Kathleen Dominguez- SOL Education Abroad (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Top Five Reasons to Select the Program:

1. SOL is relatively inexpensive, and Argentina is ridiculously cheap for food, transportation, travel, etc.

2. Buenos Aires is an amazing and expansive city with endless things to do and tons of opportunities to listen to nightly live music, great food and restaurants, friendly locals, and beautiful parks.

3. Raúl, the director is wonderful person and has a son, Rodrigo, who both show you around the city and are there as great resources for you as a student but also so laid back and help you branch out to meet local friends and constantly encourage you to speak Spanish!

4. Excursions and food (every meal except lunch and dinner on Saturday's) are all included with the program price which is an awesome deal.

5. An authentic and completely memorable time in Argentina where you get to make an experience for yourself with multiple activities to get involved with and unique places to travel while abroad!

A Funny Story or Situation

The first week or two since I arrived in Buenos Aires, it was so intimidating that I

wasn't a fluent speaker. I had only ever taken Spanish classes in high school or at CUA.

This gave me a great basis and foundation to only get better. There would be times

where I would have to pull out my dictionary or google translate to figure out what a

certain word's meaning was or to conjugate something so I sounded not so much like a gringa!

What I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Went

Bring more cash! The exchange rate is crazy good but you can only get the best rate (that is constantly increasing) if you have American dollars to exchange.

Pack foods such as peanut/almond butter that are pretty hard to find in Argentina.

Either don't book a flight home or book a flight to a different country when the program ends as you have about 2 months to spare before you return back to CUA!

Be confident about your language skills! This is the only way you can get better. It takes about 2 weeks to adjust your ears and catch on to the “castellano” Spanish but after that you'll be set and feel more confident once you can actually understand what people are saying.

The Teacher From Whom I Learned the Most

For Fall semester, I studied at the University of Belgrano, which is a private school in one of the nicest

neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. The teachers are great. I took classes only taught in Spanish and this

is so rewarding in many ways. In order to fully be immersed in the Argentine culture I felt it necessary

to take Spanish and it helped me out so much. Teachers are so supportive and genuinely want you to

do well. None of my teachers were “hard” but they did challenge you to step out of your comfort zone

with the material presented and really think past surface level thoughts.

Housing

I lived with a host mom, Teresita, and she was the greatest. We got super close, as she always would invite me to go walking with her around the city and go to mass on Sunday's with her. She is a bit older but super lively and always dancing around the house and singing to music. She always cooked a delicious meal every night for us. Living situation consisted of a town-house type thing...it was in a building just like every other house in Buenos Aires. There were a lot of bedrooms so I got my own with my own bathroom and she had her own. I was allowed to use the kitchen and lounge around wherever- she was very laid back. Some people might think you might not have a lot of freedom if you live with a host family but all they ask is that you let them know if you're coming home and at what time so they don't lock you out. They genuinely take care of you as one of their own in every situation and want to make sure you're safe. Live with a host family!