One last dance

So much to say; so little space. So many feelings; so few words. It´s time to conclude this blog, as well as this experience. For the last 24 hours I have been thinking what I should say in this post. Not a single idea has come to my head, and still nothing is coming. Should I write about how this experience is going to help me professionally? About how it helped me to destroy myths about the United States´ culture? About how is this going to change my future? Maybe I should write about all these topics. Maybe I could think about another subject and try to be more original. Whatever or not I decide for one or another, the truth is that I would like to close this blog with “one last dance”.

When arriving to Argentina most of my friends are probably going to ask me what I have learnt in this month and a half. Also, they will surely ask me if I have changed my ideas in relation to the United States´ foreign policy. Since it was the US government and North-American private companies who paid for this program, I would love to answer the second question by saying: “Yes, of course”. But that would be a lie. My ideology is still the same. I still criticize the foreign policy that this country has been implementing for the last 70 years. However, I did learn something related to this; something that it may be obvious for some people but not for all: societies are not the same as governments. We should differentiate between them. As humans, we have more similarities than differences despite being from Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan or the United States. This statement is a criticism to Argentinians because we tend to generalize cultures and people based on their government actions.

Another aspect of this trip to discuss is the courses I have been attending. ESL´s courses were useful for improving my English. Not only the professors were excellent, but being in a class full of international students helped me to train my listening in order to understand different accents. UT´s courses were very good as well. I attended the one called “The American President” and it was really interesting not only because it reinforced my knowledge about the history of the different United States´ presidents, but also because it allowed me seeing by myself how the university system works here.
 

Good friends, experiences and laughs. That would be my definition of this program. I met a lot of people not only from Argentina, but from different parts of the world. Now, there are some individuals that I would like to keep in my life. That´s something that we can only live in trips like this. The experiences I lived were also awesome. Many unique and special moments, like when we saw the Spurs game, went to the NASA or just walking around the city with these incredible human beings. Finally, but not less important, being laughing all the time. In each trip and corner. Or simply while eating in the dining room. In that sense I was lucky because this group of Argentinians is awesome and that was by just coincidence. In sum, I don´t believe that this experience is going to change me in a deeper sense, but I do know that many people I met here will continue being a part of my life. 

Jazz and Texans

     Last weekend I went to New Orleans with some friends. It was an incredible experience and I truly enjoyed it. There I could see a city that is very different from the others I had visited so far in the United States. It´s so bohemian and amazing that once you have been there it´s impossible not thinking about its differences with Austin, the city in which we have been living since we came to the United States. For that reason, in this post we are going to compare Austin with New Orleans.
    

     If someone asks me what is the first main difference between them I probably would say that while Austin is a city full of students, New Orleans is a touristy region. For the last decades, Austin has been growing exponentially.  Since the University of Texas has such a good level, students from all around the world come here. As a result, there is a diversity of enterprises related to the academic business and services that come for establishing their stores here. This is why the local economy is based on the amount of students that live in Austin. On the contrary, the New Orleans´ economy is based not on the services but in tourism. This is the result of the beautiful architecture and culture that you can find in this city. We should add to this that being the place in where several styles of music were created (e.g. the jazz and blues) attracts a huge amount of music lovers.

     Another difference that can be perceived is that while Texans cities (Houston, San Antonio and, specially, Austin) represent the stereotype of North-American cities, New Orleans looks like a totally different city. It has lesser cars, more houses and more places where you can go for a walk. Austin may be similar, but only if you walk near campus. In the rest of the city there are huge buildings, with lots of cars and with almost nobody walking on the street. There are also differences in the type of buildings you can find in each city. While New Orleans reflects a European style because of its background and history, Austin is more similar to the traditional North-American city; like the ones you can see in the movies.

     There is something that characterizes Austin and that I love: there is an amazing diversity of people living here. I met so many people from so many different parts of the world that before going to New Orleans I thought North-American cities were all the same. However, being in New Orleans, where the majority of the citizens is local or from different parts of the United States, help me realize that I should come back someday and explore more this country because you can find unique and different places. In New Orleans almost all the foreign people are tourists, while in Austin they live here since they are students.

