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Program: IES Buenos Aires - Advanced Spanish Immersion

As a kid, I always wanted to see the world. I would watch movies and read books about other countries, spending more time fantasizing about life in these exotic locations than actually paying attention to what I was watching or reading. Unfortunately, growing up my family didn�t have the resources to travel internationally; one of the main reasons I chose 91���� was for its nationally recognized study abroad program. I depend on financial aid to attend 91����, and knowing that I�d be able to live and study in a foreign country for the same price as a semester in Eagle Rock was one of the deciding factors in my college decision.

I�ve wanted to be an immigration lawyer since the eighth grade, which was around the same time I started formally learning Spanish. I�d picked up words and phrases from my Spanish speaking friends (growing up in a very Latino area of California), but knew I wanted to be fluent someday. In the spring of 2023, I took a class called Latin American Political Economy with Professor Mariano Bertucci. Before this class, I had my heart set on Granada, Spain; getting to learn Spanish while surfing every day, eating tapas and drinking sangria in a historic and beautiful part of the world sounded like a dream come true.

Professor Bertucci talked me into signing up for a program in his home country of Argentina, instead. His reasoning was two-fold: that Argentina would help us understand what we learned in class on a deeper level, and that Argentina (with a culture, history, and people much more different from our culture than those of Western Europe) would push us out of our comfort zone, helping us grow as people. It didn�t hurt that Buenos Aires, the capital, sounded amazing; old European architecture, world-class food and wine, a rich and unique culture, and incredible nightlife. I was sold.

To be completely honest, what I learned in the classroom paled in comparison to what I learned outside of it. I don�t want to be the stereotypical �study abroad changed my life� guy, but it did. I credit that to doing my best to step out of the bubble that study abroad provided me; you can only grow so much when your study abroad experience is hanging out with Americans in a different location. To that end, here how my time in Buenos Aires changed my life.

First of all, my Spanish got ridiculously good. I went from stumbling over my words while ordering empanadas to having thirty-minute discussions about Argentine politics with everyone from my professors to taxi drivers. I can speak Spanish fluently now, which I credit to being forced to speak Spanish basically all the time. I had friends from my study abroad program, but the majority of my friends were Argentines, Peruvians or Venezuelans that I met at the local university, in boliches (clubs) or in restaurants. Almost nobody in Buenos Aires speaks fluent English, so in order to communicate, make friends, and immerse myself, I had to speak Spanish.

I took Spanish classes, which helped me improve; however, I learned much more talking to some guy on the colectivo (bus) than I did reviewing the past perfect subjunctive. I joined an Argentine men's league basketball team, which also improved my Spanish an insane amount and helped me make friends I�m still in touch with. Some of my best friends were two Peruvian guys I met at the university (Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, or �la UCA�), who felt just as much like tourists as I did in Buenos Aires, despite speaking Spanish as a first language. Learning Spanish is great for my career, but I�m most grateful for all of the amazing people I met: people I would never have met if I didn�t speak the language.

I could talk about what else I learned in Buenos Aires for hours, but I�ll end with this: if you�re thinking of studying abroad, go somewhere you�ve never heard of. Go somewhere far away, go somewhere with a unique culture, go somewhere where you�ll be one of the only tourists. Immerse yourself in the culture, make friends, connect with your professors, take public transit to random neighborhoods, date around, watch the news. You�ll be surprised at how much your perspective on your life, and the lives of others, changes. Argentina is an incredibly complicated yet wonderful country; both the positives and negatives of life there taught me something about my own life. I�ve become a more confident, more resourceful, stronger, and more understanding person as a result of my time in Argentina; I gained more from the experience than I�d thought I possibly could. What you get out of your study abroad experience, ultimately, is up to you�so don�t stay in your comfort zone, get out there and live.

Top image by David Berkowitz, from Flickr