During 2022 I traveled abroad to Cordoba, Argentina as part of a program designed specifically for those studying Spanish and international health and or business. During the more than 5 months I was in the country I was lucky enough to stay with a wonderful host family, attend classes with other students from around the world, and gain experience through an internship with a local business.

The 5 months in Argentina allowed me to experience a whole new culture like never before. While traveling more than 10 hours away from home to attend college gave me an idea of culture shock, I had no idea until I changed continents. In everything from the time dinner was served to what color they considered unlucky, things were so different then I had known, yet often still so similar. I was able to travel within Argentina and see what a truly beautiful country it is. From the "14 Colores" mountains in JuJuy, to the bustling avenues of Buenos Aires, all the way to the lush vineyards of Mendoza, the entire country is truly picturesque.

This amazing experience reinforced my desire to pursue a career in an international field, interacting with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds in order to find solutions. Through my internship I was also able to gain first person experience working in the Latin American Business world. I spent my internship advising and consulting a small tech startup; I investigated competition and potential markets, designed monetization strategies, and even created Pitch Decks for two of their applications.

Overall the most impactful aspect of my time abroad was undoubtedly my living with a host family. This simple factor forced me to use Spanish all day, not just because I had a personal interest, but because my sanity and at times safety depended upon it. I learned more Spanish in those 5 months than the previous 8 years of passionate study combined. I could not be more grateful to everyone I met in Argentina who taught me so much about a wonderful culture and people. I proudly have brought some Argentinian culture back with me, and feel the same pride and joy when i am able to use my Spanish to interact with another in their native language.

While I not only gained massive amounts of knowledge within the Spanish language it came hand in hand with the learning of an entirely new culture. It seemed that the moment I had finally become comfortable with one tradition, ritual, or aspect of their culture I would almost immediately discover some new difference I would then have to adjust to. Undoubtedly one of the hardest cultural differences is the manner in which Argentinians greet each other, one kiss on the cheek in a "European" style. This would prove difficult for me to adjust too throughout my entire stay. In Argentina this greeting is not solely reserved for the well acquainted; rather it is commonly used when first meeting anyone who somehow "knows" you. This means anytime a family friend would visit our house, or anytime I would see local friends at school, there would be a hug and kiss on the cheek. My struggle with this ritual stems back to my own culture and our aversion to a lot of physical displays of affection. What I learned that I truly find vital is that there is no objectivity to a vast majority of cultural differences.

Even a cultural difference like the siesta, a mid day society wide "break time", has no objective value; it is neither entirely good or bad, it is just different. I find the siesta a perfect example of this phenomenon of cultural differences because to many on the outside the siesta seems to be a clear "wrong". That is to say that the siesta is viewed at times by outsiders to be a sign of laziness or a waste of the day, in fact nothing further could be true. While I have only personal experience to cite, I can confidently say that the siesta is used not to avoid work but rather to maximize it. Sure many restaurants and businesses will close for hours in the middle of the day, but when they open back up they stay upon longer. In reality the siesta allows Argentinians and other Hispanic cultures to get much more hours out of every day with most families eating dinner at 9-10pm.