Bienvenido a Eseisa!

After 20 hours of commuting in airports and in transit to the city, I arrived far below the equator in Buenos Aires. Without any bad luck, I am here: stress free and so ready for the next two months to begin right now!

I got in to Buenos Aires International Airport (Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini, or EZE) around 8:30 AM. It was an easy flight: one straight from LAX to Lima, Peru and after a short layover, I had about a five hour connecting flight to my final destination. It was kind of interesting flying with Lan, a South American Airlines. From the moment I checked in, even though I was still in LAX everything was in Spanish, from my ticket to all of the announcements and all the words spoken by the flight attendants.

Arriving was kind of surreal. We began descending upon a real rural area with huge wide open farm lands. This was a surprise and I was thrown off, as I was expecting to start seeing congestion of the worlds tenth largest city right away. One of the flight attendants announced “Senoras y senores, Bienvenido a Esaisa” (the airports nick name, pronounced “Ey-say-sah). Honestly, with the surprisingly rural landscape of “Eseisa,” for a few minutes I was worried I was in the wrong country! Until finally, she said “Welcome to Buenos Aires” in English. Within seconds, I was unable to control my perma-grin! I got off the plane and headed to customs. There were two lines, “turistas” y “Argentinos.” I was walking with a huge group of people who looked either American or European and was shocked to see all of them step into the “Argentinos” line!

Buenos Aires is so unique for South America. They call it the Paris of the South for the right reasons. One feels more lost in a European city than in an exotic Latin American country. The architecture looks like the eclectic collage of London’s various building styles. There’s definitely the Victorian look of Paris, with the big city bustle of New York’s Times Square and London’s Picadilly Circus, with neighborhoods and streets modeled closely to those of San Francisco’s separate and distinct neighborhoods! Some parts feel a little run down and underdeveloped, like stepping into rough or derelict Tijuana neighborhoods. When I got into the airport, I took the shuttle into the city, about 30 miles or so to the microcenter of downtown. It was hard to not notice how insane Porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) drive!! Swerving in and out of lanes, cutting off motorcyclists inches away from their tires, driving in the middle of lanes, running red lights and flying around round-abouts; I was holding on tight with a huge face breaking smile. The possibility of a car accident did not even distract me.

I checked into the Lime House Hostel right smack in el Microcentro, the busiest part of the city, where I met a couple of friends, Ryan and Beau. We caught up and laughed over travel stories; Ryan had just spent three days in the “discombobulated concrete jungle” of São Paulo, Brazil and Beau filled us in on Buenos Aires as he spent the whole day before wandering about on his own. We finished up and headed out, spending the day roaming around and familiarizing ourselves with Porteñian cafes, stores and the landscape itself. I learned how rad the pizza is here, how cheap beer is (and everything else, in fact!) and how fast paced this city really is. We experienced our first Subte (the subway) trip, our first bottle of Malbec from Mendoza, crazy taxi rides, drinking a lot of espresso, and little outdoor markets all over the city! It was cool to try and figure out the city and where to go before the rest of our study abroad group got here the following day. I think we found a few of the wrong places to go to, like a pretty lame club with a very young crowd. The best part was watching the entire club stop and roar with the most energy I have ever seen pour from a crowd after a goal was scored in the Argentina vs. Nigeria Olympic soccer game. Overall though, I can hardly wait to see our knowledge grow over two months and get to know all of the right spots, especially after we meet and live with our Argentine families.

I could not escape my constant wide-eyed enticement mode, with every step being an exciting leap into the immersion I have desired for so long. I was now surrounded by a foreign attitude, an exotic language (Spanish that is very, very different than the Mexican dialect I am used to hearing and practicing) and an enormous landscape full of wonder. I just kept reminding myself over and over: this is only day one.

Just another local printing press! Everything is so much more manual here than in the States!

So Here’s the Story. . .

