Welcome Note

A New Pace, Buenos Aires
My name is Gabby Agin-Liebes. I just joined the class, so excuse my tardy post! I am from New York City and have chosen to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This is a significant change for me, especially since this is my first time leaving New York City for an extended period of time. I’m become so acculturated to the city; its smells, its pace, its people and especially its food, for the past 11 years that my leaving it is almost subversive—an unfamiliar deviation in the trajectory of my life. I also, unlike most of my peers, had never experienced the culture shock that comes with leaving home for college. I opted to stay in the very large microcosm that I’ve called home throughout my most formative years—its vigorous dynamism so thrilling and stimulating I couldn’t fathom living anywhere else.
But in recent months, and even years, I couldn’t help but notice that the energy of the city was outpacing my own by too unsettling an amount. I realized I had become utterly disillusioned by my surroundings, and the petty affectations of those around me. Disconnected from humanity, and myself, I had no choice but to leave. I chose Buenos Aires for several reasons: Its exotic location and nature lured me away from my North American city jungle. (I also realized I wouldn’t have to forfeit the urban, cosmopolitan life I am so attached to). I also had romantic notions of South America: the cordiality of its people, a culture texturized by the troubled political history and its beautiful, cadenced language. Most of all, I felt ready to disrupt my equilibrium and do something new and potentially uncomfortable in an entirely new environment.
I am a Gallatin student at NYU. I’m still in the process of formulating my concentration. I’m a premed student, but my motivation to study and practice medicine is based on a humanistic drive to help people. My concentration is global public health and anthropology in a globalized world. I am taking intensive Spanish, Spanish for the Health Professional (entirely in Spanish), and Intro to Latin American Studies, while I’m here. I also plan to do community service, hopefully in a local hospital or orphanage. My goals are to perfect my Spanish, so I can skillfully communicate with Latinos in the hospital setting, to live a different lifestyle, experience firsthand the health situation in a South American country, breathe a different air, center my focus on assimilation to a new culture and growth…and encounter magical places and people and situations…and discover a personally renewed sense of happiness and satisfaction, purpose and perspective.