Cordoba: My Second Home Past Review
By Teresa I (business and spanish, Trinity University) for
SSA Education Abroad: Córdoba - Semester, Year or Summer in Argentina
I think I definitely changed from my study abroad experience- it has changed my perspective on a lot of things in my life. I feel that now I am more confident in decisions that I make.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The grading system was different because in Argentina, they used a 1-10 point scale. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I really liked my host family. The neighborhood was very safe and I felt comfortable walking by myself at night to the bus stop. However, I did not like how far away I lived from my friends and from my university-it was about a 40 minute commute to go to my university. Another thing, I loved my host family-they were very sweet, however they did watch a lot of TV and I think sometimes that made it hard to communicate with them. |
| * Food: |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
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| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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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) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I didn't spend a lot of money on food because I had 3 meals/day with my family. Unless I was buying |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I didn't know how much I was going to spend on public transportation-and this was because I lived so far away from my university's campus and main office. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
The best way to improve language skills is to have confidence and not be afraid to make mistakes-you will make mistakes when you speak- but thats the beauty of learning a different language. You have to be comfortable doing that. Also, the best advice is to talk with native speakers. When you only surround yourself around Americans, and only speak English with each other, nothing will change, and your language skills will not improve as much. I did need to use Spanish in everyday interactions, and in my city, not a lot of people spoke English, which I liked. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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