Argentine Graduation Attacks!
By Katie Arango
For those of us in North America, college graduation weekend is a time for fancy dinners with family, outdoor parties, presents and cakes with the words “Congrats Grad!” written on them. There may or may not be metallic balloons involved:
We take for granted that we should be rewarded with nice and pleasant experiences after achieving this extraordinary accomplishment in our young lives. We feel that it’s almost our divine right to don our cap and gown and be celebrated. But in other parts of the world, Argentina for one, this is not the case. Argentine graduation traditions could be called intense, crazy, fun perhaps — depending on your personality, but no one would ever accuse Argentine graduations of being nice or pleasant.
What happens is this: Your friends somehow find out the day, time and location of your last exam and show up and wait for you outside. But are they waiting with presents, flowers or even mercifully empty-handed? No way – they’ve gone to the grocery store and stocked up on the messiest products around – ketchup, mayonnaise, eggs, flour, etc. If they’re really good friends, they’ve also been saving their used yerba and old milk for months and have even brought scissors for your clothes and hair…just for this special occasion. So, when you walk out of your last exam of your college experience – you guessed it – a ferocious attack ensues:
Laura getting attacked on her graduation day
Though it may look aggressive and wasteful and just plain gross, the absolute most intense part of the experience is the smell. (If only there were a scratch-n-sniff plugin for blogs!) This graduation aroma lingers for days, not only in the hair of the recent grad, but also on the street of the university.
If you’re ever in Argentina and get invited to an Argentine graduation attack, here are a few tips.
So I guess this is the price Argentines have to pay for having extraordinarily low tuitions and high quality of education. Is it worth it?
How do you celebrate graduation in your corner of the world?
Katie Arango
Program Director, Argentina:Katie, a US native, had traveled to Buenos Aires on several extended trips before the citys lure became too strong and she decided to call it home. Long fascinated by the global scene, Katie earned a degree in International Studies from Miami University and spent time studying and living in Madrid, Spain. She then worked in marketing for an international board game company followed by a brief foray as an online community editor for several websites before joining the Connect-123 team. Still a tourist at heart herself, Katie loves watching newcomers discover the charm of Buenos Aires and takes great pleasure in helping them make the most out of their work and volunteer opportunities while experiencing everything this dynamic city has to offer.
couldn’t be more true!