Despedida

As I sit in the Miami airport after a mostly uneventful day of traveling (the exceptions: the woman who woke me up from my plane nap by  yelling her complaints at the flight attendant, the inconvenient mishap where the handle of my 50+ lb bag broke during the customs process, and the unfortunate realization that I have a wallet full of Argentine pesos that I cannot change back to dollars now that I’ve left the country…), I want to take this chance to copy every other cliché study-abroad blog and express some final thoughts/reflections about my unforgettable semester in BA.

Since my tearful goodbye with my host parents this morning at the airport (key word “my” considering that I was the only one of the three of us who choked up #awkward), I’ve already encountered several manifestations of the anticipated-but-still-significant reverse culture shock. I can’t shake this sense of guilt when I don’t use Spanish (shoutout to the merciless language pledge) and I have to remember that people who address me in English aren’t insinuating some sort of inadequacy/otherness on my part, it’s just the norm. Upon landing in Florida I marveled at the unlimited internet access that 3G provides (I’m no longer dependent on wifi zones!!!) and I remembered that I’m allowed to flush toilet paper (only after throwing it in the trash by force of habit).

I am SO excited to be back with family for the holidays and to reunite with my Davidson friends in a few weeks, and there are certainly parts of my life over the past 5 months that I will NOT miss. For example:

• Having to allow at least an hour to get anywhere in the city
• Using only cash, and causing exasperated sighs/eye rolls when I try to break a 100 peso bill (their maximum bill that’s only worth like 10 dollars)
• Sweating profusely (like, creating a puddle at my feet) on the bus
• (Well-meaning?) comments about my weight/eating & exercise habits
• Paying for bottled water in restaurants (when it costs the same to buy a soda it's hard to do the right thing and splurge for agua)
• Repeating the same conversations with every local I met (my impressions of the country/city, how castellano is so distinct, my travel plans for the semester… in general, just way too much talk about me)
• Feeling judged every time I spoke

Nonetheless, as (hopefully) evident from my other posts, the fond memories have definitely outweighed the little annoyances. Recently I made a list in my journal about happy things. Here are several that I don’t think I’ve mentioned on my blog before:

•      The little extra treats Lili & Gus would prepare for me—snacks of coffee and cake, ham and cheese tostados, and licuados (their version of smoothies [Gus’ specialty], though there was that one time he accidentally blended in a reusable plastic ice cube #TotalMcSwainMove amirite?!)
• Though I’m quite sick of discussing how different Argentine Spanish is (I can’t tell you how many times I discussed the fresa vs. frutilla debacle), I really like a few of the common words/phrases—buen provecho (what you say when you see someone eating; more than once someone shouted it at me from their car as they passed me walking while eating an empanada), así que, bueno (basically “alright then,” what Lili said at the conclusion of almost every meal), plus the fun slang like cheto (fancy) and quilombo (mess)
• The almost constant sing-along to the American music (both oldies and current hits) that pretty much always filled the house
• The purple flowers that grew everywhere this spring
• The rooftop garden project that consumed my host parents’ every free moment (by the end of the semester we were eating homegrown lettuce!)
• Brunch/coffee dates with friends from the program
• That one time I went to a play with some girls from my class and some of their friends (my most successful social activity with porteños)
• Stuff that’s not Argentinian but that still made me happy throughout the semester-- family group texts, new albums (T Swift, Nick Jonas, One Direction… sophisticated, I know), and Skype/Facebook convos with friends from home/Davidson

Even my last few days were full of adventures. I don’t have the time/ganas to write about Teatro Ciego (theater/dinner experience in complete darkness) or the extreme massage I got yesterday (let’s just say my whole body still hurts), but those things are best described in person anyway…

Durham, I’m coming for you! And Buenos Aires, I’ll be back!!