College Life – Week One: Culture Shock Strikes Again

For those of you who’ve been following my blog, enrolling at the public university in Córdoba has been a challenge. Luckily, I got in late last year and officially enrolled for the 2014 school year. The first order of business as a student was a get-together organized by the Psychology Department at the National University of Córdoba (UNC) on Friday, January 31st.

By now, most of you know that I suffer from social anxiety, which makes me act really f*cking awkward during social gatherings. In the past, it got so bad that I didn’t even want to leave the house. Fortunately, I’ve been able to manage it with anti-anxiety medication and the free therapy I’ve received at the public hospital here in Cordoba City.

Even with the meds, I knew I’d feel anxious on my first day of college. Still, I decided to go to the get-together to meet some of my peers. I was hoping to make a friend or two so that when classes started, I’d recognize a few friendly faces. The problem was, it didn’t turn out the way I expected.

For starters, everyone was between the ages of 16 and 23. That alone made it difficult to relate to anyone, since I’m 36 and, honestly, an old soul. Teenagers and young adults in Argentina tend to come across as pretty innocent. By innocent, I don’t mean they’re not prone to excessive drinking, drug use, or even crime in some cases. I mean they’re at that stage in life where they’re still a bit naïve, where the world feels like “Neverland,” with little to no worries.

Oh, how I envy the blindness of youth.

Another factor that made it difficult to connect with my peers was that they were all Argentine. They grew up here and had experiences I simply don’t understand because I wasn’t raised in this country. Trying to share my own experiences felt almost pointless. At best, I got blank stares, and at one point, a smart-aleck remark.

Then there was the slang. The way young adults speak here made it hard for me to follow conversations. Like any culture, Argentines have their own jokes, stories, and creative curse words that I’m not familiar with. Most of the time, I felt completely out of the loop.

The final obstacle I ran into was the mentality of some of the students, and later, even some of the professors. I’ll give you an example. We’re all part of a Facebook group for the 2014 psychology students. Apparently, one student posted a photo of himself relaxing by a pool, barefoot. At the get-together, another student brought it up and started calling him a son-of-a-b*tch for showing off that he has a pool while everyone else is melting in this infernal heat. And no, he wasn’t joking.

From what I’ve seen, a lot of people here seem to be pretty envious of others who have more than they do. To be fair, we’re all a little prone to envy. Hell, I’ve had my moments too. But some of these Argentines seem to take it to another level.

By the time the get-together ended, everyone decided to walk to a nearby restaurant close to campus. I’ll admit, I fully intended to go with them. I even walked behind the group for about ten minutes. Then it hit me that I was the only one no one was talking to. I was alone. Same as always. F*ck. I couldn’t imagine things getting any less awkward once we got to the restaurant, so I turned around and headed for the bus stop. And trust me, no one even looked back long enough to notice I was gone.

I wonder if this is how a ghost feels.

Then came Monday, February 3rd, the first official day of the university’s school year, and it was complete chaos.

There were so many students trying to get into the class that they had to relocate everyone to a larger classroom.

Once we were all settled, a professor walked onto the stage and explained what we could expect from the psychology program. Then a group of students from the CEP, which is basically a student-run activities and advisory group, came by to talk about their experiences at the university. Some of them also started pushing their political agendas, which I’ll get into more in a moment.

Classes at the university are divided into two categories: práctico and teórico. Don’t worry, I’ll explain the difference.

Práctico classes are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and take place in a typical classroom setting with about 30 to 35 students. The professor goes over the textbook material and assigns homework and other tasks. During these classes, we’re placed into groups of four or five to encourage interaction. Blah. I hate that so much.

Attendance for Práctico classes is mandatory. Unfortunately, my first one didn’t start until Wednesday, February 5th.

On Tuesday, February 4th, we went to an auditorium known as “El Rectorado.” This is where we attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are called “Teórico” classes, which basically means they’re lectures.

In these sessions, you just listen to the professor discuss the subject for about two hours and then head home. Attendance isn’t mandatory for Teórico classes, but it’s strongly encouraged since we only get about two and a half weeks before the first midterm exam, known as a “Parcial.”

Teóricos tend to get packed with students, and space is already limited, so we’re encouraged to arrive at the auditorium about an hour before the doors even open. Otherwise you're royally screwed.

The textbook itself is over 400 pages long and covers the politics behind the development of Argentina’s free public higher education system, as well as the history of psychology. I have to admit, even with study groups, I’m finding it really difficult to understand the material.

The truth is, I’ve never really read books in Spanish. I never had to. If you came to my house, every single book and magazine I own would be in English. Even though I can speak Spanish well enough, my reading and writing skills are still pretty basic, and that’s about it.

Trying to read and understand a textbook written in Castilian Spanish has been a major brain teaser. As I worked through it, word for word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, it felt like my mind was sinking into quicksand.

By Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I pretty much had a clear idea of what to expect for the next five years. During the Teórico classes, both the professor and guest lecturers talked about the history and political struggles that shaped the National University of Córdoba. But they also repeatedly criticized how the current economic and political crisis in Argentina is the result of the current president’s regime.

Personally, I hate politics. Still, a lot of the points they made go against everything I believe in. For example, they seem determined to prevent government regulations and sanctions from affecting the university. They encourage students to form these university-style governing bodies where everyone votes. Representatives even come into class at the beginning of lectures to try to sway us to their cause.

This isn’t like student council back in middle school, high school, or college in the States, where it was about organizing a pep rally or a bake sale for a good cause. Here, it feels much more intense. One student representative at UNC openly attacked the Argentine president’s handling of the economy, claiming she cares more about large corporations than small businesses or the Argentine people. She also went after international companies like Chevron and Monsanto. To be fair, Monsanto has been accused of environmental contamination in certain regions, and that part I do understand.

Some of these views seem to stem from the xenophobia that exists in Argentina, along with what I see as an unfounded fear of colonization by countries like the U.K. or the U.S.

I personally support policies that allow large corporations to succeed, because their growth can create jobs and help industrialize the country further. I’m also a strong proponent of international companies operating in Argentina, since they bring jobs, money, and global exposure. But that’s not a perspective I see shared very often here.

And honestly, the entire world is dealing with economic problems right now, including the U.S. It feels short-sighted for Argentines to assume that Argentina’s situation exists in a vacuum or is solely the result of one administration.

This is where I start to feel like the odd one out, because I just don’t see things the way my peers do. There’s free healthcare, free higher education, access to food, and relative peace and quiet most of the time. There are also no mandatory national taxes, only provincial and municipal ones, which are manageable with a steady job. Not many countries can offer all of that.

To me, constant agitation and calls for insurgency just create more problems. But the university environment seems to encourage that kind of mindset, when it should be focusing on education.

I’ve been in Argentina for almost two years now, and I thought I had gotten past the culture shock. But after my first week as a psychology student, it feels like I’m going through it all over again.

I realize that my point of view may offend some Argentines, and that’s not my intention. I’m simply sharing my personal experience as an expat, which is what this blog has always been about. At the end of the day, this is just one perspective, shaped by my own background, experiences, and struggles adjusting to what is obviously a completely different world.