Estudiantes y Extranjeros

I would like to devote this blog post to a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately: being a foreigner. The other day, when we were at our weekly group meeting, my program director was talking about how, in a couple days, it will be May and we will be entering the final phase of our program (so scary!). She asked us to begin to reflect on this experience as approach that final phase and think about our time here thus far and how we want to end our time in Argentina.

As I thought about the past couple months I've spent in Argentina, I began to think about this concept of being a foreigner. My Spanish has improved. My abilities to navigate the city, ask a stranger for directions, walk home alone at night (something I don't even like to do sometimes at Kenyon), strike up conversation with people, take risks in another language and live in a new country have all improved. However, I, as well as everyone else on my program, will always, from the second we walk up to someone, be pinned as a foreigner. We bring with us, for better or for worse, the customs and culture of the United States as well as our upbringing and our distant and often, un-Argentine personalities.

This is an interesting concept. Foreigner. What exactly makes someone a foreigner and how long does it take to no longer be a foreigner? Do we ever adopt another part of a country during the process? Does that add to our sense of culture or change it?

Last week, we had some American professors observing our program and the SIT program in Arica, Chile. One of the professors came in and from the first day was arguing that we can never absorb elements of Argentine culture, making it hard for us to fairly judge and make sense of what we are seeing in the healthcare system and the culture around us. I disagree. Yes, she is right in some sense. I may and will forever and always be American.

However, I do not think over the past few months that I have remained unchanged or unable to absorb elements of another culture. In other words, I do not think I'll return to America the exact same person I was before. When I eat at midnight with my host family, I'm absorbing culture. When I ride the colectivo and don't flinch or get nervous anymore, I'm absorbing culture. When I help patients coming into the emergency room, I'm absorbing culture. When I walk down the street and say hi to my neighbors (and they understand me!) and get a coffee at the cafe on my block, I'm absorbing culture. Yes, I am American, but have I become a slightly more Argentine over the past couple months? I would like to think so.