See tucker...

See tucker. See tucker graduate. See tucker run away from DC to Mexico; to Cuba; to Argentina. See tucker party in Buenos Aires. See tucker party some more in Buenos Aires. See tucker find a cool NGO in work with in Buenos Aires and extend his trip a couple of more months. See tucker extend his trip again a couple of more months. See tucker extend ‘trip’ for two years.

Yes, I’ve committed the cliché crime. I’ve fallen in love with Buenos Aires (again), and I’m not leaving. At first it was just only a pleasant fiction: walking around the city and calling it my home; responding to curious Argentines that I live here. I would claim this city as my (temporary) home in order to make things easier and avoid long explanations. I knew it was a small fib, but it felt good. It felt right. And so I began to wonder if I might find a reason to stay for a year. Jobs—good jobs that actually pay—are hard to come by, and I didn’t want to continue living the life of a volunteer (I must admit it’s not my thing). Grad-school seemed an easy choice and so I began to look into master programs. Within a matter of weeks I had applied to the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) for a masters in Public Health (MPH).

The MPH program is two years and unique in a few ways. First, I will only have class three days a month. Right--three days a month. Every third week of the month I have class Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The catch? Ten hours a day! Right--ten hours a day. The rest of the month we have online assignments, discussion boards, and group research projects to complete. Second, the program is coordinated between 12 different faculty departments; everyone from the schools of architecture to dentistry to biomedicine to anthropology to political science. So it is extremely interdisciplinary (one of the original aspects that attracted me to UBA). Thirdly, the program philosophy is what they call problem-solution (or problem solving). After studying the public health fundamentals, we will be presented with public health challenges and then expected to conduct research and present practical solutions. That means that we will spend a lot of time in the field and a lot of time conducting hands-on research (two more pluses).

Classes start tomorrow and I’m very excited but also very nervous. Reading, writing, and speaking Spanish at the graduate level is cause for worry, but having to actively listen and participate at graduate-level Spanish for ten straight hours is cause for alarm. haha I am sure that the first couple months will be quite a challenge, but after a while I won’t stress it. I’m debating weather or not to use a strong Norteamericano accent the first day of class in order to make everyone want to help me.

Lots more going on and lots more to tell, but I’ll keep this blog short and mono-themed.

Hopefully the next time I post it will be to tell about my sweet new house (knock on wood).

love and besos

tucker