The Freshman 15 and the Chileno Response

NOTE: The names in the post have been changed to protect the fattened.

The gossip began in February. "O my god, Lupe, look at her butt...it is sooo big." The talked about: Chilean classmates who had returned from studying abroad. The news flash: they had come home distinctly rounder, some might even say fat. As the whispering gossip girls huddled in corners dreaming up images of their chubby peers devouring big American breakfasts, those who were next in line to travel overseas grew increasingly concerned.

So when one of my Michigan-bound students presented with a classic case of American dietary anxiety, I was not surprised. He had several questions. "What was the food like at your university? Do they really put special vitamins and nutrients in it?" and most importantly, "Will it make me fat?"

My first instinct was to issue a resounding "Yes," and leave it at that, but the door was open for me to elaborate, and on one of my favorite topics no less.

"Have you ever heard of the expression 'Freshman 15'?" I asked.

"No," he responded.

I proceeded, with a didactic tone, "Well, they say when you go to college you typically gain 15 pounds in your first year. Some people gain more. Some unlucky folks gain the Freshman 50."

"Really? Like who?" Hugo scoffed.

"You're looking at him."

In reality I gained only about 30 freshman lbs., but I couldn't help myself, and alas, the pictures don't lie. To prove the point, I handed Hugo my drivers license and my UGA student ID. One was taken in high school, the other: post-Snelling. In one picture appeared a youthful, maybe even slender, teenage boy. In the other: a Fat.

The before and after pictures clearly startled my student, but at the time I was not aware that he was going to be studying abroad in the U.S., so I continued. What followed were relentless descriptions of unlimited meals, the concept of third and fourth dinners, of late night pizza and fro-yo runs, and most importantly, special food days. I even recalled that shameful incident, when I visited all four dining halls in one night to celebrate the multi-themed end of the year Food Services celebration...and then proceeded to eat Mexican treats at the ESL banquet. Without a doubt, the fullest moment of my life, and a consquence of the American university dining system.

I followed the hyperbolic food-talk with some useful advice. I explained to Hugo that as with many things in America, he would be faced with many choices. Just as the United States is home to the most enormous humans on Earth, it is also a land of jogging masses, fitness gurus, and anorexia nervosa. Therefore, at the dining hall of Central Michigan University, the site of his exchange program, Hugo would likely find healthy foods and unhealthy treats. On one extreme there would be a salad bar, and on the other end a mysterious cheese sauce that can be suitably doused upon anything. The choice was his.

To be an American Fat, or to be an American Thin? That is the question, one that has weighed heavily on the minds of my Chilean students. Their image of American cuisine: all-you-can-eat buffets full of families in which ever person is obese. (read: the Golden Corral on Highway 78). They had seen the consequences in those students who had made the trip before them, once considered lucky, now considered fat. And one of them had now heard my cautionary tale.

So while the gossiping continued, I couldn't help but imagine my own homecoming. Will an American in Chile end up being the opposite of a Chilean in America? What will they say when I return? Will the gossip be about "Chiseled in Chile" rather than "Engorged in Georgia." All I can say now is that it's a work in process, and May Month of Fitness and Fall of Fitness are soon to be aligned. More to come on that soon.