     In sum, one of the best aspects of having come to the United States is that not only I visited Austin, but that I had the chance of visiting other near cities. They all differ from each other, either in their societies and culture. However, each one has its unique characteristics and is special. For that reason I encourage everybody to come to the United States and travel to different places, especially to Austin and New Orleans.

 Defense. Defense

     Being in a different culture and society gives you the chance for comparing some aspects of it with your own city or country. In this case, if there is something I would like to contrast it would be north-American´s and Argentinian´s fans. To be more specific, on Saturday we went to San Antonio and we had the opportunity of seeing the match between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers. It was an incredible experience. What is more, when I was in the game I started thinking about how different the Spurs´ supporters where. For this reason, I decided that I wanted to compare them with my favorite soccer team´s fans. So, this is going to be kind of a fight between the San Antonio Spurs and the Club Atlético River Plate.

     First of all, on Saturday I was shocked when I saw how the stadium staff used technology to interact with the fans. There were so many lights and electronic signs that encourage them to cheer and support their team. Also, I noticed that here is very normal to provide different types of entertainment besides the game itself. This is not common in Argentina. When I go to see a game between River and any other team, the supporters and I only go to see the match. There are not cheerleaders, shows, competitions or baby races.

     Secondly, I noticed that in the Spurs´ game the fans were kind of quiet. Moreover, there was always loud music from the stadium to help making noise. On the one hand, I think that in Argentina the supporters are crazier about their team: they are always shouting, cheering, singing, jumping and dancing. Also, there is a different in the amount of people: while in the Spurs´ game there were almost 18000 supporters, in a River match there may be 60000. On the other hand, Spurs´ fans are more respectful with the rivals and they are not violent. It was a pleasure to see the players warming up so close without any type of security barrier.

    Thirdly, there some differences between the elements that supporters can take with them in each case. While there were a lot of restrictions when entering to the AT&T Center (some of them look ridiculous for me), in Argentina fans can take almost all the elements they want except any type of weapon, flare or blunt object. For this reason, when there is a River´s game is very usual to see bass drums and flags. So the stadium becomes very noisy and coloring. It´s worth to mention that in many important matches people bring flames illegally with them. However, for these kind of actions the soccer club may get punished.

     In sum, there are plenty of differences between each team fans. Maybe in a Spurs´ game you can find more technological elements and lights, as well as different types of spectacles. Meanwhile, when you go to the Monumental (River´s stadium) things are very different. There is not a big show around the game itself. People are just there for singing, cheering and making noise without stopping. They are only there to enjoy the game. And I have to be honest, that is awesome. I think that being in the middle of 60000 souls seeing your favorite team playing is an incredible event that north-Americans should experience in some moment of their lives.  For that reason, I always try to encourage people to go to Buenos Aires and see a River´s game.

The emphatic humanity

    Humanity; global civilization; humankind; men; people. How should we call ourselves as a society? Are we a unique and homogenous community? The quick answer that most people would think is: no, we are not. However, if there is something that this experience is showing me is that this short answer is mistaken. Of course people usually think that because different societies have different cultures, political systems, moral codes and ethnicity it´s impossible to take humans as a single, unique and homogenous community. Though, we shouldn´t see only the surface of our differences (because let´s be honest, these differences clearly exist) but understand the feeling that link us all and make the global civilization truly homogenous. And that perception, the one that allows us to coexist, is called empathy.

    Ali. He is from Saudi Arabia. He doesn´t like the people who think that he is Muslim and live in Mecca only because of his nationality. To be honest I feel the same way. Who likes being stereotype? I´m from Argentina and I wouldn´t like if someone says to me “Oh, so you must be a catholic dude who live in Buenos Aires, right?” He is just a normal person who likes hanging out with friends. He probably is in love or is going to get in love someday with another person. If someone related to him dies he is going to cry or feel sad. Are Ali and I different? Of course we are not. We have empathy for each other because of our similarities. 

