosted by community members, scholars, and educators alike. We were expected to summarize and present our experiences because not everyone is able to go to every established visit, and not every student learned or picked up on the same things. It was imperative to our research as well to engage and be a part of what stories and history were being passed onto us foreigners to the area and its people. 

The team that we were introduced to in NYC were angels on earth and was only a glimpse at what kind of genuine people were involved with SIT. 

In each country we were paired with a roommate (of same gender) and shared a room or in some cases had separate ones, depending on the home of the host families. 

As for my academics, it was mostly reading work and discussion during the day as well as presentations from my classmates or hired educators and locals alike. Every month was unique because each country had a different team who would all play similar roles but coordinate in respect to the program’s intentions and what we would be learning from their cities.