Movies, tv y cultura norteamericana. Ficciones.

En alguno de esos cuelgues sobre cómo será vivir en Estados Unidos, me detuve a pensar en qué conozco de la cultura norteamericana. Una peli tras otra, una serie tras otra, una ciudad tras otra, empezaron a pasar por mi cabeza.

Palabras: Thanksgiving, "the prom", Lincoln, Roosevelt, Michigan, Super Bowl, Oscar, Okey, Dream Team, Star Wars, Elvis...

Me pasó lo mismo que le puede pasar a la mayoría. Recordé la fuerza de los elementos de la industria estadounidense que durante décadas han hecho que aprendamos lo que quieren que sepamos sobre ellos.

Sin meterme en cuestiones sociológicas, empecé a repasar esos productos que tanto he consumido tratando de armar cómo podría ser la vida allá si sus relatos fueran verdad. Se me cruzaron las siguientes disparatadas ideas (la expresión "nonsense" iría perfecto aquí):

• El Pacífico no lo tengo que cruzar en ningún momento, así que caerme en una isla magnética con osos polares y humo negro no creo que ocurra. Y ninguno de mis vuelos es 815. Sorry, Jacob.
• Fin de año voy a estar en NY parando en un departamento cerca del Village... con mi Chandler... pero nada de mis otros cuatro friends.
• El día del fin del mundo según los mayas voy a estar allá. Ojalá que ningún loco lo interprete como un día de "armas tomar":S
• ¿Habrá tantos asesinos seriales? ¿Habrá tantos asesinatos? Nada más con los CSI, Castle, Criminal Minds y los L&O tenemos al menos 10 por semana. Zombies ya sé que no hay (?)
• ¿Cuánto costará un tomate? Porque hamburguesas, hot dogs, pretzels, apple pies, donuts, de eso hay en todas partes.
• Credit cards, brown bags, outlets, sales, discounts... ¿todo es comprar en esa vida? :P
• ¿Podrá pasar que la puerta del edificio se atore de nieve y no podamos salir? ¿O pasa Don Barredora para evitarlo?
• Si me llego a enfermar... bueno, acá las ideas se enroscan demasiado.

¿Qué otras imágenes se les vienen a la cabeza a ustedes? 

Al final, y cada vez que un pensamiento así se repite -bastante seguido-, decidí olvidarlo. Voy tratando de borrar los prejuicios -que siempre es difícil y son muchos- para construirme una nueva imagen desde la experiencia.

Voy, voy a ver, pero confieso que si Central Perk existiera, no me molestaría ;)

Ps: 1 day to go!

The good-luck-see-you-soon party

Se puede decir que los argentinos somos amigueros. El mate, el asado, la cancha, son excusas de encuentro. Nos gusta.

We can say that argentinos are "friend-type", people who like to live friendship. The mate, the asado, the soccer are excuses to meet, to share. We like to share.

What happened to me last friday was a show of this.

I started the master in Marketing -that is taking me to Kellogg- last year. I met my classmates for the first time in April 2011. One year and a half later some of them organized a party for me and Alejandro (in the pic, also travelling) to say: "Good luck in Kellogg! We'll miss you. You deserve the opportunity, enjoy!".

The reunion included karaoke (I like singing), video messages from classmates now living abroad (see below) and an amazing cake lovely decorated with the US flag. Priceless.

What need? None. What for? Nothing. Why? Because they are just nice people. They care, they share, they are. 

No master can grant you'll find such an amazing group of people. But we were this lucky. I'm very happy of that even when I have more people to miss. Thank God we now have Twitter, Facebook and Skype. Either way, we go knowing we don't go alone.

Hopefully the fun doesn't freeze in cold Evanston and we find some good sharing moments too. I'm bringing my mate with me to pass along...

The trip to come

Today is the day when my anxiety officially started. Why? Don't know. It happened. It's a "year-end" feeling. And yes, classes start on January 7th, more than a month ahead. However my journey starts before. 

I just want to leave my today's emotions written. Later this post will probably be confirmed as a very stupid bad one ;) (by me of course).

I depart on December 15th from Buenos Aires for a fantastic 3 weeks vacation. I'm very looking forward to it, I start feeling that I need the break. But at the same time it means leaving home for three months. I'll be spending Christmas away -just with my husband- for the first time. Subconsciously I guess I'm already nostalgic.

Anyway, the awesome itinerary is ready: Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago... no time to get bored! Exciting!

I'd start packing my luggage today... if it wasn't premature... I think I should focus on my birthday to come this weekend first (30 already!) and then... it'll be just a matter of time.

The timing or 'what to expect when...'

