Key to traveling South America: confidence

There is no doubt that people change when they study, work or travel abroad. It takes a certain level of confidence to successfully make it in another country, conquer each day in a second language and take care of mandatories like purchases, payments and transportation.

This week alone, there have been multiple instances that require confidence and an overall sense of level-headedness to get through without being the underdog. And I would not have had this if I hadn’t first studied and traveled Buenos Aires.

First, I was buying a ticket to climb a mountain and only had a 10.000 bill, equal to $20 USD. South American countries are notorious for hating large bills and not providing change. But at the end of the day, that’s what the ATM gave me and no one else could break it. The salesperson asked if I had lower bills, no. Could I borrow from someone else, no. Did I have coins to make it easier for them to break it, no. I wasn’t trying to be a jerky customer; I sincerely didn’t have any of these. So what did he do? Took the bill and gave me change. It was right there; it was just a last resort. Pre-study abroad Katie would panic and start asking people in line to break the bill, but traveler Katie knew you had to be strong in your words.

This situation can be repeated in various other contexts, whether it was ordering soda in a restaurant (we don’t have that…but you did before and that’s what I ordered…oh, okay, here it is), or buying tickets for a bus (there aren’t any seats on earlier buses…oh, here’s two on the bus 30 minutes earlier). My personal favorite was going through security at the Santiago airport. The woman tried convincing me that to fly back to America, I needed a paper receipt that was not in my passport that proved the time I entered into Chile. “No one handed me that,” I said, in Spanish. “I can’t let you onto your flight unless you have that paper.” My first instinct was to panic, cry and tear apart my bags, going back to get my checked bag from the airline and search for where it was.

My levelheaded self paused and thought- there is no way everyone in this international flights line has that sheet of paper. I stood my ground, and she just handed me the exact same sheet of paper where I wrote my name, address and passport number. And now I’m back in the United States.

My point in sharing these situations is not that South American salespeople lie. Or that they are always seeking convenience and won’t accommodate their customers. All of these attributes are a part of their culture, and if you can’t assimilate into that in every moment, which not all Americans can, you have to be assertive to not get shorthanded, robbed, tricked or stressed.

At the end of my freshman year, I took a StrengthsQuest exam and learned that my five strengths were communication, focus, woo, responsibility and individualization. I was happy with these results, fairly good attributes and described who I am.

Immediately after returning from my 2.5 month trip to Argentina, I had to take StrengthsQuest again for a campus organization, and was shocked to notice that in 15 months, my strengths were completely different. The results showed that I had learner, input, arranger, responsibility and achiever. I was pretty upset and started crying at this change; I wanted my old strengths back. I hadn’t outgrown them, but these were just new strengths that better described my personality in various situations. The ‘new’ strengths exemplified the independence I gained while studying abroad, when my roommates and I constantly took the next step to assert ourselves, get from point A to point B safely and not settle for natives tricking the gringa Americans.  

Elizabeth and I met some college juniors from Vermont at a convenience store in Valparaiso who were studying abroad in Buenos Aires, and when we established that we were all American, they asked us if we had any suggestions. Naturally, we rattled off a list of the best things to do in Buenos Aires, and as much as they were taking it in, they weren’t writing it down or following up. We muttered how naïve they were for not asking for our names to message us on Facebook, or writing anything down. Then…we realized that how they acted was exactly what we would do our first time abroad too. Not everyone travels with those strengths.

Independence, assertiveness, an inherent eagerness to learn and self-confidence are things people must discover themselves and through their own experiences. They can’t necessarily be taught, nonetheless forced upon people. I urge you to unleash your confidence to have the best experience abroad, and not feel ‘jipped’ when you’re paying hundreds of dollars for a trip. Once you adopt these attributes, they’re difficult to hide in other aspects of your life - look at anyone who comes back from studying abroad and watch how they act when making plans. You’re in control of the life that is yours, and it’s a good feeling. 

Changes in Argentina

Saturday was the first evening I slept in a bed in three days. We arrived to Mendoza around 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, so I spent one night on a plane and the other on a bus. Entering Mendoza through the “Terminal de Omnibus,” or “Union Station,” felt like dejavu since I had done the same thing two years earlier, coming from Buenos Aires instead. It was absolutely amazing to be back in Argentina again, even if it wasn’t the same city where I studied, to get a taste of how things are going. Here’s what I noticed.  

Things that have changed in Argentina

The exchange rate

In 2011, $1 USD = 4 Argentine pesos. Now, $1 = 5 Argentine pesos. What does that mean? It’s exciting if you’re an American, but horrible if you’re an Argentine in their sinking economy. It was a big adjustment to look at prices with the new exchange rate, and interesting to observe how the economy can change so quickly.

