Study Abroad In Buenos Aires, Argentina

Submitted by Paul on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 22:32

Jeff is a senior at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. Jeff's Gap Year experience included Spanish language study, homestay with an Argentine family, and a volunteer work experience teaching children.

For the first half of my junior year I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Butler University’s Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA-Butler). I had always been really interested in Latin America, and had been studying Spanish since I was about 14 years old; so, when I began thinking about places to study abroad Argentina seemed like the perfect match.

I had heard a lot about Argentina through the grapevine, but decided that actually going to Buenos Aires was the only way that I would be able to truly grasp the culture and form my own opinions and understanding of the place. Tufts's Study Abroad Office offers a ton of study abroad programs throughout the world, but I had my heart set on going to Buenos Aires, where Tufts did not have a program at the time. So, I began looking into a bunch of different programs, which had been approved by the Tufts Study Abroad Office. Ultimately I chose IFSA-Butler because of the opportunities it offered. One of my main study abroad "goals" was to come away with a truly authentic experience, and my program required that all students live with a host family that could only speak Spanish and that all program participants take at least one class at an Argentine university with Argentine professors and students. My program also offered a really exciting list of community-based volunteer opportunities to all program participants. Whether you wanted to teach English to Argentine elementary students, volunteer at a local hospital, immerse yourself in the political sphere, or do direct-service projects like building community infrastructure, there was definitely no shortage of things to get involved in while I was in Buenos Aires.

Since I did not study abroad through the Tufts abroad office, I didn't pay Tufts tuition while abroad. I actually saved my parents quite a bit of money since my program was markedly cheaper than the Tufts tuition (FYI - we paid $10,000 for the semester, excluding air fare which was about $1,200). However, I went into the experience well aware of the fact that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity in terms of travel, so even though I managed to convince my parents to dedicate some of the extra cash they saved off the cheaper tuition (and this took quite a bit of convincing...) I still saved up a bunch of money in the months before I left to make sure I would be able to get my fill of trips in while in South America.

I honestly cannot even begin to express how amazing, fun, meaningful and unforgettable my experience in Argentina turned out to be.

I remember explaining to a friend back home that I felt like I was stimulated by something new and different every single day that I was abroad. The simplest acts of life abroad were incredibly empowering. Common everyday acts, like chatting with a waiter at a restaurant or making small talk with a taxi driver, not only helped me learn more Spanish and more about Argentina, but have also made me feel confident in my ability to function outside my comfort zone. I ended up living with a wonderful host family; an older couple, with whom I developed a relationship only by speaking in Spanish and still keep in touch with now, six months after returning to the US. At the Argentine university where I took classes I met amazing friends, and joined the school's swim team and traveled with them to Uruguay to compete in a meet. I taught English twice a week to a class of 15 students aged 7-9, where I played a variation on "Duck, Duck, Goose" with my students to teach them the names of animals in English and improved my own Spanish through their constant corrections. I traveled with friends throughout Argentina and also visited Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay, and developed an intense passion for traveling, hiking and backpacking. Basically, I've never had more fun.

Though my experience in Argentina has come to a close, it continues to influence my life on a day-to-day basis. I'm currently interning at the Organization of American States, an international organization that aims to foster positive relations throughout the Western Hemisphere, in the Department of Sustainable Development. I had always been interested in the environment before going abroad, but my travels really solidified my desire to devote my professional career to the preserving the areas in which I traveled. My experience was more than I could have ever hoped for, and I know that so many other college students who have studied and/or volunteered abroad say the exact same thing. My gap year was an amazing opportunity, and I wish you all the best on your own adventures abroad!

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