Making Lemonade in NOA

1. It is hard to be the dumb kid in class

On Monday we left for a weeklong trip to northwest Argentina (NOA) with other students from IAE. We should have known that we were in for an interesting ride as we had originally been told our trip would be Sunday through Friday but when we got our flight arrangements (two days before) we discovered it would actually be Monday through Sunday. We knew that we needed to be at the airport for our 6:40am flight to some place called Tucuman, but otherwise none of us had any idea where exactly we would be going or what we would be doing.

After landing in Tucuman it became clear that among the 30 other people on our trip, the three of us from UCLA were the only students that did not speak Spanish fluently. After a few successful days in Buenos Aires I felt somewhat confident about my Spanish but when faced with conversations beyond ordering food, asking how much things cost and taking a taxi ride, I was overwhelmed. We quickly felt like the dumb kids in school, left out of conversations and eternally confused about we were, why we were there and where we might be going next.

Upon arrival one of the professors asked ¿Hablas español? – I responded with a timid, but affirmative “Si, un poquito.” In English, he said that I had great pronunciation. Excited, I struggled to say (in Spanish), “thank you, I have never heard that before.” He smiled and said “nevermind.” So much for that.

From the quotebook: “I don’t speak Spanish this early in the morning”

2. Sometimes it is a struggle to make lemonade

A large component of our trip was company visits in the region. We were told to bring “elegant sport” to wear to the companies that we visited but my business casual (what I assume is meant by "elegant sport") never even came out of my bag. We visited an odd combination of companies including a lemon-sorting facility, lemon farm, a petroleum company, a winery, a sugar factory and an old tobacco farm. None of these companies called for “elegant sport” nor were they particularly interesting for aspiring MBAs. The (really, really, really) long talks that were given by the companies were almost entirely in Spanish and although I understood a lot of what was said, it made my head spin and my eyes heavy. During the talk at the petroleum company I was nearly asleep when someone asked a question about women working for the company. The man responded that they did not like to hire women because they get pregnant… it is a good thing that my Spanish is terrible.

With two days full of lemons many of us joked about “when life gives you lemons… [insert various phrases here]” and after a (disgusting) tour of the sugar plant it seemed had most of the ingredients to make lemonade but still all we could think about was getting back Buenos Aires. In the end, I was glad that I went on the trip but I do not think that I will be visiting the region again anytime soon.

From the quotebook: While touring Pachamama - “Where are we?!” - “I don’t know, something about your mama”

3. Argentinean eating habits are not good for my health

Most evening, I find myself rather hungry around 8pm and shaking with low blood sugar by the time the Argentinean dinnertime of 10pm rolls around. When dinner is finally served, it is typically giant portions of meat with bread and (sometimes) vegetables. So I am starving at 9:59pm and stuffed beyond belief by 10:59pm – there is no way that this is good for my metabolism.

On the first night of the trip we were invited to one of our classmate’s parent’s home for an asada (bbq) dinner. I was so hungry that I was drunk after a single glass of wine and stayed that way for the rest of the night as I drank (a lot) more and ate a variety of delicious salads and bread while my classmates gorged on huge portions of beef. I am fairly certain that an entire cow was grilled that night and am positive that Tommy ate at least half of it. I am told that the beef here is simply delicious and although I do plan to try it at least once before I leave, I am not ready for a sample quite yet. Not eating beef confuses most of the South Americans and nobody even considers that there may be a vegetarian (or anti-mammalatarian) at mealtime – luckily I have managed to eat quite well on the trip despite this oversight. My one complaint with the food is that there is little to no spice whatsoever, no hot sauce and rarely even pepper on the table. Anyone who wants send me a care package with a bottle of Cholula, feel free.

From the quotebook: “My heart could not take a side of beef. I had to get McDonalds”

4. When they say party until the sun comes up, they mean it.

Because dinner does not finish until at least 11pm this means that going out to bars and clubs also happens extremely late. We were preparing to go out to a club in what I think was a town called San Salvador de Jujuy, when one of the locals told us that that the club would be fun but he was upset that it would close at 4am. I was confused for a moment, but I then realized that he felt that this was too early for the club to close. I can barely make it to 2am in the United States!

We arrived at the club around midnight and it was completely empty. I was surprised because even though we were in the middle of nowhere, it was Friday night! Slowly the crowds started to roll in and the place was packed by the time I was ready to make my exit at 3am. We drank, chatted and danced to the familiar sounds of Lady Gaga. It makes me tired just thinking about it but we all had a great time (despite the spider that was floating in my first drink).