Probably it's not the same in other countries (due to some specific items of the current Argentinian context) or maybe you are simply not as anxious as myself. 

Anyway, I thought it could be useful to share how/when information from Kellogg got to my mailbox so that you see that many things happen within 2 or 3 months previous to classes, not before, so you just have to wait.

This is my timeline as occurred:

June 27: Welcome to Kellogg e-mail 1. General dates of the Q are informed.

September 26:  Welcome to Kellogg e-mail 2. Instructions on the DS-2019 Request Form and some Visa information. 

October 1: Visa letter from Kellogg. With this you can scan everything to complete the request of Sept. 26.

October 17: DS-2019 has been mailed, you can pay the SEVIS fee and once you received the mail, schedule the interview in the embassy.

October 19: Welcome to Kellogg: Course selection

October 29: Welcome to Kellogg: E-mail 3: Housing and other Important Information (Health Insurance to be paid when arrived,  health forms to complete and present then too, request of photograph, confirmation of preferred name spelling, deadlines)

October 30: I applied to McManus

November 5: Course schedule confirmation

November 8: Visa interview at US Embassy in Buenos Aires

November 12: Apartment in McManus confirmed

November 20: Exchange Student McManus Move-In Information email

To be continued...

*more to come to be posted when it does ;)*

The courses' race

Why a race? Because getting a seat on the classes you want it's a matter of requesting it first.

The offer e-mail came a friday afternoon, 7pm in Buenos Aires. I saw it at midnight, took a quick look at the list and felt I had a decision to make: how much will I dedicate to searching info on classes and professors before sending my list of preference? I had already lost 5 hours!

I was tired and couldn't do much then. So I fell asleep (a bit worried I confess). When I got up early the next morning, I had an e-mail from my husband with a recommendation of two well known professors he'd been reading about. Lucky me he always sleeps later than me, is supportive, a great researcher and helped me with something to start from!

It was 8am in the morning and I had to be at a wedding at 10am. I had to make it as simple as possible. 

Liked the title then read the courses descriptions. Took a look to previous quarters evaluations. Thought of what I was really interested in. Selected 7 classes. Checked the hours were not overlapping. Hesitated a bit about the preference order and what if... clock was running... AND SENT.

Someone had told me that applying quickly was important. He had taken a couple of days to research and got no seat on the classes he wanted. It was great I could talk to him before.

These are the top 4 classes I chose. These are the classes I'm taking:

• Product Management for Technology Companies: An Entrepreneurial Perspective with Prof. Sawhney
• Marketing-Led Innovation with Prof. Razeghi
• Management Communications with Prof. Van Camp
• Advanced Topics in Marketing with Prof. Calder

 

Requirement by requirement...

...getting closer and closer.

Nice pic, isn't it? ;)

The language dilemma

El español es mi lengua madre. Por tanto, el idioma de mis emociones y la estructura de mi pensamiento.

However, this blog was born because of going to Kellogg School of Management on the 2013 Winter Quarter Exchange Program. It's to write about living in Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, where the language is English.

I will live in English for three months sin dejar de sentir en español. What to do with this blog then? In which language I should write? ¿En qué idioma debería escribir? It's still a dilemma.

If I want to reach to more university-related people, English must be. Si quiero compartir emociones con amigos y familia, español debería ser.

So I will let it be. Post by post. Step by step. Meaningfully or meaningless (ly?). Talking about that, although it rings the bell I didn't remember this so 90's american teenage song, did you?

Cheers.

Welcome to Kellogg

"Dear Eugenia,

Hello, and welcome to Kellogg! This e-mail is to confirm that we have received your exchange nomination for winter quarter 2013. We look forward to having you join us then."

Hasta el 27 de junio que recibí este mensaje, tenía dudas de si lo del intercambio era en serio o un decir de San Andrés. No tenía datos, no sabía fechas, nada. Entonces se sumó el remitente de Cait Killmer a mi lista de mails y la ansiedad, en lugar de controlarse, empezó un in crescendo sin límite que no creo que termine nunca.

Esta oportunidad me llegó casi sin pensarla, así como me embarqué en la del master, apenas por preguntar. Si la primera fue tan provechosa, estoy segura que esta segunda va a duplicar las ganancias. Al menos así espero hacerlo. Y estoy muy agradecida por poder intentarlo.

Empiezo este blog en pleno countdown para viajar. Es, primero, un blog egoísta: para guardar mis pensamientos en el recorrido. Pero, segundo, si alguien lo lee, tal vez también sea un blog "solidario": útil, en cualquier sentido, para otros.

Me embarco. Y acá voy.