Editor’s note: Ryland received a Gilman Scholarship and is studying at Universidad Austral and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina this semester. Ryland is ETSU’s first Gilman scholarship winner. He will be writing a series of columns throughout the semester.As my plane lowered its landing gear in the darkness of the early morning, I stared out the window toward an ocean of city lights. Nothing could have prepared me for the size of this city. It seemed to go on forever.

The immigrations officer welcomed me to Buenos Aires in his own special “What the hell do you think you are doing here?” way (well, honestly, I was thinking the same thing at that point), and I tried to prepare myself for the world that lay outside of the airport.

Taxi drivers drove like madmen across massive crowded streets. They broke in and out of traffic as they fought buses for position on neighborhood roads. Av. Nueve de Julio is an intimidating stretch of pavement. Its width is that of an entire city block, and it resembles one of the later levels of “Frogger.”

Thousands of people on the street were dressed as if they might freeze to death, yet I would have walked around in a T-shirt and shorts if it wouldn’t have made me stick out. A few days after I arrived it got pretty chilly and I am paying for that now with a cold in the middle of August.

The cultural differences don’t seem like much on the surface, but at a deeper level everything is a little bit different. Everything seems familiar, but as of now I am having trouble connecting with locals . After all, they don’t have peanut butter, or bagels here. How am I supposed to find common ground?

Prices are very odd, too. Some clothing is very expensive, but I can buy three handmade empanadas and a Quilmes to wash it down with, all for $4 U.S. When I get back home in December, I may not have the body of a champion, but that meal is much tastier than Wheaties.

Adjusting to the constant noise of the city is probably one of the hardest things for me. There aren’t many places to get away from it, but there is an ecological reserve on the city’s coastline that has proved to be a fantastic getaway so far. I am used to escaping into a gym, or the Tennessee countryside to find some peace, but there isn’t much of that here.

I’m a little homesick at the moment, so I am looking forward to school starting Aug. 9. The schedule is a little odd here, and I know that back home everyone is finishing up summer plans. I wish you all good luck to start the semester back at ETSU.

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