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<\/a><\/p>\nRecoleta Cultural Center.<\/p>\n
Although many are finishing up their semester abroad, I am barely halfway through mine. My identity as a first-generation, low income, Mexican-American student remains and has strengthened.\u00a0I have been constantly defending my identity with those who look down on Latin Americans who apparently do not live up to the Argentine expectations. I’ve been ridiculed by professors and by other\u00a0AMERICAN students for my Mexican Spanish because according to them it is ‘wrong’. One thing that this study abroad experience has failed to do is educate students on the different types of Spanish that are spoken all over Latin America. Argentine Spanish\/Castellano does not reflect Spanish as a whole, avocados\u00a0can be aguacates or paltas\u00a0there is no one correct one. Just because it’s palta here does not mean its palta\u00a0in other places. Yesterday at a Tango event someone introduced me to an American student from Dartmouth\u00a0as Mexican, the first thing he said to me was that the Argentine accent is better than the Mexican accent. Of course, I was offended, these exchange students are taught that anything Argentine is better and superior. When explaining the collective country people focus on European immigration rather than the Argentian history itself. I am finding myself\u00a0at a constant battle protecting my identity here as well as my values. I unlike many of the exchange students did not come to Argentina to constantly get drunk at parks, or at tango shows or even at an immigration checkpoint. Because of my identity and values, it has been very hard to connect with other students. I am hoping to go on more excursions with other international\u00a0students and not with ISA\u00a0due to this reason. It’s been a long 3 months thus far…<\/p>\n