Uh oh. So here we are, June has practically come to a close and as the firsts of the good friends that I've made here in the past couple months begin to leave, whether I like it or not I am being forced to reflect even more on my time here than I have in the past.
My classes have pretty much come to an end - all that remains is to turn in one final paper for a seminar on Argentine political history, one of my favorite classes due to the insight that it offered on the society in which I've been living for the past 5 months. Following the history and the political development of this country through this class has been extremely interesting, especially when through detailing some past conflict, our professor can help shed some light on the issues that are plaguing Argentina today, most especially the distrust of the economy and of the executive branch of the government. These are things that I never would have been able to gain a reasonable understanding of before.
I've decided that these were the classes that were most worthwhile - the seminar, my class on political economics, and my Spanish class. These were the classes that either through the subject matter (economics) or the mission, were able to truly enrich my experience by reaching out to me and letting me understand better Argentina and its people. The best advice I can give for future USAL exchange students is to get a feel for the professors of your prospective classes. The university is good enough to give you a period of several weeks in which you can test out various courses - during this time, the best thing to do is to take into consideration which of the professors are truly interested in you as an international student, and in what they as professors and sometimes mentors can do to truly maximize your experience but, perhaps more importantly, your understanding of that experience and its context.
The past months have been amazing in so many ways, and while it is sometimes difficult to look past the thrill and the spectacle of whatever trips I've taken (truly wonderful and eye-opening experiences), when I really think about what the best part of my time here as been, I have to say that it's been the opportunity to get to know the people with whom I am sharing this experience. Discussions with not only Argentine friends and acquaintances, but with the other international students as well, have provided a really invaluable opportunity to analyze and compare outlooks, customs, and ways of life from a great, wide variety of perspectives. The ideas of why things are the way that they are, or how they came about or how they could be improved vary greatly based on where people come from and what they know - I have found that the sharing of those opinions has been truly worthwhile.
And it is through that sharing that I have been able to make some of the greatest and most fulfilling friendships of my life (I am beginning to worry that this is starting to sound like a study-abroad brochure, but it is the truth). Perhaps this all sounds extra-cheesy due to how sentimental I am now that all of the friends I've made here are beginning to head back to wherever they came from, but the seemingly endless despedidas combined with all the extra time I have on my hands now that classes are ending makes it nearly impossible not to be reflective. One of the things that I have learned here has been to never underestimate how much you can learn from somebody, no matter what your first impression of them may be. When you are going through an experience like this one, I honestly believe that meeting as many people as possible and listening to as many of their stories as you can shoud be of the highest priority - it is through this that your experience can be truly life-changing.
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