EPTIn general, I lived a very different life in Buenos Aires. I didn't live in a wealthy area, in a two parent household (or a dorm with friends), with multiple people in the house at all times, or for that matter people that spoke my native language. I lived with an incredible lady who was probably about 60 something who spoke only Rioplatense Spanish and it was literally just us in the house. This lady ended up being one of the most incredible ladies I have ever met. Sra. Ana taught me more than any class ever has in Spanish, and more than most people have on how to live life. She was the best host mom any could ever have, and she treated me like a son and not some rando Americano.
My spanish now is significantly better than before. I need more time to become fluent in it, but I'm significantly happier with my abilities now, and much more sure of myself as a person. I would definitely recommend going to Buenos Aires to anyone who wants to travel to Latin America, it is so much more than "The Paris of Latin America." Though I still say that I dislike Vos and Voseo, if only because while they make more sense than the actual Tù form in Spanish, getting over that hump really made my life hard haha. The other portion of this is that now my Spanish is a bit ugly because I lived in a poor area of Buenos Aires. I didn't live in the Villas (Favelas of Buenos Aires), but I lived in one of the worst areas of the city in Barrio Once. So now my Spanish sounds like your average gringo barrio boy I guess.
The biggest change that occurred there was not my Spanish though. I encountered entirely new philosophies. Growing up in the South in the States, there is a huge emphasis on being the best, on winning, but that's not just in the South, that's everywhere in the States really. In Bs. As., la Capital Federal, this philosophy was really the minority. A lot of it was just (in the words of the great Marc Anthony) Vivir Mi Vida. The emphasis was on being happy and not winning, it was on Disfruta Muchisimo rather than Gana Muchisimo. It was less about #baylife and more about not worrying about success as the final destination. The final destination is happiness, and success is just a mindset on the way to happiness. But I find it more true than not true, there is no real #1 in life, because life isn't a game, life is just life.
Along with this change in life philosophy, I also adopted, unfortunately for me I guess, some of the stuff I saw guys doing down there. In comparison, guys in the states are basically, when it comes to approaching girls, really (REALLY) much nicer. I guess maybe its a thing about me now that I had a huge confidence boost and paradigm shift, but I adopted some of the more aggressive styles of talking to girls. I guess it depends on the girl, but the girls that came with me on the trip felt the same way, they were super-super-aggressive. Cat calling everywhere, even when the husband was near by or the lady was with a child, a lot of the guys were just douchebags. I'm not at that level, but I definitely adopted some of this to my general life style, I don't sit back and wait, I go after what I want. Previously I had this for everything but girls, but now girls are included too I guess.
The last thing I wanted to put in here was about my disappointments during the trip. My first disappointment was in the Jewish community of Bs. As. The only reason I lived in a really insecure, poor area was because my parents thought it would be good if I were near a synagogue despite myself being in the least religious epoch of my life; this isn't a bad thought, it's a good idea to experience parts of life in other areas of the world and see what they do differently. Unfortunately I got rejected everywhere because I didn't "look Jewish enough," even at synagogues meant for people traveling by like Chabad (Jabad over there). The second disappointment was how horribly people who were above 50 treated me only because I'm American. They literally just assumed everything about me, and it didn't matter how good my Spanish was, it just didn't. I was fucked from the minute I said I was American. I ended up just giving up and saying I was from Vancouver, Canada, which they not only didn't know of, they then no longer hated me.
I don't wanna end on a bad note though. I had more than an incredible time though. I learned about Güiraldes, Sarmiento, Cortozar, Borges, Rock Nacional, and so much more. I learned quickly, thought on my feet, and got myself out of unfortunate positions despite being in a country where I spoke the language as my third language. I walked through a very dangerous area of the city every night for a month, seeing things like people getting beat up on the side of the road and did not lose my cool. I escaped someone trying to rob me on the side of the road by thinking quick. I even walked into a prostibulo (prostitution ring) that was being fronted by a coffee bar and immediately got myself and a friend out because I instinctively knew something was wrong. In general I grew immensely as a person and have come to find that one of my biggest advantages is learning fast and thinking fast.
Thanks for reading guys. I'm going to try to go to Colombia next, and then Spain for my study a broads. I plan on studying abroad as much as I can. This experience was incredible.
