Not what your friends did Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The program's academic rigor depends a lot on which classes you decide to take. The classes are not extremely difficult, but they involve a lot of reading in Spanish, so be prepared to have to spend time on your schoolwork. Also, many classes include lengthy papers at the end in Spanish.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I got super lucky and had a wonderful home stay experience.

I hope you like ham, cheese, and eggs a lot.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Unlike very American programs, you do have to option of living with a host family and taking classes with other Argentinians, which can be a great opportunity to "feel part of the local culture." However, unless you have a high level of Spanish or are extremely outgoing, you will most likely spend a majority of your time with Americans speaking English, regardless of program "rules." If you want to meet Argentinians, the best way is to go out a lot at night. If that isn't your thing, you probably won't meet a lot of locals. But again, this is heavily dependent on your level of Spanish.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I never had any issue, so I cannot really comment on this aspect of the program.

I have lived some not so nice neighborhoods of very big cities before, but I must say that I did not find Buenos Aires or Argentina to be particularly safe. Obviously there weren't horrible things happening everyday, but numerous kids on the program were mugged or pick pocketed. Another girl and I were mugged in the middle of the afternoon in a park in Mendoza. You will quickly learn to not carry valuables on you, especially at night. The biggest thing is knowing where you are going and how to get there, which can be a lot more complicated than it sounds. This isn't meant to deter anyone from choosing Buenos Aires, but I do think you need to be realistic and understand that safety can be an issue here, especially because you will be a target if you speak English.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Argentina is not as cheap as everyone makes it out to be. It is much cheaper than Europe, but still expect to spend money while you are here. You will find that some things will be extremely cheap (transportation, nice meals) and other things will be expensive (paying for water at every restaurant). Also, they are facing high inflation right now, so prices are rising, and the heavy currency controls mean that the exchange rate isn't changing as rapidly. Prices will vary heavily on neighborhood and establishment, but I included some prices to give you an idea of what you can expect to spend (prices listed in PESOS, exchange rate is approx. 4.4pesos = 1 dollar, but look online for current rate): Subway, one way: $2.50 Bus, one ride: $1.25 Coffee: $12 Piece of pizza: $7 Soda OR water: $14 Typical taxi ride: $25 Fancy dinner: $110 Sit down lunch at an Argentine Cafe (meal and drink): $30-$50 (varies a lot) Bus ticket to Mendoza, round trip: $700 Student visa: $300 Laundry, one load: $17 Tipping practices are 10% at restaurants and nothing/spare change for taxis. You will find that many places will not have change. Bank machines typically give $100peso bills, but you will get denied/overcharged/undercharged at places if you don't have the change they want. I even had places try to deny me for $50 peso bills. Another price thing that I would like to point out is the issue of the dollar in Argentina. I can across this when I was renting an apartment. I had two different visitors while I was in Argentina and I rented an apartment in the city for both of them. This is relatively cheap, easy and safe. You can find apartments with all amenities included (including wifi) in the nicest neighborhoods in the city for $250 U.S. dollars/week (www.byt.com). However, there is a catch. You must pay for these places in cash. This isn't the only instance that students found they needed American dollars. However, as foreigners, we cannot get US dollars here. The country is putting strict controls on currency exchange so it won't matter if your account is in dollars, you can only have pesos.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

You are technically only supposed to speak Spanish while on this program, but you will find that is pretty impossible because you are surrounded by Americans all day. You will get plenty of language exposure as you will take all of your classes in Spanish. I saw a huge improvement in my listening and speaking, but I am nowhere near fluent. It does matter how much effort you put into it, but if you go into this experience expecting to be an effortless Spanish speaker, you might be disappointed. "Intermediate" to me means that you can get around in Spanish, can answer questions directed to you in Spanish, can listen to a class in Spanish and write a relevant response, and can have conversations about concrete subjects. Personally, I am not at the point where I use the subjunctive in speech and there are numerous occasions where I do not understand people who are talking amongst themselves in Spanish.

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• Host Family

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Local Students
• Americans

• Host family
• Group excursions
• Argentina is a beautiful country! Go to Patagonia!

• Everything is disorganized. The program, the classes, the country
• I wish the program was more straightforward about certain things