By Matthew Kind, CASA Argentina Fall 2018 (Harvard University '20)
I believe every study abroad student has a, "smack you in your face, make a fool out of yourself, welcome to a new country, WHAAAMM" moment that lets you know you’re away from Harvard and in the real world. Mine came during my first week of class at the largest public university in South America, La Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Derecho. My professor asked everyone to, wait for it... introduce themselves. I mean come on! In my brief introduction, I quickly learned my Spanish tongue doesn’t work like it should when I am standing in front of a group of Law School students on my first day of class in a new country. But perhaps more importantly, I learned that the people of Argentina are extremely kind and respectful as they attently stuck with me through my disastrous introduction.
Deciding to study abroad was a no-brainer for me. I had never done extensive traveling, let alone by myself, and I figured a semester away from Harvard could do no harm. Selecting Argentina was also a no-brainer. They had me at, "we eat the most meat per capita in the world". Say no more, sign me up, and I’m coming!
Of my academic experience in Buenos Aires, I was also able to get an internship at Rio Pinturas, a foundation for people with disabilities. Undoubtedly, it was at the foundation where I learned the most Spanish. Often times it was difficult for the students to express themselves because of their limited vocabulary. Therefore, I had to pay extra close attention to what they were trying to tell me and respond in a manner that they would understand. This internship accelerated my language development process and I got some pretty interesting stories out of it too.
With some students from my internship
Living in Argentina I had a wonderful opportunity to travel throughout the beautiful country and see what it has to offer. So that is what I did. During my stay, I traveled to the historic city of Córdoba, the beautiful wonders of Iguazu Falls, and to one of the southernmost points in the world in Patagonia. I was even able to travel to Chile and Uruguay. What these experiences taught me was that you never really know a place until you go there. For all my life I had read about these places and learned about their histories and structures, but you get a different feeling when you are staring directly up a 270 ft. waterfall watching millions of gallons of water pour down. That is how you get interesting stories.
Working at the orchard with my internship
My trip to Iguazu Falls
My trip to Chile
My trip to Patagonia
My trip to Córdoba
The best part of traveling and immersing yourself in a new culture are the stories you will tell. I have never heard an interesting story by someone saying they traveled to a new place and everything went according to plan. We all may wish that would happen, but I also think we are looking for some trouble to get into because those are the best stories we can tell. I have some good stories from Argentina.