                                          

    Abdoul. Now we are going to talk about a cool guy that is from Guinea. Guinea? What is that? Well, for most people who think that Africa is like a black hole in the middle of the ocean I would like to say a few words. Don´t trust the maps. Africa is much bigger than the USA, Canada and Mexico combined, even though USA looks huger on maps. Furthermore, Abdoul is not African, he is Guinean. He doesn´t like when people ask him if he is African. A US citizen wouldn´t like if people refer to him as a North American. I get angry when people think that Argentina and Mexico are the same. Moreover, we are both students who want to improve their English to have the possibility of getting better jobs in our countries, which are totally different in almost every aspect. But those differences doesn´t matter because they are just material disparities. 

    Yuting. Hey guys, listen to this: China and Taiwan are not the same. She is from this little island, which has its own culture and history. When she told me that there are many people who think that, I got empathic for her. As I just said, Mexico and Argentina may have some similarities (the language for example) but our cultures, histories and societies are totally different. Canada and the USA are not the same. Neither are Norway and Sweden or Morocco and Algeria. 

    Brian. He loves beer, so I like him. His story is very interesting because he is from South Korea and he did the military service. Maybe his country is in conflict with his northern neighbor, but that doesn´t mean that he wanted to be in the army. Furthermore, he didn´t. He was afraid, as many of us would be in a similar situation. Probably I would be afraid. When we were talking I realized that we both felt the same about the war and being in the army. I was surprised because our countries are really different but we had the same ideas. South Korea has been in conflict for almost all its history; Argentina has been in peace for the last 30 years. However, our countries´ history didn´t matter in this case because there is something else in our minds that cannot be influenced by cultural socialization. And that something can be shared by empathy. 

    In sum, to coexist with other human beings we have to develop our empathic capability. We have to learn how to listen to others and try to see our similarities more than our differences. It´s something obvious that I´m going to have many differences with somebody from, let’s say, Afghanistan. We probably have opposite political ideas, different clothes and divergent ways of action. However, if we have the chance to interact we could realized that we both eat, feel, love and are going to die someday. So, there is a unique civilization. 

I do not own the first four images. Wikipedia.

        

 The blue dot

        Political ideology must be one of the most controversial topics of our era. The violence that characterized the political dispute in the last centuries now has change. People may still hate each other because of political reasons, but at least don´t kill each other (of course this depends where).

        Having said this, now let’s begin with the principal theme of this paper. What people think when they hear the word “Texas”?  Probably most Argentinians (and why not most north-American citizens) would answer something like: republican cowboys shooting people. Ok, that may be true (I will try to not piss off anybody just in case), but what I´m seeing in Austin is that here people tend to be pretty liberal. Almost all the locals which whom I have talked where against the policy that allows people to carry guns with them, judged very severely the United States´ foreign policy and, most importantly, didn´t like the Bush family (that’s sounds unbelievable, after all this politicians build their political career in Texas). Is Austin the black sheep of the state? Is this city the blue dot on the red map? For me it is. There may be several reasons for this, but in my opinion the most important one is that being a city with such an important university and having so many international students and others from different parts of the United States results in a society more open to new ideas and more prone to incorporate a liberal ideology. Many political theorists have remark that only when people deliberate there is a tendency to develop more moderate ideas, and in cities such as Austin where the deliberation is encourage (something inherent in universities) the foreign people brings new ways of seeing the reality. I haven´t still travel outside Austin, but I bet that the other cities of Texas are very different.

        

        The interesting aspect about this is that despite that the Texas´ capital seems to have this democrat spirit (at least for what I have seen so far), this state has been (and still is) famous because of its conservative policies and republican politicians. This may be explained by the ideology that people from other cities have; something that I should check in the next days. What is more surprising, in Austin there exists a socialist party (yes, that’s right, there is a left party in the capital of Texas; if Argentinian socialists see this their brains would blow up). I´m not making a normative argument; what I am saying is not that one ideology is worst that other or that the north-American society should be like this or that, but that having the chance to travel to another culture has the effect of destroying all the myths that exist about it. And this is the perfect example: someone can think that all Texans are republicans or that this is a conservative society, but the truth is that if you have the chance to come here you can observe that this is a very complex community, that there is not a unique ideology and that the diversity you can find here is pretty amazing.