International Vision: Francis Lestarpe

Name: Francis Lestarpe 

Major: Entrepreneurship and Innovation 

Classification: Senior

Graduation date: Fall 2024

Hometown: Bahía Blanca, Argentina 

Extracurricular activities: “Well, I like to exercise. I like to cook. I want to have my own restaurant. A lot of what I do in my free time is practice recipes. I make my own recipes … for when I have the business.”

What are the differences between your hometown and the United States? “It’s completely different. It is a difference in infrastructure, people and culture, which is very Mexican here. There’s nothing wrong with it. I lived in Monterrey for three years and I’m used to it, I love it. I feel very comfortable here, but there is a very big difference between the culture here and [Argentina]. I think the culture here focuses a lot on individualism. The people focus a lot on the development of the person, that everyone has their own car, everyone wants to have their own apartment or house. It is very common [in Argentina] that many people do not have a car, city transportation is [used] a lot. Many don’t leave home until they already have a stable job and once they have a job, they go somewhere else.”

What is your favorite traditional food from your hometown? “I really like empanadas. There are some empanadas that they make there. They are Arabic empanadas. It is an empanada that is open, has meat inside and how the meat is prepared is that the ground meat is combined with lemons, tomato, onion and is left in the refrigerator for at least four hours. The lemon cooks the meat. When you put the meat in the empanadas, you put them in the oven just so that everything is toasted. The flavor is impeccable.”

What is on your bucket list? “I would like to do skydiving. I think they do it on [South Padre] Island but I haven’t had the opportunity to go yet. I would like to travel around the United States. Tour the different natural attractions such as the Grand Canyon. I would like to go to the redwood forest in California. I would also like to go to Colorado. I had the opportunity to go snowboarding there a few years ago, so I would like to go again.”

Who is your role model? “The role model I follow is Rocky Balboa. I have seen all of his movies. He is an idol for me. What I admire most about him is that even if he lost, he got up again and kept going, which is something very important. Especially as international students, you have to know that you are going to suffer, but the important thing is that you move forward and remain firm with the goals you have.”

What advice would you give other international students? “I would tell other [international] students not to limit themselves to all the opportunities that the university has. There are many organizations, many opportunities to save money [and] to get a job after college. This is the time they have to invest in themselves. We seriously have to take the opportunities that the university has.”

–Compiled by Fatima Gamez Lopez