Compare And Wish You Were There

     Comparison is the thief of joy. That is a very well known concept, that I've heard a million times, and yet I have always compared myself to others. But even though I do compare myself, I've never really felt profound jealousy for other people. I've always thought that I was quite cool,and  I think I have interesting hobbies and good friends. So before I became an exchange student, comparison did not thief my joy. 

Because truly every other exchange student I've met is the most intelligent, well rounded, kindest person I've ever met. And not only that but everyone is also suspiciously gorgeous, in a way that's a little unnerving. And it gets worse because the vast majority of the students in my district are from Europe so they all have the thing I desire most, an EU passport. So imagine you're an average girl from the middle of nowhere and everyone else around you is insanely beautiful, speaks like five languages, and has a sexy little EU passport. 

I have perhaps never felt less qualified to do anything, as I feel doing this exchange. And I literally do know another language actually, but I am really starting to believe that Hebrew is very useless. Regardless I truly feel so silly around these people, like no I've actually only been to three other countries, and one of them was Canada. And it is also very hard to watch everyone be in cities with other exchange students, and I am very alone in my city. And it is hard to watch everyone afford trips that I cannot, and be together when I am not.

But I know that is truly what is silly about me, because how could I be anything but happy here. What I have now is everything I've ever wanted, and I am just thinking what if i was in Korea instead. How foolish I am, to judge the inadequacies of how I am capable of doing my exchange based on the girl on instagram who looks so happy in Korea. But I never wanted to go to Korea until I saw her, and I never wanted to go to Juyuy until I saw my friends there, and I thought I was cool until I woke up in Argentina and thought I wasn't. Which is so stupid of me, because a girl across the world being happy doesn't actually subtract from how happy I can be here, and everyone else being super cool doesn't make me less cool than I was. But sadly someone else having a super strong passport, kinda does make my passport weaker. 

So I don't entirely know what the point of this post is, or how I am going to end it, but I really wanted to talk about this. But I will say that despite the feelings of inadequacy that I have, I don't think that my exchange is less valid than anyone else's. Because something else that I have to accept as an exchange student is that I have no autonomy, and neither does anyone else so basically everything that determines the quality of one's exchange is luck. Except that's not really true because I just remembered everyone else I've spoken to got to choose Argentina, like literally every other exchange student got to pick their country, even other people from the US (5010 please figure this out). Regardless, everything else is based on luck, and I do know how incredibly lucky I am, for everything and every opportunity I've been given. So basically I think I am trying to say that feeling underqualified and less hot than everyone around is probably very normal, and is certainly not a reason to experience less joy.

 Stay woke and probably learn French when you were younger, chau!


(I also added some random photos from the last month because its been so long Im very very sorry, I promise I will post more)

National University Rio Cuarto

Cordoba Capital

Cordoba Capital (excuse my finger)

Fellow exchange students, also in Cordaba Capital. 

Asado!
Location: Río Cuarto, Córdoba Province, Argentina

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Post, Bienvenidos My Friends 😀

  First Post, Bienvenidos My Friends 😀 So I guess everything does work out, even if it takes a very long time. My flight to Argentina leaves tonight, at 1:50 in the morning, September 18, 2025.   Most of you know, but I will be spending the next academic year in Rio Cuarto, Cordoba, Argentina on exchange. I will be using this blog to document my exchange and experiences in Argentina, both for me to look back on and to keep y'all updated.  Getting to this point has been a very long and laborious journey that started almost exactly a year ago, and I cannot be more grateful for everyone’s love and support 🫶. I also cannot be more excited to begin this exchange, it has been a dream of mine for a very long time, like very long.  I think that is it for now, I have have a flight to prepare for ✈️. I’ll keep writing and adding photos here all year so be sure to come back. ¡CIAO!
Read more

First two weeks!!

Image
Hola friends! Here is my (hopefully long awaited🤞) second post! Just a quick PSA I'm writing this in my notes app so if it looks silly on a computer I'm sorry 😁 So I've officially completed my first full week of school in Argentina, and been in the country for a little over two weeks! I think for this post I will tell you about the three big differences I have noticed between the United States and Argentina as well as the inbound exchange orientation. 1) Mayonnaise and ketchup come is squeezey packets, like how some places have bagged milk I think. But really it's probably a normal amount of mayonnaise and we're just spoiled with Costco sized vats. 2) House keys here look so cool! Like the keys to a medieval castle. The are all bronze with a lot of whimsical prongs on the end. 3) And I just noticed today that toilet paper comes in rectangles, and not squares here, which I can't think of a reason for why. As for orientation, it was in the city of La Falda, Cór...
Read more

Ankle Socks and Radio

Image
Hola guys! I've been in Argentina 🇦🇷 just about a month and I have three more super interesting observations that you will definitely enjoy. 1) Ankle socks, literally everyone wear ankle socks all time. Old people, young people, all kinds of people always have their ankles out in the open. Which I think could have to do with the warmer weather here 🌞, but I'm not really sure. I won't say it's weird, but it was honestly very surprising and not a trend I really want to participate in, like when has anyone seen me in ankle socks??🧦 Never. 2) I will probably keep comparing Argentina to Israel because I haven't been many places and I do think there are many similarities, or at least more than with Alaska ☃️. So something else I've seen is that a lot of gas stations here have whole Cafes inside them, like in Israel they would have Aroma (if I remember correctly 🤞) in a gas station on the highway, it's the same here. Which I think is very cool, like way to b...
Read more