Lisa Harney
Lisa Harney
Luther College
Participant in the 2010 ACM Student Symposium on Off-Campus Study
- Program: The Center for Cross-Cultural Study (CC-CS), Córdoba, Argentina - Fall 2009
- Graduation: May 2011
- Majors: Spanish and Biology
The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round Wherever You Are
During my six months in Córdoba, Argentina, I stayed with a host family that lived 40 minutes by bus from the part of town where I attended classes. Between waiting, riding, and walking from where I got off the bus downtown, I had to allot an hour at bare minimum if I wanted to arrive to class on time.
These daily experiences using Córdoba's public transportation brought me more adventures abroad than I ever would have expected. I survived a bus accident, experienced a bus breaking down, and more than once boarded the wrong bus, resulting in a three-hour ride home instead of the usual 40-minute commute.
I did not realize it at the time, but these figurative and literal bumps in the road taught me many things, truly changing my outlook on life. Riding the bus every day also exposed me to a different side of Argentine culture. Daily I observed the wide variety of people, all heading off to different destinations. They ranged from well-dressed businessmen to beggars off the street who had just enough change to pay for a ride. We suffered together when the unrelenting sun beat down on the already hot metal, and all sense of personal space disappeared when everyone piled onto the bus at the end of the day. I observed many personal interactions on those rides, and through those observations learned a great deal about the differences between Argentine culture and my own. What was truly surprising, however, was to discover how similar we really are despite our origins on different continents.
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