Looking Back

Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, is very different than the rest of Latin America. They are a very proud people, and very European in their looks, customs, and ideals. BA is a city of immigrants, but really the people all mesh together to form one culture. Everyone is an individual but at the same time everyone is very uniform. More like the "chili bowl" as opposed to "salad bowl" analogy of culture.

I really enjoyed Spanish class more than I thought I would because I learned about culture and history as well as improved my language. Unfortuantely, I picked up the porteno accent. My "y's" sound like "sh" and I do not fully pronounce my "s's" when I speak Spanish. I remember most of the people there asked why I had a Mexican accent if I was from the US, but by the end of one month my accent was nearly the same as everyone else.

Politics are very huge in BA, and it is not uncommon for people to argue about political issues, then kiss each other on the cheek and ask when they can visit again. Politics is driven by the people and since their culture is very idealistic, they trust that people will do good. Thus Latin America leans more towards socialist ideas (process-oriented) as opposed to being efficiency-oriented. I saw my fair share of Communist and "Leftist" marches while I was there.

Even if you spoke the language perfectly and had the accent down pat, there are a few ways for a porteno to tell you are a North American:
1) Walking and eating / drinking. People in BA savor their food more and think of eating as a social event. Thus not sitting down to eat is unusual.
2) Being a vegetarian. People in BA eat lots and lots of beef. All different parts / cuts too.
3) Leaving the club before 2am. Young people usually do not even go OUT until 2am and stay out for hours. It is more common to see people out at 6 or 7am, but not 10 or 11am because they're all back home in bed.
4) Expecting "customer service" or "benefit of the doubt". Trusting strangers or going out of your way to help someone you do not know is not a common practice here. It makes me miss Texas.
5) Being germaphobic or claustrophobic. Even during the swine flu scare everyone still kisses, drinks after, and touches each other. And their "personal bubble" space is definitely smaller than what I am used to.

All in all I loved the experience: the city, culture, history, and people of BA. To wrap it up in Spanish I would say "Me paso muy lindo" ("lindo" is the catch-all for anything and everything good). I hope to return again and I have been keeping up with my host family and friends I made. Until then "hasta luego".