Buenos Aires, Argentina Past Review
By Isabelle M (Political Science, Tulane University) for
Middlebury Schools Abroad: Middlebury in Buenos Aires
Yes - I got to spend time with my friends and family there while earning college credit.
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. |
The workload was comparable or less but it was difficult adjusting to a new way of taking exams. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
There was little involvement of the program past the basics and they would give lots of advice without really knowing what they were talking about, which in scenarios such as choosing classes ended up doing more harm than good for many of the students ont he program. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I arranged for my own housing outside of the program and the program coordinators had zero involvement. |
| * Food: |
Argentine cuisine is not very balanced. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The trip to Córdoba was really fun. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The city is safe once you learn to navigate it well, but can be very dangerous with little knowledge of the different areas. Local healthcare is awful, but luckily we had access to private healthcare. |
| 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? | $120 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | The Middlebury-mandated host family housing is extremely pricey, especially relative to actual housing prices in Buenos Aires. I had arranged for my own housing and so paid around $200 a month, but the other students paid around $650 a month and were not in better housing situations than I was. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Fluent |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | final year political science course - Party Politics in Modern Democracies |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
I lived with Argentine friends but many of the students on the program had a hard time making Argentine friends and ended up spending most of their time with the other Americans on the program. |
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 did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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