Bus payment methods

One struggle living in South America is constantly finding coins, or “monedas,” to take the bus around town. Now, you can buy a bus PASS instead of beg for change. Unfortunately, we still got on the bus without enough change (or a bus card) and pulled the Gringo card to not pay the entire fee, but it’s nice for any individual to be able to use a pass instead of saving up change. Ironically enough, the bus fare was only 2.50 pesos, which is 50 cents in the US. So not a lot, but still at least three coins.

The Paso de Los Toros logo

Paso de los Toros is my favorite brand of my token Argentina beverage, ‘gaseosa de pomelo.’ That’s Spanish for grapefruit soda. Although Fresca and other citrus sodas exist in the US, there is something special about Paso de Los Toros. I’m addicted, so it wasn’t a surprise when I noticed the logo change because I bought this soda so much when I was there.

Things that are exactly the same

Medialunas and a good breakfast

Upon our arrival into Mendoza, Elizabeth, Alicia and I sat down starving at a restaurant and ordered a ‘promoción,’ consisting of two medialunas (croissants), a mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice & sparkling water. This standard Argentine breakfast was a great way to return!

The bus numbers and routes

It’s cool how consistent these are, because ewe took the same bus to Mendoza that my friends took two years ago. Lines 171-173 of bus route 10 aren’t going anywhere anytime soon!

Wineries and activities in Mendoza

After getting off of the bus, we stopped at the familiar Mr. Hugo’s bikes to rent bikes to take to the wineries. Mr. & Mrs. Hugo were there greeting every customer and showing everyone their way around the map. Although we went to entirely different wineries than the last trip, it was comforting to see a stable business and familiar faces from 2011. The policia even followed us on our ride home to protect us like they did last time.

Semicamas on buses

I wrote about this while I was in Argentina, but a “semicama” is exactly what it sounds like. “Kind of a bed.” When we got on the bus to Mendoza, our seats were semicamas, where a footrest moves down from the seat in front of you so you can lay down diagonally. I wasn’t able to sleep any better in it than I was two years ago, but it’s still the norm here.

Dulce de leche

We stopped at Havana (similar to Starbucks) for alfajores, Argentine cookies filled with dulce de leche, and a bakery to buy some dulce treats. Manjar nuez, a mock dulce in Santiago and some areas of Buenos Aires, just wasn’t the same. I made sure to leave with plenty of dulce to eat throughout the week!

Returning to South America

Friday morning, I arrived in Santiago, Chile to visit and travel with Elizabeth, my Mizzou classmate and roommate from Argentina. After 10 hours on a plane from Dallas, I arrived to the Santiago airport and made it through the 3-step customs. I forgot how much more intense international travel is, whether it be waiting in each of these lines or filling out forms with your passport number and information.

On the way off of the plane, I stopped a man who appeared to speak English to ask what baggage claim terminal our luggage would be at. Although he didn’t know the answer to the question, we bonded over being English-speakers traveling South America. His name was Jon, from Canada, and he quit a job at an ad agency where he was unhappy and came to visit his girlfriend for the month. We chatted, waited for each other through customs and decided to share a taxi to downtown Santiago to save money. We’ve been emailing trip tips to each other ever since - who said you couldn’t make friends at the airport!

The taxi pulled into Elizabeth’s apartment and I was in awe as I stepped out. Her building is right next to Universidad de San Sebastian, and right in the heart of Bellavista, a nicer area of Santiago. She left the key with the doorman and I found my way up, unpacked and headed out to explore. Patio Bellavista, a plaza of bars, restaurants and heladerias (ice cream shops) is right across the street, so naturally I started off by ordering some dulce de leche gelato and walking around. I ate some street choripan (like a hot dog with sausage) for lunch and sat over by the college.

My first instinct was to compare everything I saw in Chile to Argentina. They have Movistar, Claro and Despegar ads, so does Argentina! The apartment looks just like the buildings in Recoleta, Buenos Aires! This street reminds me of 9 de julio! It’s crazy how people revert back to what they’re familiar with. Elizabeth’s comparison so far is that Buenos Aires is like the United States, and Chile is like Canada. There, thriving and pretty cool -- but not as large. I’ve been considering it as Buenos Aires = New York, and Santiago as Chicago. We’ll see how things compare as the week goes on.

To finish off the afternoon while Elizabeth was at work, I decided not to be shy and walked about two miles to the main area of downtown Santiago, Plaza de Las Armas. There, I saw the Catedral, visited the Museo Historico Nacional in its cabildo, and climbed Cerro Santa Lucia, a large hill with parks overseeing the entire city. Pictures to come!

That evening, we met Elizabeth’s friend Alicia and hopped on a 10:30 pm bus to Mendoza, Argentina for the weekend so the girls could renew their tourist visas (which expire after 90 days). Plus, my Argentina visa is valid until 2021, so why not?! So far, it’s been an exciting few days in South America with more adventure on its way! 

