To be honest the image of Patagonia, prior to my arrival on the plains of Chubut, consisted of penguins and a clothing label growing out of the diverse terrain in the area.\u00a0 I was accompanying ten other students \u2013 some I hardly knew \u2013 and three professors on the maiden expedition of a new program for Dickinson College.\u00a0 Studying abroad independently my junior year, it was also the first time I was traveling and working with a group under the auspices of Dickinson College itself.\u00a0 Fifteen days later I left with a wealth of warm memories and five very successful interviews.<\/p>\n
In one way or another the unifying thread of the whole program was people \u2013 the people we are, the people that live in Chubut now, and the people whose stories came alive through the memory of friends and family.\u00a0 Whether we were staying with families or meeting new friends out on the street, the people of Comodoro Rivadavia and Rada Tilly treated the students with kindness, compassion, and intrigue; we wanted their stories as much as they wanted to know ours.<\/p>\n
Day after day the threshold of learning increased, spreading our own learning curve long and wide.\u00a0 For many people the language was a very important portion of the program, learning to interact in another language and find the patience to understand and work with those that are less adapt the language itself.\u00a0 I thought the oral interviews were going to be a disaster at first with only a few in the group speaking fluent Spanish.\u00a0 Gladly, I was never more happy to be completely wrong.\u00a0 The words of the people appeared to come alive and take on wild and exciting shapes in the stories captured on film \u2013 language no longer mattered.\u00a0 Personally, my interviews were conducted in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.<\/p>\n
On an academic note, it is funny to admit I never thought research could be so much fun adding incisive thoughts from the lives of others to my own life as an American immigrant.\u00a0 Many times the nostalgia interwoven in the stories of people was akin to my own experience as an American immigrant.\u00a0 Secondly, it was wonderful to work with a truly diverse group \u2013 professors from two countries, women, men, underclassmen, upperclassmen, Americans and international students, — it was a dynamic combination.<\/p>\n
While I wish I could delineate each and every memory I retain from the experience, I will limit my comments to a word of thanks.\u00a0 I learned more than I ever thought was possible on this trip from each and every person I interacted with.\u00a0 I would like to thank the people for sharing their stories, my family for welcoming me as a second daughter, and my colleagues for their diligent work and effort to capture the length and breath of immigrant experiences.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\t\t