One Month In (Again)

I sometimes have trouble deciding if I am continuing the same study abroad in Buenos Aires or if I should consider my second semester its own separate experience.  After being here for a little over five months, I went to Brazil, home, and then came back.  As I began the new semester, a lot had changed – my good American friends were gone (how much I miss my Quilombos), the classes I had become accustomed to had changed, my schedule was all over the place, and much more.  I wasn’t learning the city again, but I was facing the same bureaucratic nightmares from both sides of the equator and assisting a new set of lost sheep (read: new exchange students). 

The gang from last semester (minus one, Katie) all together.  

I’m happy to help the new students, but I think there’s a value to having to struggle and learn by oneself.  I’ll say something if it’s a serious situation – I told someone not to buy a boat ticket to Uruguay with her credit card (currency exchange fees plus the bad exchange rate), explained that metro cards can go into debt, helped show the dangers of taking the wrong rama, or branch, of the bus, and shared the value of getting coke light at the supermarket instead of a kiosk.  But I kept my mouth shut when someone unwittingly joined the priciest and most chic gym in the city or when another person went to a restaurant I knew had bad food.

Some of my challenges remain the same too.  I am constantly dealing with silly bureaucratic rules, and I can successfully say I know how to navigate the Argentine system better than IU’s now.  I was able to get exceptions made to get the classes I needed as well as schedule two classes at effectively the same time.  I just now await IU’s response on syllabi to complete my course schedule.  Likewise, just like last semester, I still am having difficulty finding my readings at the Catholic University.  I’ll post about my experience in my class in the future. 

But after one month here (again), I am truly starting to appreciate the improvement in Spanish I have made.  I understand a good deal of what is going on in class and am able to resolve problems with a good grasp of Spanish.  I have already spoken to more students in my UCA class than I did all last semester.  My speaking abilities, which still aren’t great, are coming along—my speed is a lot better and I have to consciously think less about how to conjugate a verb or phrase a sentence.  The other night, my Argentine boyfriend told me that I sounded really Argentine when we spoke on the phone, which might be the biggest compliment I’ve gotten since arriving in July. 

I’m excited to see what the next (or final) four months of my adventure bring.  I hope that I can keep exploring new parts of South America and continue being amazed with my life in Buenos Aires.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally learn to roll my rs. 

Hoping for more moments of happiness and beauty in my final four months abroad.

Has Study Abroad Improved My Spanish?

Obviously one of my reasons for studying abroad was to learn Spanish.  I’m not sure what the point of majoring in a language is in college if you don’t also visit the place where it is spoken, learn about its people and culture, and prove you can function in another country.  My last Spanish conversation and grammar class before coming here was in fall 2011, and since then, the Spanish classes I have taken have been very academic looks at culture, literature, and linguistics.  Though I learned a great deal in these classes, I was not practicing my conversation abilities; I was instead analyzing the stanza-structure of twentieth-century Spanish poetry (obviously this skill helps tremendously in my everyday life).  I would even venture to say that at the end of my sophomore year at college, I had an easier time speaking Portuguese conversationally than Spanish. 

I have pretty high standards for myself academically (who knew?), and so I do get discouraged when I mess up.  The people in my life in Buenos Aires all speak English, so while I do talk in Spanish a good portion of the time, I always have the “Can I ask you what word I should be saying in English” crutch.  My struggles with Spanish are pretty notable, so much so that yesterday, at my tutoring session for one of my classes, my tutor actually complimented me on my correct use of the past tense.  It doesn’t help that Spanish has two past tenses and the subjunctive (used for “the worlds of mystery, desire, and doubt,” as explained to me by my friend’s father), making hard sentences even harder to express.  I know I use the wrong gender for words all the time or say things in the wrong verb tense.  I feel just as frustrated today as I did during my first days here.

So the question I ask myself every day is, has my Spanish actually improved since coming to Argentina? 

