Last Monday I emerged, following an 8 hour 50 minute flight, some 700 miles east of my long-planned, greatly anticipated destination, Valparaiso, Chile.
A wise president once declared: 'Planning is essential. Plans are worthless.' This is true. Eighteen months of planning my move to Chile were unraveled in mere hours following the 27 February earthquake. Miraculously, merely hours were required to reassemble the plans. With the end of one adventure came the beginning of another.
Goodbye Valparaiso (although I never really knew you).
Hello Buenos Aires (although we have met once before).
The idea of 'ends' and 'beginnings' reminds me of an excerpt from a TS Eliot poem, 'Little Gidding,' once sent to me by my friend Joseph:
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from....
....We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
And here I am once again in Buenos Aires, knowing her for the first time. It has taken me the better part of my 10 days in BsAs to really acclimate myself to the 700 mile plan-change. The basic elements of the plan, however, remain intact: Spanish-speaking country, South America, law school.
Classes at the Universidad de Buenos Aires facultad de derecho began last Thursday. I am 1 of 45 international students: 29 Latin Americans, 13 Europeans and 3 North Americans. UBA boasts a student body of 30,000 (that's only in the facultad de derecho – the law school. I read somewhere that the total student body, all of the facultades combined, yields somewhere around 300,000 students) which means the 45 of us have been immediately thrust into the depths of UBA, awash and immersed. I have attended public schools for my entire life (thank you for my fabulous education, Uncle Sam!) so I feel very comfortable with my current academic climate (more comfortable, I can imagine, than I would have felt at PUCV, given that it would have been my first private school experience!). Swimming through the crowded UBA hallways, navigating the currents, from aula 010 at 13:00 to aula 028 at 17:00, feels extraordinarily natural.
La UBA facultad de derecho is impressive. The building itself stands alone in the sophisticated Recoleta neighborhood, bursting with decadence and presence. Those of you who have visited Buenos Aires can attest to the building's imposing splendor and its unmistakable facade comprised of more than a dozen monumental columns. The building exudes a sense of importance: it is the kind of place that the guardians of society's most important infrastructure, the Law, should go to be educated. From the exterior, UBA gives off the impression of stoic permanence. From the inside, however, UBA is a bustling, lively, energetic frenzy of youthful chaos, contained by walls that need new paint and floors and roof that could probably use a reinforcement or two. There's a metaphor in this simple observation... the Law appears firm and unyielding, but as long as people are the ones creating, interpreting and enforcing the Law, the Law will forever be as energetic and frenzied as the hustle contained within UBA's hallways.
More impressive, in my opinion, than UBA's spectacular digs, is the fact that the legal education that my Argentine peers are receiving is free. Yes, F-R-E-E. Gratis, gratuitement. Free. What a concept, a quality legal education, free of cost. And, I'll have you know that UBA is considered Argentina's – if not all of Latin America's – most prestigious legal institution. Just goes to show, quality and value do not always come with a price tag.
I am living with a lovely señora, Angelica, a few blocks away from the facultad de derecho. The neighborhood, as I mentioned earlier, is called Recoleta. Recoleta is very elegant and sophisticated, basically the Upper East Side of Buenos Aires. The neighborhood is replete with designer store fronts, restaurants, cafes, chic hotels, lots of greenery, beautiful monuments and lots of beautiful, well-dressed Argentines. In the days following my arrival I silently accused Recoleta of her unabashed sterility. Days of wandering later, however, I have found bits of Recoleta's charm haphazardly strewn about her streets and sidewalks. Recoleta's exposed rough pieces are, in my eyes, endearing – adding glitter to monotony, character to tedium.
Every day in Buenos Aires brings new experiences, thoughts, feelings, friends, tastes, smells and lots of smiles. I will write more, very soon.
Muchos cariños :-)