Español

Although I completed my Spanish minor in Argentina, I decided to take a Spanish class this semester just for fun. Spanish 4471: Spanish American Literature. While originally contemplating why I would voluntarily take a 4000 level, three-credit hour, reading course "for fun," the first week and a half has already proven my gut feeling correct.

The literature on the syllabus is all short stories and poems written by Latin American authors, which carry not just new vocabulary- but a lot of meaning and symbolism. Today, we read a story called El Matadero by Esteban Echeverría, a writer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It described what happened during Lent in the early 1800s when a poor neighborhood near Río de la Plata in Argentina flooded, and the city of Buenos Aires had such a huge beef shortage (going on 15 days) that they were killing their own citizens for meat.

Regardless of the crazy plot line (which we read many stories like in Argentina), it was so fulfilling to read this story entirely in Spanish and know that I not only gained this skill by studying abroad, but so much background knowledge along with it. El Matadero had a lot of references to the corrupt government, specific neighborhoods and culture of Argentina, and I understood them perfectly. It was truly a feeling of accomplishment to so easily pick up on the cultural hints and the value of how much traveling and familiarizing yourself with different places and cultures teaches you. Who knew that it would take reading literature in another language to get me to appreciate English literature and the significance of analyzing authors, their whereabouts and more!

Things I miss in Argentina

Things I miss about Argentina

• My roommates- love you Stacey, Elizabeth and Jordin!
• Dulce de leche- similar to carmel. Yum.
• Pomelo- grapefruit soda. CRAVE.
• Walking everywhere. And loving every minute of it.
• The cost of living- VERY favorable to Americans
• The cost of taxis: Each 200 meters going up 10 US cents and us thinking it was 'expensive.'
• Mate- the traditional herb in a gourd that is like tea but better.
• Willingness to help- Every porteño regardless of what they were doing would always answer my annoying questions- were we going the right way, at the right bus stop, near the right street, etc. and usually even follow up!
• Public transit- Taking the Subte everywhere and not having to drive!
• Traveling and it not being a big deal

Things I don't miss about Argentina

• Paying for toilet paper- toilet paper wasn't usually provided in public bathrooms, so you have to bring your own or hope that there's someone there you can buy it from.
• Not having tap water- restaurants only serve bottled water, usually con gas (mineral water).
• Free refills- What a value.
• Movistar cellphone- my crazy phone where texts were in T9 Spanish and the company was my only text message. But hey, I do miss not being able to be contacted!
• Daily usage of power converters- So nice to not have to remember to bring a charger and a converter to work everyday.
• Hostels- They live up to the stereotypes.
• Service charge at restaurants- Although I miss having no tax, it's nice to not have to pay a service charge for the bread at restaurants.
• Having to find coins and change everywhere- paying with a $20 bill and not having to find singles has never felt so good! No one in Argentina has change, expect banks from 9 am to 3 pm, work hours, and you usually just don't make a purchase if you don't have exact change or small bills.
• Customer service and service in general- The Argentine service is a cultural and South America thing, but essentially is not existent. I will not miss having to flag down waiters for the check, asking for a menu because it's assumed you don't need one sometimes, separate checks and all the little conveniences we have. One of my co-workers, when I explained this phenomena, actually said "There [in the US], people complain if what they get isn't perfect or what they asked for. But here, everything is bad, and we just get adjusted to it and don't care anymore." Haha.

The Quote List: Part 2

In case you thought my quote list was over, I just found a book of quotes from Mendoza! Amusing trip, amusing quotes!

• It's a hostel, you're going to have to deal with poop. -Elizabeth
• I know we need to get off at Riga & Guemes, but I don't know where it is so that's good. -me
• As if we don't stand out enough, give us red ski pants. -Jordin
• MR. HUGO! -Jordin
• I might as well [tell my parents the La Plata Story] because then they'll know that I do things and respect me more. -Stacey
• My dad took a maintenance job at a motel once and I was like...what? -Stacey
• If Mr. Hugo, like, what's his name, would have been easier on the wine.... - Elizabeth
• I'm cutting myself off and that never happens. -Jordin
• No hay empanadas de caprese. Ella es vegeteriana. Ah, caprese. -us and our waiter who wouldn't bring cheese empanadas for Elizabeth
• Maybe if they only had 3 left or something and he wanted them. -Stacey, discussing why the waiter would only bring us meat empanadas although Elizabeth is a vegetarian and asked for others
• I can't believe we rented ski equipment in that condition. -Stacey "I don't even remember anything about getting gloves." -Jordin
• I'm going to get married twice so I can have one honeymoon in Iguazu and the other in Mendoza. -Jordin, serious
• You're like a broken record, you've repeated yourself like 9 times. -Stacey, to Jordin
• I don't even know what I ordered. -Jordin
• You could go as Carolina and borrow my sweater. -Stacey, to Elizabeth
• (Discussing why mate is a difficult yet interesting concept) The point is that 1 you're still carrying around an open cup, 2 you can't set it down anywhere and 3, you will sometimes need a thermos. It's not an expedited process. Is the culture really better when you're watching 30 kids and holding all this mate? It's just not necessary. -Stacey (it really is complicated!!)
• I was on the phone with Texas for 12 hours- my license had a felony hold. -Elizabeth
• How do we always end up at McDonalds before the Omnibus? -Stacey
• My life on an omnibus. -Stacey
• Can you do that? Probably in South America. -Talking about taking extra wine to go from a restaurant when you don't finish the bottle
• Sorry, are you talking about a distant relative from Yemen? -Elizabeth, talking about Stacey's boss calling gmail HEY-MAIL
• We haven't even gotten to tomorrow yet! -me, referring to telling stories from yesterday
• We could make an entire movie about our weekend. -Elizabeth, on our Mendoza trip
• Ugh...there's a child. -Jordin, on the 12 hour bus
• They can have the honor of being in my profile picture even though they're in high school. -Jordin on our friends at the hot springs