For the past four years I have been living in a small coastal town on the west coast of the United States in San Diego, California. This quirky beach town, called Ocean Beach, has been my home base for adventure, travel and a new life. I've attended San Diego City College since I moved to O.B. in January of 2005 and it has been one of the greatest parts of this beautiful city. I never knew how much a community college could give to me, until this morning when I found myself on a plane to South America for four months and a copy of my acceptance letter to U. C. Berkeley in hand.

This all really started about two years ago. I traveled alone for my first trip overseas to Europe. At the same time, I declared Cultural Anthropology as my major. I knew South America was the next frontier as I made a pact to travel the world and find my place. I desired a trip like this to open my mind, explore my soul and expand my world view. It was still a surprise however to find myself committing to a study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Fall 2008 after I had already been accepted to transfer to the school of my dreams--the University of California, Berkeley. I had come this far from Ohio, community college and almost flunking out of high school. I knew that I wouldn't turn down a full ride to Berkeley, but I also knew that I needed more before transferring. Thankfully, I won the Gilman Scholarship to pay for the program! That’s when I had to get creative and start pulling strings to make it all happen.

After a lot of bureaucratic paper work, free money and my usual, relentless persistence, I checked two goals off the “before I turn 25” list: travel to an exotic country and get accepted to one of the best schools in the country. I made this decision to do both in late July, which means I had just over a month to move out of the country. I had to mentally get ready to leave, travel, come back, move right away 500 miles to Northern California from my home of four years and start an intense academic program for the next 2-3 years.

Berkeley

It would probably be best to be prepared and organized as much as possible in such a situation. But, that’s just not me. My last week was sort of a stumble out of the United States and a slingshot abroad, immersing (quite literally) myself in an adventure of the unknown and the impulsive decision I had made. For the last 3 weeks, I was in a perpetual to-do list mode. While I really wanted to spend my time saying adios to San Diego and to so many close friends, I had to make sure I was prepared to take full advantage of this experience. Afterall, not all departures can be the perfect romance you hope them to be. Memories did not die because I failed to validate them with proper good bye rituals. Instead they were sealed in time.

An added caveat: my mother and younger brother decided to make guest appearances the last few days in San Diego, which was also their first time visiting since I moved there. It added a little stress, but by the end if it weren’t for them I would have not been able to do the things I love about San Diego. I got a lot of laughs with them. My mom and I realized how different our taste buds are, but how similar our persistent attitudes are; I taught my brother invaluable lessons about wearing sunscreen in Southern California and how to avoid hitting on convincing transvestites. They got to see me under high adult stress and I got to see their discomfort in the setting of a different sub-culture as they visited their first gay club and gothic circus. Let's just say that we are we closer than ever! I am pretty sure they think I am a Californian kook, but eh, that is something I embrace!

Critical Mass, San Diego

It was fulfilling to also show how hard I have worked in San Diego to get to where I am. They saw me in my element as I coordinated travels, my Berkeley transfer and still worked a full-time job up until the end. I felt proud of myself--my independent lifestyle, my great job as a wine bar manager, how I managed to exceed in my goals and my desire to do something good in this world. I was most excited because I know it is them, my family, that has always fueled the fire to keep going! By the end, it was sort of perfect closure to the San Diego story. It all came full circle.

Black's Beach, San Diego

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect of Buenos Aires, Argentina or South America. I have never traveled abroad for so long, learned another language or been to countries so different from my own. Inherently, I am adaptable, passionate to learn and motivated to make change in the world. I do know that I will be writing about my experience, learning about Argentine politics, understanding contemporary Latin America and how relevant Anthropology can be in international development. This trip will surely challenge my views on the world, force me to explore my boundaries of comfort and supply me with knowledge and experience that I could never learn in a classroom. My heart is open and I am determined to make the most of this trip. My main goal will be to become fluent in Spanish. After spending so much time around border politics with Mexico in San Diego, it is time that I make the effort to live in someone else's country, learn their language and go by their customs.

Goodbye Apartment - Ocean Front Blvd.

Now here I am, headed far south of the equator, searching for some more kooky stories and souvenirs to freak my family out. Good bye San Diego and your perfect lifestyle. I am ready for a real adventure!