A great journey to self discovery. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

My reason for rating this a four out of five stars is due to the fact that I along with many others did not feel that the Spanish classes were very conducive. The classes were 3 hours long, four times a week yet we covered very little grammar, which made the 20-40 page final project slightly more difficult. Even though we did not have as many lessons in grammar as I would have aspected, the professors were incredibly helpful when it came time to help me edit my paper. Without their weekly assistance during the independent study portion of the program I don't think I would have been able finish my project.

On-site administration of your program

The staff in the program are truly amazing individuals. They make themselves available at all times of the week no matter the situation they will be sure to respond.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I loved my host family, though I only had a host mom and her dog it was still an amazing experience. She was one of the few liberal parents on the program which made it a lot easier to talk about the political situation of the country with her. She was always very welcoming and would always ask me about my day. I don't think a day when by where we didn't talk for at least an hour whether it was about politics or about places I should check out over the weekend.

My host mom always made me breakfast Monday through Friday and would always leave a little something extra for later if she knew I was going to around during the afternoon. Breakfast in Argentina isn't as big as it is in the states. In Argentina most of the population either skips breakfast or eats something like such as toast and coffee it's very rare to have a heavy meal for breakfast. This is why I felt lucky to have a bowl of fruit, a bowl of cereal, coffee, and crackers every morning. Compared to my friends I was living the good life. Dinner was sometimes a mix bag in the beginning but once I started letting my host mom know what certain things I didn't enjoy eating the meals began to improve.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I didn't feel very integrated into the culture because I mostly hung around my study abroad friends and didn't hangout with Argentines. Yet the program staff told us during orientation that this would be an issue and that it would be up to us to reach out to the community.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Yes I did have a personal experience with the healthcare system during my stay. When I fell ill I got in contact with my program director and she made sure that staff member escorted me to the hospital. The only issue I had with my experience was the cost of going to the hospital. The doctor encouraged that I get some test done to see if everything was fine, which I understandably had to pay for, yet I didn't like the fact that I had to pay a for another consultation when I wanted the results explained to me. I feel as if that should have been included in the fees for the exams.

Nothing ever happen to me the nights I would go out to hangout with my friends but Buenos Aires is a major city and with any major city their is bound to be some crime. The program does a good job emphasizing common sense and giving advice on how to move through the city. One just needs to always remain aware of their surroundings especially on the trains and other crowded areas for pickpockets.

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

The stipends we received in the program help to subsidize the cost for meals; the money they provided did not cover the full cost of a typical meal. Yet they explained that the reason for that issue was due to the inflation rate in Argentina is forever rising.

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

All of our assignments and classes were in Spanish so there was a definitely strong amount of encourage to practice Spanish.

Select all that apply

• Host Family
• Hotel

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• Local Students
• Americans
• Host Family

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• Americans

• Excursions
• Host family
• Staff

• Spanish class
• The amount of reading should be a lot less so student can have a bigger chance to explore the city.
• Stipends should be giving according to inflation so it will actually cover the cull cost of the meal.

The Academic or Linguist