The Quote List

Here is an abridged (yes) version of my quote list from our trip. Brief contextual explanations are provided when necessary, but otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the humor of what people say on an average day!

• “This place is in Uruguay…oh, ON Uruguay.” Jordin, 5-19
• That’s why I hate Mizzou. I have to take a class on guinea tribes and know all about those, but I can’t order a steak in Spanish. Jess, 5-19
• I’m going to tip him extra and tell him the money is for my ring. –Jess, 5-19
• “We have a president and it is a she.” –Carolina, 5-20
• “I want to get one of those huge things and act like we’re all obsessed with it.” –Stacey and mate, 5-20
• “Why is my mom calling right now?” –Jordin, 1:40 am, 5-21
• “It must do wonders for your self-esteem but Argentinian women are like ice queens.” –Sebastian, 5-21
• To Han: “If you missed your flight after only drinking coffee, how are you going to be on mate?” –Jordin, 5-21
• “I even posted on total GDI move.” –Sebastian, 5-21
• “I mean…GDI just stands for god damn irresistible.” –Sebastian, 5-21 “What’s with Greeklife and abbreviations?” –Sebastian, 5-21
• The neighbor was like…there’s four of you and you’re the only one who got things stolen?” –Stacey, 5-21
• “Well…this is perfect to write about for Welshful Thinking. I should just take a picture of my purse without the wallet in it. My life.
  –Stacey, 5-21
• I haven’t seen this stuffjournalists like twitter. Like..I like all of these things!!
• (Ensalada del día) I was going to ask them what was in it, but I wouldn’t have understood anything he was saying so I just didn’t bother. -Jordin, 5-21
• “That’s the one thing I miss. Refills.” - Stace
• “Maybe we should just get delivery so we don’t embarrass ourselves.” -Jordin
• You can’t assume anything, we’re in South America (lettuce on the salad) –Jordin
• I’m sick of us speaking in Spanish because all we do is say the same things! –Stacey
• “I feel like my English is actually getting a little worse.”
• Why is this exactly how I imagined it? We’re going around and learning dances from Argentine men and eating meat. –Elizabeth, 5-25
• “I was so scared, you guys have no idea.” –Stacey, 5-25 I should check if I got robbed.”
• I literally made the sign of the cross when I got into that club. –Stacey, 5-25
• Every time we leave the house I think we’re gonna die a little bit. -Elizabeth
• Carolina told me big city, big eyes! –Stacey, 5-25
• Who cares about cinco de mayo when we have VEINTICINCO de mayo?!
• Everything that comes out of your mouth is just gold. –Elizabeth to Stacey, 5-25
• “We couldn’t speak to Spain.” –Elizabeth and Jordin
• Does that happen to everyone that does this program?, 5-26 Stacey, 5:30 am
• “Just sayin…found my papi.” –Jordin, 5-26, 5:30 am
• Who am I? What happened? –Elizabeth , 5-26, 5:30 am
• The guys in Missouri suck. They’re so f’in repressed.” -5-26, Elizabeth, 5:30 am
• I told Pedro we like the pomelo. –Stacey, 5-26
• We’re winning guys!! –Jordin
• Guys this is probably the best thing I’ve ever written. My mom’s gonna be so mad.” –Jordin, 5-31
• “I walked into UCA to see what it was like.” –Stacey, 5-31
• I can understand Alejandro and my PASantia peeps but not f’in Sebastian! –Elizabeth, 6-1
• He wrote on my wall “saw In The Heights…I know you’re jealous.” And I was pissed because I WAS JEALOUS! HE KNEW! –Elizabeth, 6-1
• Sebastian must have been on the floor drooling to be called out on sleeping during class and not Jordin. –All about Alejandro’s class, 6-1
• Oh my God I love this cat I just want to give him a hug. –Stacey, 6-1
• “Kip and John are on my tell off list.” –Stacey, 6-2, on the criminals/ “easy work”
• The best thing is he wants me to ue the camera Carolina has to film this thing! –Stacey, 6-2
• CFK’s son followed me on Twitter! –Stacey, 6-2
• Just take a nap then drink some mate. –Jordin convincing Stacey to see Que Pasó Ayer 2, 6-5
• He’s such a cutie! Like wouldn’t you just die if you saw him playing with his son? –Stacey on Alejandro, 6-7
• I’m dressed up because I’m running out of things to wear! –Stacey, 6-8
• I wanted to tell Carolina my story about the Coldplay concert, but 1 she wouldn’t have cared, and 2 it would have just taken too much time to tell in Spanish.
• I mean study abroad is just one really long vacation that your parents pay for, right? –Elizabeth, 6-9
• Patagonia has volcanoes. In Buenos Aires we have… strikes”” - Carolina Escudero
• So the criminals kept asking me questions about the judicial system in the US…and I like didn’t have answers.” –Stacey, 6-9
• I just love the bromance! Stacey, 6-10
• Guys it was family day at work! Everyone and their mother and their kids were there. I had to give so many kisses/besitos! Elizabeth, 6-10
• It’s so weird getting ready to go out this early. –Jordin, 6-10, 9 pm
