Majoring in Psychology at the National University of Cordoba

It's taken 14 months, a lot of traveling, tons of paperwork, major headaches, and over 15,000 Argentine pesos, but on December 2nd, 2013, I was finally able to officially enroll as a psychology student at the "Universidad Nacional De Cordoba (UNC)". 

The first thing I had to do was buy my "Libreta de Estudiante", which is basically a student's personal grade book. It also serves as a student passport of sorts at the university. It only cost me 20 pesos, which is super cheap. 

The line to buy the "Libreta De Estudiante"

I thought the line to get my "Libreta" was long, but it turns out that the line at the psychology building was longer! There must have been hundreds of students waiting in line, and we were all waiting for an assigned registration number that they would begin calling at 11:15 a.m. 

The line to register at the psychology building

The requirements I had to represent were: 

1. A copy of the D.N.I. or passport 
2. 2 photos (the size of those used on passports) 
3. A printout of the online application completely filled out 
4. Libreta De Estudiante 
5. High School Diploma and Transcripts  

After a good 40 minutes, I was called to the front of the class to turn in my paperwork. I had to present copies of my high school diploma and transcripts with the apostilles, notarization, translation, legalization, and finally the validation from the Ministry of Education, which I got from Buenos Aires a month ago. There was some confusion at first because they didn't know how to handle the fact that all of my education was done in the United States, but it didn't take too long to get everything cleared up. 

The classroom where we registered

They stamped my "Libreta De Estudiante" and told me that I was done. Now I have to wait until December 28th to receive my schedule for the "cursillo" online. A "cursillo" is like a prerequisite course that all students must take before beginning their first year in the career they've chosen. I'm told that the "cursillo" will deal with two topics, the history of the university, and the psychology career, which I've picked. The "cursillo" semester begins in February 2014 and will last about 7 weeks, at which time I'll have to pass a final exam, which they call a "parcial", in order to begin with year one of my psychology career. 

My "Libreta De Estudiante"

If all goes well, I can graduate in 5 years with a "Licenciatura en Psicologia", which is the equivalent of a Masters in Psychology back in the States. People can practice as therapists with this degree in Cordoba, Argentina, which isn't something you can really do with a Masters degree back in the U.S.

After everything I've gone through to get this far, I finally feel like I've accomplished something... and I'm happy. 

Now all I have to worry about is getting the house ready for the holidays!