I would have to say yes, just by the fact that I end up practicing hours and hours every day.  I know that my accent is still a little off, that I can’t say my rs, ts, or ds correctly, and that I still use words that are from Spain or Mexico instead of Argentina.  However, I got the double-l makes the sh sound down perfectly, and with some words, I can fake the right musicality of a native speaker.  I can at least hold my own in a conversation with strangers about where the bus stop is, why the line is taking so long at the grocery, or about the visa process in the elevator at the Brazilian consulate.  I try as hard as possible to remind myself of the positive strides I have made in speaker and to shake off my frequent errors. 

My realization that my Spanish isn’t as bad as I think it is (and the inspiration for this blog post) was a funny situation from my Latin America in International Politics Class.  A professor from Miami (Ohio) University was visiting the Catholic University where I take this class to give a presentation, and a young man from the State Department accompanied him.  The guy from the State Department has been tasked with giving a brief introduction the speaker.  He appeared to be in his early 20s, maybe in his first or second job. 

He begins to speak—oh man, his Spanish is awful!  His accent is terrible, as he is pronouncing the letter h (silent in Spanish), referring to the region as latino America (América latina), and throwing in English phrases that are easily translated to Spanish.  He looks cool and calm, despite the fact that he is embarrassing himself in front of this professor, the faculty of the International Relations department, and a room full of students who all speak at least some English.  It was unclear to me how this kid was hired at the State Department, especially considering how many good Spanish-speakers live in the United States.  I was sitting with some other exchange students, and we realized that we probably could have given a more fluid and understandable introduction than this guy.  And upon seeing the fact that this fumbling guy was able to land a Spanish-speaking job for the U.S. government, I felt a lot better about my own abilities.

Meeting Buenos Aires

In Spanish, you use the verb "meet" to describe places you've been.  Instead of saying that you have travelled to or know a city, you say, "Ah, yes, I have met Chicago before."  This gives the city an elevated status-- in Spanish, the city's not a fact you know, it's a person you are discovering over time.  

The past three days in Argentina have been full of meeting-- making new friends on the airplane, in my hotel room with four other girls, and with the streets.  My cousin Silvia met me at the airport, and I was so appreciative to see a friendly face and someone who could help me find my way.  We met all the program staff, but there are so many with so many jobs I cannot possibly remember them all.  We met our host families, our metro cards, our new currency, and our new food.  The amount of meeting and new is almost overwhelming, but I am feel I am adjusting.  

One person I was very excited to meet was my host, Delfina.  She is in her late twenties and works as a teachers' aide and psychologist at an International School.  She also likes music, playing guitar, singing, and astrology.  For a while, she worked as an analyst but didn't enjoy it, so she's taking astrology classes in the hopes of combining it with psychology.  When my command of language is better I will ask her more about that.  Thankfully, she does speak English for when I forget words or how to use the past tense.  Her apartment is on a quiet (by Buenos Aires standards?) street in between some more major streets.  It's very cute, and my room is decorated with maps of places Delfi has visited or that her friends have brought back from their travels.  

Yesterday, Delfi and I went on an adventure to get a metro card and cell phone as well as learn the neighborhood.  The phone was a real challenge-- in Argentina, there are three major phone companies, akin to Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T in the United States.  Again, much like at home, they want you to sign up for a two-year plan with a phone, minutes, and texting.  Since I'm only here until the end of the year, I need to pay as I go which is much more expensive.  Delfi was very helpful in explaining everything to me, as we never covered slimy cell phone company vocabulary in any Spanish class I took.  Basically, as Delfi explained, it boiled down to whose "tentacles" I wanted to be stuck in.  Eventually, we got a phone that will be activated within twenty-four hours, and then I will buy a prepaid card from which I'll charge my calls, texting, and 3G usage.  

Today I plan to go out and walk around to learn the neighborhood better.  Last night, I practiced getting from the subway I take to school back to the house, but I got lost both times I tried to do it.  Someone told me about a feria (literally translated as festival, but from the pictures this looks like an open-air market) going on near me, so I think I might walk over there.  Later tonight we have another meeting with the other students and families from our neighborhood so we know who is nearby.  More meeting and getting to know our surroundings.