• I speak more Spanish when I go out then at my internships. Maybe I should just go out every night instead of working internships. –Elizabeth, 6-11
• I’m on 57 on the top 200 Latin American iTunes songs sold. No I have no effing clue what you are talking about. –Jordin on the song, 6-11 IT WAS NUMBER 134 AND IT’S CALLED PRUUM. – Elizabeth, 6-11
• “Everything we’ve done outdoes the last crazy thing that we did.” –Stacey, 6-12
• We should have a day where we just make an album of all the American stereotypes.” –Elizabeth, 6-13
• How long did you leave that popcorn in? Two minutes and 17 seconds. –Jordin and Elizabeth
• Guys..we’re winning at being funny. –Stacey, 6-14 Not sleep. –Elizabeth
• “Why does she email us when she’s sitting right there?” –Stacey, 6-15
• Come to Argentina and work for my news portal…FREE LABOR!!!” –Katie, 6-15
• Elizabeth had the best meal of her life tonight too. Burger King. VEGETARIAN SANDWICH! It was the best meal I have had here.
• My mom literally said “honey I wouldn’t with your luck.” –Stacey, 6-16
• And he wrote the email in English and Spanish! –Jordin, on random man in the street
• Can I just make up a cell phone number? I did that at the Western Union. –Elizabeth & Stacey. “I just started rattling off random numbers.”
• How did people book flights without the internet? –Elizabeth “Let’s go to iguazu!” 6-18
• I used to freak out about driving to Fulton.” –Stacey Now we don’t even know which airport we’re flying into. Where am I? No one will help me.
• Katie: This bread must’ve been so good. Elizabeth: ARE YOU SERIOUS KATIE. WE’RE MISSOURI JOURNALISM STUDENTS, WE DID NOT CONSUME THE FOOD! Stace: We didn’t have empanadas…
• This is the most epic trip of my life. What are we doing?!
• Jordin: Not to get all philosophical and shit, but who the f* thought to make popcorn? Seriously, who saw all these little kernels and thought hey! I wonder what happens when you heat these up. WHO THE F*?! 6-18
• “Guys...if I get an A on this test, we’re going out with Alejandro for a celebratory tomar algo.” –Jordin, 6-20
• Guys, boys in botanical gardens with cats on their laps are clearly just looking for women!” –Katie
• Do they just go sit down and socialize with random people?! Katie Who are we to judge?! –Stacey
• Gustavo..I mean, Gonzalo! –Stacey
• All of Welshful thinking is white girl problems…
• My zoo pictures are taking forever! White girl problems.
• Guys, I have so many profile picture options I just can’t decide! White girl problems.
• What is this? The raddison? Oh wait…it is. -6-21, Elizabeth
• We should’ve asked him to tomar algo! -6-21, all, about the room service man. “He came in a little costume!” Everyone asks us, it’s about time we ask men! [to tomar algo] -6-21
• Have you ever gotten a FB chat from someone you didn’t want to talk to and gone offline? I’m pretty sure my dad did that to me.” –Sebastian, 6-21
• (On getting carded) They asked me. This was two years ago, I was so excited. –Carolina
• They will tell you about a tango spectacle. I do not recommend the tango spectacular. It is not that great. –Carolina
• You won’t let me take a picture of the US embassy but you’ll take us out? –us, after the tour
• They have parkas. .. You can stay in longer than 30 minutes, but it increases your risk of like…hypothermia. –Stacey, 6-22
• So today we met the security guard at the US embassy and he invited us out, but this is like a daily occurrence so we were like nahh.” –Elizabeth on skype, 6-22
• It wasn’t because she was dumb, it’s because she was stupid.” –Elizabeth, 6-23
• How did people book flights without the internet? –Elizabeth “Let’s go to iguazu!” 6-18
• I used to freak out about driving to Fulton.” –Stacey Now we don’t even know which airport we’re flying into. Where am I? No one will help me. -6/18
• Tengo un montón de gringos.” –man at Monte Carlo TV station about going in the HD bus
• ¿Hay una reunion, sí? Bajan sus voces.” –concierge, 6-22 at night
• Su vuelo es cancelado.” –Despegar
• By the way, I’m not telling my parents about leaving my charger. So if you ever meet them, don’t mention it. Please don’t. Because they always say KEEP TRACK OF YOUR STUFF! And that was the definition of not keeping track of your stuff. Literally, my dad instead of saying goodbye says keep track of your stuff! And I’m like, bye! –Stacey, 6-23
• Radisson: “They said he was coming down now and I was like ‘OUR FLIGHT IS LEAVING NOW. We are going to be late now! And I do not think he liked my expression.” –Carolina, 6-23
• Pottermore is like Harry Potter and World of Warcraft, it’s like the two most addicting things!…it will take over the world of nerdhood.
• They’re not going to have a life. –Stacey 6-23
• Where’s Paraguay? Oh..I think it’s right past the bank. –Jordin and I, 6-24
• (about the heladería in Puerto Iguazu) Jordin: He loves us. Stacey: We tend to have that effect on people here. 6-24
• Four countries in 24 hours!
