Argentina: The Vocation Nation

With only four weeks or so left in the semester (who’s counting, really?), it’s crazy for me to think that this is my last full semester before I go to Argentina. That’s right! Only 3 short months stand between this gringo and his first time in a Spanish-speaking country! 

I’m not just excited about leaving for Argentina because it means that there IS hope that the work of this semester will finally be over….but seriously, how exciting is THAT?!... what I’m REALLY excited about is getting to experience something in Argentina that will not only help me learn, but will also help me with, dare I say, my vocation.

Having worked at a summer camp in North Carolina for the past few summers, I’ve learned a few things:

#1

Kids don’t know how to turn the water off when they clog a toilet and flush it anyways.

#2

I haven’t outgrown being afraid of spiders.

#3

I’m a child (in general, not related to #1)

#4 and probably the most important (other than the spiders, of course):

Working with kids, Hispanic kids in particular, is something that I want to do for the rest of my life.

Not that a connection needs to be made between this and how it relates to Argentina, but I’m going to make one anyways, so sit tight.

One of the things that I’m really excited about when I think of going to Argentina is the fact that I’ll be able to volunteer at a few non-profit organizations that work with kids. This will help me in a few ways.

First, I think working at an organization outside of the United States will help me see a new way of how to manage an organization. I’ve worked at a few organizations in the United States, and it will be interesting to me to see the differences between business here and business there; it’s definitely something I can learn from.

Next, it’ll help my spanish… ¿Me entiendes?

Finally, volunteering at an organization will help me understand how difficult it will be to reach  my ultimate goal of working at a non-profit after I graduate. The volunteer setting may not offer every aspect, but it will certainly expose me to the style business down there and help me determine whether or not I would fit well in that type of environment. 

I know it's hard to top ALL of that, but to top all of that, it also gives me experience. I can't think of a better way to prepare for a vocation working with Hispanic kids than going to Argentina and volunteering at a non-profit that helps kids. The experience itself is going to be a skill that's invaluable that will help me in ways that I can't even imagine yet.

Overall, I’m able to get one thing out of what I just talked about: I get to go LIVE in Argentina and it’s going to PREPARE me for my vocation.

Alright, so maybe those are two things, but you get what I mean.