Argentina: A New Global Opportunity
Overall, there are many reasons why I would be excited to accept the opportunity to study abroad in Argentina over this Summer. The first main reason for this excitement has to do with the fact of my hopes to receive a Spanish double major. Over my past high school career and my present career in college, I have always pushed towards the hope of being able to receive a major in Spanish in addition to my intended major in history. Despite this excitement, there has always been one main issue that has come up in the hopes of pursuing this goal. This obstacle has always been that it has seemed arduous or even impossible to fit in the necessary classes in the hopes of pursuing this major. For this reason, the opportunity for a Summer Study abroad in regards to Spanish has always interested me, as this would give me the opportunity to be able to pursue my double major by being able to specifically focus in on courses that would further the reaching of this goal.
I would be lying if I exclusively said that the only reason I am pursuing this study abroad opportunity is to receive my major double major in Spanish. In fact, there is a much larger overarching goal that I have in pursuing this study abroad opportunity. This larger goal is to fully immerse myself in the Spanish language and culture that I have learned about throughout high school and college. Through my advanced level in Spanish, my classes that I hope to take over the Summer, and because of the fact that I will be studying in Buenos Aires, one of the main Spanish cultural centers in the South American world, I believe that this experience will help me gain invaluable knowledge on the subjects of Spanish that I will continue to study in college. Through this experience, I also believe that this will give me extremely practical experience in dealing with the U.S. society in the future, as through the expanding Latino/Latina community in the United States, I believe that this study abroad will help me build a stronger cultural understanding of the United States as a whole.
Despite this excitement, though, I still hold significant concerns about this trip. The main reason that I am slightly fearful about this study abroad is because of the fact that I have never flown outside of the country on my own before. Although I have travelled out of the country multiple times with family or friends, the idea of travelling alone outside of the U.S.A has always made me fearful, as the idea of being stuck in a foreign country with little understanding of how to deal with that culture or the people who make that culture has always brought on deep concern. Over the past year, this concern has further deepened, as through the continued deviation of U.S. policies from the opinions of other countries around the world, I fear that this will make it all the more difficult in being able to fit into this foreign culture.Through this stark contrast, though, I believe that this will allow me to complete many interactions and activities that will allow me to further my goals. Some of these main goals include:
1. Being able to carry on a conservation about complicated issues between myself and citizens of the country I intend to travel to.
I'm going to admit, I'm not the most caught up person in U.S. or world politics. Despite this fact, though, I believe that because of my moderate knowledge of world events in addition to my advanced level of Spanish, I believe that I will be able to carry on slight conversation with locals about general political events in the United States and what their views on these subjects are. Through this, I believe that this will allow me to get a greater understanding about what the view of the U.S. as a whole is for many foreign individuals, and I believe that through, these conversations, I will be able to create a better image of the United States if a positive image was not already evident.
2.Being able to see the effects of global culture in the South American world and being able to see how these countries have developed individual cultures despite the present situation. https://cdn4.goabroad.com/images/a/top/3c50b0f4b6cf60ac8b1c5ed39f78aa3a9f26f49e-2014.jpg
Through the past hundreds of years, countries in regions such as South America have constantly been exposed to outside cultures, whether it be from Spanish Colonists in the 15th and 16th centuries or with the striking expansion of globalization brought on by technological advancement in the past decade. Through this study abroad, I believe that I will be able to gain a greater global awareness of how imperialism and technological change has vastly affected the world outside the United States, and I believe that this will allow me to have a more balanced global perspective. http://www.bridgeargentina.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Puerto-Madero-slide.jpg
3. Being able to experience the local Argentinean cuisine.
Over the past couple of years, one of my favorite hobbies has always been cooking and experiencing new cuisines. Although I realize that on this study abroad trip I will most likely be unable to fully get involved in the cooking process in Argentina, I believe that this trip will allow me to fully experience the complex culinary culture of a country which I have heard much about but have never fully experienced for myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment