Monday, March 12, 2012
You know which room the class is in right? And make sure to
say hi to the teacher. Don’t be scared! Don’t forget your lunch. If you don’t
understand something, ask! It’s a little confusing sometimes, ok? And be safe
and don’t talk to strangers. But make lots of new friends! I love you! Have a
great first day of your second semester, junior year of college (in Argentina)!!!!
I feel a little like I’m in kindergarten. I feel nervous. I
feel unsure. I’m sure sometimes I speak Spanish like a kindergartener, so maybe
that’s how it’s supposed to be...so as I approached the 10th floor
(out of 17, mind you—attending college in a skyscraper is different), I started
to feel a little a little queasy in the elevator. I hope my classes aren’t too
hard, but not too easy. What if I don’t make any friends? What if, what if,
what if?!
But I tried to give myself a little more confidence by
reminding myself that I’d already been here for a month and had taken the
refresher “intensive month” course, so really I was that much farther ahead.
How all the new-arrivals for the semester that had only been here for a week
were doing so well, I have no idea. I would have been in full meltdown mode.
Because when you think about it, it’s not just going to
class. It’s taking the right transportation to get there, which in Argentina
sometimes functions flawlessly, but other times, not. With that comes the
earned confidence about your mode of transportation—not having to look down at
your crinkled paper that says the bus number and where the stop is and not
gazing at the map for the whole journey just to make sure you’re really going the right direction down
Cabildo. Additionally, it’s about functioning in an entirely different
language. You’re taking classes with mostly Americans (but with a few people
from all over the world sprinkled in, too), but in class that doesn’t matter
and your only way to communicate is through Spanish. Your only way to
understand is in Spanish—especially if you’re in a class with Argentines as I
am. It’s basically turning your life on its head while still taking notes,
doing homework and studying for tests, even if you feel like you have no idea
what’s going on.
So in addition to all the usual doubts and difficulties of
attending college, those are transposed into a new culture and context. And
like always, I feel like the one person who cares about my classes and is
passionate about learning the material, while most of my peers are thinking
about when it’s going to be Friday so they can get drunk. Which I’m sure they
did, because much like “syllabus week” in the US (which, IMHO, is syllabus day
because after day one, my profs aren’t still discussing the syllabus…) there
wasn’t a lot going on yet and we still had to buy our books.
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