Reflections from 2010 RFK Scholarship Recipients

Elizabeth from Vermont

I would like to thank you for allowing me to take an eye-opening trip to Argentina this summer. I gained many things from the experience. One was an increased ability to understand Spanish, especially when spoken with the strong Argentine accent. Perhaps more important, however, was what I learned about Argentina’s culture and people. When I first arrived in my host city of Paraná, I was shocked by how important what I consider to be American culture is to Argentina. Argentines watched Law and Order (with Spanish subtitles, of course), eagerly attended Eclipse and Shrek 4 (also subtitled), knew more about Lady Gaga and other pop artists than I did, shopped at Wal-Mart, and considered a local Howard Johnson’s the best hotel in the province. I thought briefly that I had unwittingly come to America south of the equator.

I soon realized, however, that I was wrong. The first hint of this came soon after I arrived, when Argentina beat Mexico in the World Cup. I went with my host family to the central park in Paraná after the game, where I was surprised to find something that soccer never elicits in the United States. Hundreds of people, all dressed in blue and white, jumped up and down close together, cars sporting Argentine flags honked in the streets, and a few daring souls climbed statues and trees with more flags. Later, my host mother attempted an explanation of the enthusiasm. According to her, many aspects of Argentina are getting worse; she listed a wildly unpopular president and declining infrastructure as examples. Soccer sometimes seems like the only part of Argentina that is truly world class: Argentina’s team boasted, among other talent, Lionel Messi, widely considered the best soccer player in the world. Soccer, it seemed, was Argentina’s way of showing that it was still a country that could succeed. In its next game, Argentina lost to Germany by the embarrassing score of 4-0, and the entire country plunged into depression. One other American in my program reported that a member of her host family slammed the door to his room and stayed there for the rest of the day after the game was over.

Other cultural differences soon came to light. While eating ice cream with my host sister and her friends in the park, I was disturbed to find that they left their ice cream containers wherever they finished them, often on a bench or the top of a wall. Poverty was much more present than in the United States; horse carts owned by those who could not afford cars frequently passed in the streets. I doubted that such people benefited from social justice. Seat belt use was also strictly optional. The program that I came with, AFS, told us that such cultural traits were not better or worse, but merely different, and I tried to adopt this attitude. It was difficult sometimes, though.

Luckily, the warmth and openness of the Argentine people made these difficulties easy to bear. Argentines greet everyone with a kiss, and their kindness continues from there. Never have I met people so eager to learn about me and my culture, and to make sure that I was having fun. I would like to thank you once again for making these experiences possible. They gave me a view of the world I’d never had before.