Buenos Aires- The city I grew to love Past Review
By Gabrielle G (Hispanic and Latin American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General., Towson University) for
University of Palermo: Buenos Aires - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
It was worthwhile because I grew as a person and experienced a completely different lifestyle. It impacted my cultural awareness because I lived in a city that believes they are more european then latino, therefore it was interesting to see why and which type of people really stuck to that.
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. |
Workload- the workload was really nothing compared to the US except there was a lot of reading required if you wanted to keep up with classes. For an exchange program I found this to be disappointing because I was not able to work on Spanish with homework assignments or papers. The teaching methods were also a bit different because it was 3 hours of straight lecture and no group activities, it was very tiring and uninteresting. Also, as I said before, the university was overall pretty unorganized and dates were never set. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived with 3 brazilians which did not improve my spanish but it did improve my portuguese. This was a great option because I felt comfortable from the beginning and it was a safe area. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Buenos Aires is filled with cultural opportunities, I was able to listen to a great variety of AMAZING music! |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The country is known to be a bit dangerous, especially pick pocketing which happened to me and most of my friends. The healthcare system is easy as well, you can go to private or public DRs |
| 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 spent about $80 on food a month and about 100$ on personal expenses a week. Taxis and going out are EXPENSIVE so watch out and learn the bus routes! |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Everything is very expensive in Buenos Aires, I would definitely put aside a good amount for just going out and taxis as I mentioned above. Other than that, food is overpriced but not ridiculous and getting in to museums is cheap. Oh! Traveling is ridiculously expensive, so look up the information about where you want to go before hand! |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 400 |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
I had a spanish class twice a week, but it was not helpful. I learned the most spanish talking with friends. |
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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A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Definitely a city person would benefit from this program, I was constantly missing nature and the beach. Also, make sure you are independent and not looking for the "latino" experience, but more of the "european" experience. |
