Conocer "Yo"

Problem: Who am I??

Solution: All I know is who I am not. And that is Oprah.

Seriously, why do people travel? Sometimes I get the feeling that the only thing that "international travelers" (from this point we will call them ex-pats, in honor of Brian BK Kelly) want is to be able to brag to their friends/non-friends about all the sweet places they have been. At the very least, this bragging is a fall-back when the ex-pats feel insecure about arriving in a new place. For instance, there is this girl in my program, who I am sure is very nice. But she is eerily similar to Kristen Wiig's Penelope character on SNL. (If you don't know what I am talking about, watch: http://www.hulu.com/watch/11931/saturday-night-live-penelope--traffic-school). Upon introducing herself, she will inevitably say how much she has traveled, as if this in itself was a point. At orientation, we are going around the room, and as an icebreaker, saying why we chose to come to Argentina. She says, "Welll....I've already been to Europe countless times, and once or twice to Africa, and some latin American countries so......I guess I was just looking fora new place to visit, so..... I guess that's why I am here."

My reaction in my head: Shut up, Lady.

She is far from unique. On Sunday, a 20 year old kid from Montreal was under the impression that he would be staying at our apartment, but was told the wrong information. He had just spent 15 hrs. on a plane and the only thing he wanted was a bed, and now he was being told that it would be a while before they figured out where he was supposed to be staying. He says to me, in a French-Canadien Accent: "I have been to many places, I am a good traveler. I am used to this."

Boy oh Boy was it annoying. (Also he had just told me that he thought I would be wearing a Cowboy hat b/c I was from Texas. People---they are the worst!)

It struck me that both these people were most likely insecure about being in a brand new situation where they didn't have as much control as they would like. Their go-to thought was that, since they have been to many places in the world, they are somehow superior and this superiority will sustain them. After all, their passports have a bunch of stamps; thus, they know more than you. They are the bee's knees!

This is an annoying, but maybe a necessary mental process of the ex-pat. Traveling abroad gives confidence, and confidence is good. It is necessary in maintaining a bit of sanity. But it is NOT good when it takes the place of the ex-pat's sense of self. Yes, I can look back on all my traveling experiences, and these give me confidence. But so does when I learned to ride a bike or won the dance competition at that Jewish summer camp in the Catskill Mountains. My point is that going abroad shouldn't be one more thing to brag about, and for some reason I have noticed that impulse a lot with some of the people I am travelng with. It is obnoxious.

I just finished reading "Travels," a non-fiction book by Michael Crichton. He basically tells the story of how he started going on all these ridiculous adventures after he became a famous writer. At the end of the book, he writes, "I hadn't traveled with the intention of learning about anything except myself. And the real point of all this travel was not what I had come to believe or disbelieve about the wider world, but what I had learned about myself."

This stuck with me because I am struggling with why exactly I am in Argentina. Objectively Argentina sounds awesome. It's a different country, for Jimminy Crickets. They speak Spanish here. It looks good on a resume. Steak tastes delicious. Madonna was outstanding in Evita. Really it seems the only question is, "Why not come to Argentina?"

I just worry that the only reason I am here is to brag about it to my friends. I do not want to end up like Penelope.

My goal, like Crichton, must therefore be to learn more about myself through my experiences. But where to begin? Who am I, anway? It seems the most helpful thing will be to start out with a list of things I definitely know about myself:

1. I am a law student.
2. My career ambition is to either be a lawyer or a pro basketball player.
3. My spanish is passable. My English is decent.
4. I enjoy wine. And beer. And whiskey.
5. I love my family.
6. If you count pets as family, then ignore #5.
7. I write blogs.

Wow, I guess there is a lot to learn. Perhaps I can include more information, and as soon as I find out exactly what that is, I will let you know.

Hasta.

P.S. If all this self-discovery is really blowin' your mind, that's ok, it's natural to feel this way around an ex-pat. After all, I have been to Argentina, so...