I would prefer a less racist country. Past Review
By A student (Sociology., Trinity University) - abroad from 02/28/2014 to 07/09/2014 with
IFSA: Buenos Aires - Argentine Universities Program
It was worthwhile for many reasons, language reasons included.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The program classes were easy, often interesting but could easily be thrown off if the students not to take it too seriously. My class at UBA was always difficult. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Krutz, should be fired. I considered emailing about her incompetence many many times. All of her recommendations were terrible and her "facts" were untrue. She frustrated many of us. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I was very lucky. Vicky Zorriquinn was a WONDERFUL house mother. She was one of the best parts of my experience even though I don't think staying with a host family was a good choice for me. She is a lovely woman. The only thing I disliked was her cat, who was very mean and I normally love animals. And her refusal to let me use her gas oven by myself and did not own a micrwave, this frustrated me and left me with few options to eat my leftovers for lunch (a meal on our own) while in the house. I felt it was unfair of her. She did get wifi when I arrived and her ethernet would not work on my computer. |
| * Food: |
Since Vicky was a cook almost everything she made was to my liking. And if I didn't like something she was not offended. Some evenings were perfectly crafted. Others were easy pasta. But almost everything was absolutely delicious. And she was very generous with food. She chose to feed me me often when it was not necessary. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Even though I lived with a señora, had a six hour class at UBA, and spoke Castellano all day I did not feel that integrated. I had a few Argentinan friends and we usually didn't spend time for fun. I could integrated by speaking but y social life did not integrate. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
They were all pay now, get reimbursed later. So far I've had a lot of problems with their reimbursement process. So I'm not very happy so far. |
| * Safety: |
Meh. I didn't always feel safe. My cell phone was stolen. My friend was robbed while he had some of my things. I know many people that got ripped off. We all seemed fine but during orientation our program told us how many kids from this program die via bus accident. They were good at telling us horror stories and pretty much useless beyond that. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Not easily! It was awful. Even with a terrible economy it was so difficult. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $50 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Write down everything you spend. Make an excel spread sheet. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
It was Advanced Integration. We lived with a host family and took all our classes in spanish. They forced us to speak spanish as often as possible. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Advanced |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 3312-1 Latin American Civilization |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 10+ |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Castellano was a complete shock. Just speak. My fluency was so off balance because I hadn't been speaking but it came back quickly. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | I guess I had the wrong impression of Buenos Aires. I've been to South American before but Buenos Aires was a complete surprise to me. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