• Screw UT! They’re all like…we have a partnership with the University of Cordoba and we’re like…well WE have a partnership with CAROLINA. –Stacey, 6-24
• I always wonder if there are secret things under the waterfalls.” –Han, 6-25
• And they have all these signs that say “cerrado” but you can just go past them. There are really good views! –Han, 6-25
• Trashy to classy in one photoshop click.” –Jordin, 6-27
• And she treats my stuffed animal like a king! –Jordin, 6-27
• Carolina, I can’t do this, Jordin is applying for an American reality tv classic and I want to help her.” –Stacey on the bachelorette, 6-27
• This information is GOLD. –Carolina, 6-29, on other BA study abroad programs
• Helicopter sound at school: “Cristina está volviendo a su casa.” –Carolina, 6-29
• And the demonstrations. That was really really weird. –Carolina, 6-29
• What I can do? I have a flight in two hours and we don’t have a president.” –Carolina, 6-29
• I called my parents to ask what I supposed to do? And my parents say you know our country, just come. It was ok, then I came back to Brussels.” –Carolina, 6-29
• Por favor no duermas en clase. –Alejandro, 6-30
• El rap es muy importante en Nueva York, sí? Alejandro, 6-30
• We’re going to the Argentine Oscars!” –Stacey & Elizabeth
• Why does this feel so normal? I feel like we’ve lived in this apartment and that I’ve known you guys my entire life!” –Elizabeth
• There’s a priest in Ballwin that was inappropriate with teens. I thought we were done with this! –Stacey, 7-2
• Other people do not have the privilege of listening to Carolina skype in French for two hours. Who was she skyping? Probably Strauss Kahn. –Katie, Stacey, Elizabeth, 7-1
• I really want to be in a country while there’s a coup. It would be really cool…if I lived.” –Elizabeth, 7-3
• Would you ever take grasshoppers and take their legs off? –Elizabeth, 7-3
• When I was 9 years old my dad used to tell me this story abou taking out his scorpion and I was like that’s really cool dad! And now I’m like…that’s really weird dad. -Sebastian, 7-3
• You need to work this out because it is today.” –Carolina, 7-4, to Stacey about the Silver Condor
• I will be in trouble in Argentina, so I will publish it in the states.” -Carolina, 7-5
• Yo soy un freelancer, why? I do not want my name associated with the government. Carolina, 7-5
• Por ejemplo where is my cellphone? –Carolina, 7-5
• I can’t imagine walking into a convenience store and not having to repeat myself four times to find what I’m actually buying. Or being stared at on the bus. Or killing myself waiting for the 152 to get here in the morning. Or bagging my own groceries! –Elizabeth, 7-5
• Estaría avergonzado en esta situación. –Alejandro on having a sombrero put on your head, 7-5
• Como Taco Bell?” –Alejandro, with certainty, 7-5
• In what universe did we think that thing was going to work?!” –Stacey, 7-6, about the hair dryer crazy thing
• In what universe do they think Mostaza is going to give them their food on time?” –us, 7-6, 5:53 pm, before class
• Who are you and where do you sit? –escuela de periodismo woman, 7-7
• Is there anywhere in the world where a white man gets hit on? –Keith, 7-7
• 90% of my Spanish is non-verbal. –Keith, 7-7
• I have a picture of an orangutan on my Facebook. Who should I tag it as? –Keith, 7-7
• I wish I had a button that’s like a debby downer button that I could press for all the Staceyisms.” –Sebastian, -7-7
• ¿Hay alguien encerrado en su casa?! –Alejandro, 7-7Who said you’re out interviewing movie stars? Stacey: or prisoners. 7-9
• Don’t you love how we bought these tickets 24 hours ago? –Armeen, 7-7
• That’s happened to me three times now, I just couldn’t get the door open! And you can’t crawl out of these ones either! I’m not going to call you on the phone, but I was like hoping someone would come open it. –Stacey, bathroom door, 7-8
• Let’s look at where we are today. Yesterday, we went to Spanish, work, and Keith was over and our friend. Now we’re in Cordoba, 10 hours away, and Keith is CRAZY! Look what can happen in 24 hours! –Stacey, 7-8
• That granola bar lady! –Everyone, on the bus, 7-9
• I’m going to sleep with my purse like a stuffed animal. –Stacey, 7-8
• I could see if I left my purse there for a second, but I didn’t! It was on my shoulder! –Stacey, 7-8
• You have a lot of stories.” –Carolina to Stacey
• Bueno, la alegría. –Alejandro, during the laughter class one Thursday
• El jabón es común para usar aquí? –Stacey to Alejandro, 7-12 I mean la palabra!!
• No sabes como, pero finalmente, estás borracho.” –Alejandro, 7-12
• This really is free labor. –Stacey, 7-13
• Don’t tell, don’t ask.” –Carolina, about Sebastian, 7-13
• You look like you’re on the same team.” –Carolina, 7-26, on Stacey and Katie wearing similar outfits
• Have fun and drink lots of…mineral water *facial expression,” –Carolina, 7-13 on Mendoza
