Landing in Argentina late last month was a big culture shock – coming from the heat of the Missouri summer to the cool winter of Buenos Aires. Everyone warns students going abroad about culture shock, but having to speak Spanish for every interaction was still a big change for me as I’ve rarely practiced my Spanish skills outside of a classroom. The Argentine accent is a lot different than the Spanish I’ve learned in school — the ll and y in Spanish words are pronounced as “sh” or “ch” which is distinct from Mexican Spanish. My Spanish was first put to the test when I arrived at my homestay, where I am staying with my Argentine host mom and her son as well as three other international students. In my first month I’ve become accustomed to living in my homestay — a big apartment high up in a large apartment building in the heart of Buenos Aires. After each day of being in class or exploring the city, I come back to my apartment and rest on the balcony, enjoying the excellent food prepared by my host mom, talking about my day with the other students.

Before classes started, I was lucky enough to get a full week of exploring the city before classes started at the Universidad del Belgrano in the city of Buenos Aires. I spent this week walking around my neighborhood, eating empanadas (a staple food in the Argentine diet), and meeting students from across the world. I visited the San Telmo Market, a large outside feria that extends across an entire neighborhood, with food, leather goods, and specialty items. I also visited the Museo de Bellas Artes, one of many museums in the city with art from around the world. One interesting activity in Buenos Aires is the Ecoparque, a zoo in the heart of Palermo where animals can roam freely. Of course, only certain animals are in the Ecoparque, but it’s such a fun experience to be surrounded by peacocks and monkeys and flamingos without seeing any enclosures.

Once classes started, I started settling into a routine, getting my laundry done at a laundromat and occasionally visiting an exchange house to exchange money (the peso is king in Argentina). At the university, I am taking two classes in English with the topics being Political Change in Latin America and U.S. – Latin America relations respectively. These classes provide general overviews of political science, and I’m excited to continue digging deeper in these classes and see a Latin American perspective of politics. My other classes, instructed in Spanish, are an oral production class and a volunteering class where I am paired with a local NGO to participate in the community. While I’ve only been to the cultural center twice, I am hopeful that this volunteering experience gives me some insight into the community, and I can provide some assistance to the community.

I also have some upcoming trips to the Iguazu Falls planned and I hope to start traveling around Argentina and Chile. I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to spend an entire semester exploring Latin America. Studying abroad is truly an experience that cannot be replicated and I already am thankful for meeting students from Italy, Spain and Germany. The locals that I’ve interacted with are all kind people who are willing to translate words into English and communicate with me.

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Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: CEA CAPA: Latin American Studies in Buenos Aires