Julie Nagler – Argentina & Uruguay – A week of “firsts”
It’s been an exciting past few days in Argentina packed with personal firsts! For starters, this week, I tried my first ever empanada. It’s been surprisingly challenging finding vegetarian empanadas here as they are almost always filled with “jamón y queso” or some other meat and cheese combo. I have grown accustomed to the emotional roller coaster of seeing steaming empanadas through a window, hoping and praying that some of them are filled with just “queso”, and then being immediately shut down. You can imagine my excitement when I finally found a local place, Tostado, that fulfills my needs.The verdict? They’re amazing. It’s hard to not like something that is essentially just baked dough with melted cheese, but I still found it to be an experience that was noteworthy enough to be documented.
Another first for me this week was finding and shopping in an affordable vintage clothing shop here. The clothing stores here are high in quantity but higher in price, which is why I don’t understand how almost every porteño I see is so fashionable. Sorry to say, but they definitely have Boston beat on the style meter. In fact, I’ve yet to see a single Red Sox hat or baggy Bruins sweatshirt. Luckily, this store, called Juan Perez, is scattered all over the city and is now my new haven when it comes to affordable shopping.
My last “first” this week trying mate, an herbal tea beverage that is a staple of Argentinian culture. I went to meet with a friend of my professor who is a psychologist to talk to her about my independent study which focuses on the psychology and therapy in Argentina. The culture of psychology here is fascinating; Therapy is completely normalized by society and there is no stigma associated with seeking treatment. In fact, many people even create their work schedules around their therapy appointments and psychoanalysis is a commonly discussed topic in the daily life of a porteño. As a psychology major, I was excited to have the opportunity to delve further into this topic and she offered a lot of great insight. She also insisted that I try the beverage and even though I knew I most likely wouldn’t like it due to its infamously bitter taste, I complied. To my surprise, though, it was much less detestable than I had anticipated and I liked the uniqueness of the purely herbal taste.
Studying abroad is all about trying new things, immersing yourself in an unfamiliar culture, and having a good amount of “firsts”. I am finding that I am doing this every day in Argentina, and I’m excited to see what other things that I will be able to check off my bucket list in the next few weeks.