Before I Leave

Before I left Georgetown, I had a conversation with a Jesuit who frequently visits Córdoba and I realized something very important. I really knew nothing about Argentina, my program, the Spanish language, or travel. So despite the boredom, the past month of down time at home in St. Louis has been very good. I’ve watched every Spanish language movie on Netflix (slight exaggeration), read the only book on Argentine history in my city’s public library system, followed local newspapers La Nación and La Voz del Interior, and tried to mentally prepare myself for what is bound to be a horrible travel experience trying to change airports in Buenos Aires and using the universally abhorred Aerolineas Argentinas.

I have all the stuff – the books, adapters, pesos, and luggage – but on a deeper level I wonder if I’m ready to live in a chaotic country with total strangers. Despite being G20, Argentina is a country with rampant inflation the government can’t be honest about, economic repression, an erratic, unpredictable leader gunning for a third term, and police strikes. Moreover, I will be ready to work twice a week with a community built on a pile of trash that barely gets public services. I picked my program, Casa de la Mateada, because of that, but now that it’s happening, I wonder what I can really contribute. I’m not sure I’ll even like mate, a hot tea that is not only a cultural staple in Córdoba, but the source of my program’s name. (As my roommates from last year will attest, coffee is more of a lifestyle than a drink). Most of all, I’m sure my Spanish will really up to snuff. I have Spanish proficiency according to the SFS, but every encounter with a native speaker makes me feel like a toddler (my Doctor Seuss vocabulary book doesn’t help). Even worse, a year of SFS Spanish has equipped me to talk about indigenous people and poverty, not grammar or anything to do with daily life.

Safe to say, I have a bit of uncertainty about my study abroad experience, but honestly, that’s why I am going abroad. I have a wonderful life at Georgetown and in some ways I’m crazy to give up 1/8th of my experience, but I know the only way I will really grow is to put into unfamiliar situations. That starts tomorrow – hopefully I’m ready.