• I’m going to look at the hairy leg once I have clothes on.” –Stacey, 7-18
• I’ve already lost some of my hearing I’m sure.” –Stace, 7-18
• I think anything with mundial is funny. –Stacey Kind of like seguridad.
• Isn’t it weird when someone you barely know likes like the 8^th profile picture of you? – Elizabeth, 7-18
• We should make a movie called Hostel Behavior. -Elizabeth, 7-19
• Hay que probar colores que queden mejor que esto que hay –Carolina, 7-20
• I’m just SO EXCITED that he can speak English! –Stace on the Adidas man, 7-20
• And the taxi driver was telling me about Día del Amigo and he was like tenés amigos? And I was like yeah.” –Han, 7-20
• WOOT we get a refrigerator magnet!” –Jordin, 7-20
• This stupid cake tried to screw up my life. -Katie, 7-20
• I mean we’re all thinking it, we’re just not going to SAY it.” –Stacey
• Want to hear something really strange? I finally get where Carolina is coming from with this.” –Stacey, 7-20
• There’s like a sign stuck on a tree with a piece of gum. “ –Stacey, 160 bus, 7-21
• You know what’s even sadder than eating the 5.0? Eating it by yourself.” –Sam, 7-23 I had to buy a bottle of water.
• He was like, walking the other way and I was like, jumping in front of a bus.” –Elizabeth, 7-23
• Telling the taxi driver “el restuarante cerca del Sheraton con muchas banderas.” -7-23
• Do you guys mind if I go to bed?” –Stace, 7-23
• If your grandparents aren’t racist, they’re not real people.” –Sam, 7-23
• Guys, everything has come full circle. The first Saturday here, my wallet was stolen. My last Saturday here, I bought a new one!” –Stacey, 7-23
• AMY WINEHOUSE DIED. Rehab? I hope she died in like a car accident or something. Nope…it was drugs.Katie, Stacey, Elizabeth, Stacey, 7-23
• I feel like whenever I go on Twitter, I always see all these posts about nutella. Like why are they crazies? I have an excuse, I’m in a country without peanut butter. –Stacey, 7-24
• No se puede sacar fotos. –Guy at museum to Stacey, 7-24
• Sam, you’re already an infinitely better house guest than Keith.” –Elizabeth, 7-24
• Check it out, I got a new mate!” –Jordin, 7-24
• I’m also really excited to see Katie artemas in New York. Maybe her assertiveness will rub off on me.” –Stacey, 7-24
• I was just shaking the whole time. It’s like I was on drugs. It was an exceptionally good show, and I was in the front row. But…I think I’m just going to have a heart attack.” –Elizabeth, 7-24
• I think this might be a better day than the day I get married. Better than graduation, my 21^st birthday…” Elizabeth, 7-24
• And they always tell you to not go to La Boca at night…so of course that’s the first place I went.” –Joshua, 7-25, from Texas Tech
• I don’t understand how he got that from agua, but I had to get the hello kitty out of there! –Joshua, 7-25, on asking donde está el agua and having a random man lead him into corner and stick his finger in his behind
• Sounds like everything has different connotations. –Han, 7-25
• Stace, when someone elbows you in the face, you can’t say that’s okay.” –Sebastian, bday
• Bueno. La ironía. –Stacey, 7-26
• Yeah I’m pissed. I was like sweating when we started dancing.” –Stacey, 7-26, 3:20 a.m.
• And what saves Cinderella? La universidad, el trabajo, sus amigas, un proyecto en Greenpeace, tampoco Amnesty Internacional, no. Un principe. –Carolina, 7-26, clase de género
• Katie, I have a gossip for you. The parents of Kylie se nombra because they like Kylie Minoque. Are you named Katie for Katie Holmes? -7-26, Miguel
• This cake tried to screw up my life. -me
• I cannot control YouTube of FinalCut. Ya saben. -Stacey, 7-27
• And we didn't really have an office so I was having meetings with the students in a bar. It was really hippie. -Carolina, on the Buenos Aires program, 7-27
• And you were red, I can imagine. -Carolina, 7-27
• I have been living 7 years in French speaking countries and your English is too fast. -Carolina to Fritz Cropp, our study abroad coordinator, 7-27
• En el invierno, tomamos mate. They publish a picture of me in St. Louis at a Cardinals game with a red shirt and hat, holding a Coke. That is very controversial. So I was like maybe in Switzerland they like it but that is not so Latin American. –Carolina, 7-27, on an article written about her
• Maybe if I walk around with it like this it’ll just fall. –Stacey on getting a cork out of a bottle of wine, 7-28
• What do you think is the best method of getting this switch blade through customs? -Jordin to her mom, 7-29
• Honey I don’t think that’s a good idea. –Jordin’s mom's response, 7-29
• I am an avid syllabi reader, woman! -Cally, 7-30, on annoying professors lying about not reading their syllabus
• Why is everyone so mean here? NO wonder people think poorly of the US. They cross the border and the first person they see is an a**hole who hates their job. “ –Jessica on arriving back into the United States, 7-31

Regresar a casa/Coming home

Plane experience

I can’t say my flight experiences have been good ones to and from Argentina. Both were overnight, bumpy, involved little sleep and poor service. From Miami to Chicago, I asked the flight attendant for a tissue when she came with the drink cart and she told me to go to the bathroom (instead of giving me one of the napkins in front of her). We’re leaning toward the Argentine service level here.

From Buenos Aires to Miami, Cally, Jordin, Jess and I took off at 8:30 p.m. Dinner arrived around 9:30, and by that time…I was unfortunately asleep. Instead of tapping me, giving me a meal or asking the person next to me, I was just skipped. No food. Having not eaten since 1 p.m. that afternoon, when I woke up to the food cart 10 rows behind me, I was pretty upset. I pushed the flight attendant button three times and no one came back. FINALLY when they PICKED UP the trays, I begged for a plate of food and got one. But gosh forbid they come and pick it up, right? So I scarfed it down with the flight attendant awkwardly standing there waiting for it as she was on her last garbage check. In the process of begging for dinner, the woman next to me spilled her Coke on my blanket. Fun flight.

Current events

As journalism students, we always have to be up on what the most important current events are and how they affect us as students, humans and a journalism school. My GoogleReader news gave me a lot of updates this summer on what was going on, but Google Argentina could only link me to so much information in English.

Stacey compiled this list of the top 5 news stories we need to read up on upon returning home to be updated on American society.

1. The current debt and default situation

2. The Joplin tornado

3. Casey Anthony

4. Twit-pic’d NY politician

5. Murdoc phone tapping

Benefits of being back in the US

Back in the US, everything is going to be so easy. We realized this at the Miami airport when we could speak English to the Customs employees. Everyday errands and necessities can be completed in our first language. Making reservations, ordering dinner or planning trips will be a breeze since we’ve had so much experience doing them…in Spanish. Driving across Missouri seems like nothing after flying and bussing through all of Argentina, and our worries have simmered down after what we’ve accomplished here.

Having a cell phone back will make me less of a Facebook, Twitter and Skype addict. Jordin and I laugh at ourselves because our friends from home probably think we’re crazy always logged into all of our social media, but it’s our only way to contact our friends in the United States. Anytime you would randomly text a friend a question, request or funny story, we would have to message, email, Skype chat or tweet at these friends to get a hold of them. If I wanted to Skype my parents, I’d Facebook chat a friend and ask them to call my house and tell my family to log on Skype. Now, I’LL just be able to text or call them! How fascinating communication is!

As much as I’ll miss Buenos Aires, I look forward to applying my experiences and lessons from my internship, 12 credits of classes, daily urban commutes and international travel stories to what I do in Chicago and at Mizzou. Thank you to anyone who followed my summer experiences here!

My roommates and I on our couch on our first day in Buenos Aires...

....and our last