Here are some clips from emails I’ve fielded from interested students. If you have another question, don’t hesitate to email me at yespositively@gmail.com
ACADEMICS
In order to go to Argentina, you have to pass a simple Spanish exam. I took Intermediate I and II my freshman year, then I took Intensive Advanced I and II my sophomore year. I enjoyed intensive (and I’m a Spanish major, so I didn’t have a choice!), then took Academic Writing (Span 200) last fall. That amount of classes prepared me for the program and I felt ready when I got there.
You are permitted to take courses at the following four schools:
1. FLACSO– the program offers classes for the 100 or so students that are all US students. The classes are in Spanish but are geared to teach you about aspects on Latin American culture and help you learn Spanish in a class that’s not “Spanish class.” These classes are nice and easy and understanding if you miss a class because you’re traveling, but you don’t get the richness of the culture of actually ATTENDing a foreign school (i.e. direct enrollment). Georgetown students are only allowed to take one FLACSO course, and it’s nice to do so for the convenience, experience, and the fact that it allows you to deal with your more difficult public university courses.
2. UBA– the largest and most prestigious university in Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires is divided into lots of different “facultades” around the city. The program allows you to take courses at the Filosofia and Letras school, the Ciencias Sociales, or at the Economia school. I have one class at the “Filo” that I love– it’s actually 6 credits and meets three times a week. This class was very intense and had a lot of reading. However, the UBA is going to be a great place to meet some Argentine students.
3. UCA– The Universidad Catolica de Argentina is a private school, and it’s neat to have a diverse experience and take classes at the public AND the private universities if at all possible. Their system of obtaining texts is a little challenging, but people with classes at UCA say you get used to it. I attended a few classes during shopping period, but since UCA is so far from my house (you commute to all of the schools, it’s certainly not all one campus), I chose not to take a course here.
4. IUNA– some school for art students. It’s prestigious but I honestly don’t know too much about it. I know that most of the classes are for people with advanced art and music abilities, and it’s usually not a school attended by Georgetown students.
Students that do not test above a 7 on the Spanish aptitude test also will take a grammar or specific class at the UBA Labratorio de Idiomas. I was on about the same Spanish track as you and tested as a level 5. I’m in a class about Argentine literature that meets for 3 hours once a week. Depending on your schedule or commute classes that meet two or three times a week or classes that are more like seminars. I have two 3 hour classes, the crazy 6 credit UBA class, and a class that meets for 1.15 twice a week.
ANXIOUS ABOUT SPANISH?
Don’t be. The program offers recommendations for students at all levels– typically the UCA classes are a bit more “extranjero” friendly, so kids who tested into the pre-intermediate level take one or two classes there, two classes with the program, and a language class. You still get a nice exposure to all of the schools here, though UBA classes aren’t recommended for students who test below a 5. I find that my Spanish preparation from Georgetown has left me in pretty good shape here, though the readings are a bit hefty since they’re all in Spanish.
I’m a bit of a slow reader, but you can get through it! None of the papers (I’m going off the syllabus; I haven’t turned anything in yet) are terribly long and most mid-terms are take home. A lot of the finals are oral, and by then you’ll be great at Spanish, and teachers know that foreign students aren’t going to express themselves as perfectly as locals.
Also, there is a lot of English here! Sure, I don’t use it every day, but other kids in the program are helpful, and a few people I’m friendly with at UBA like to practice their English with me. We use a lot of Spanglish. It’s accurate to say that most of the classes I’m in are definitely foreigner-friendly, as is most of the city, especially when you say you’re a student. I talk to strangers all the time, and have gotten really good at saying where I’m from and what I study. :-p
To follow up on this note: After five months, I feel very good about my Spanish speaking ability. I’m not sure I would use the word “fluent” but I can communicate without problems, people can understand me, and I’m confident in conversation and with reading and writing.
BUENOS AIRES
The city is crazy big, and has over 800 bus lines! It also has a metro line that is shaped like a decrescendo (like this! >) so you have to go to the middle to switch lines. I lived in Recoleta, an area with a zillion buses, so I used the bus system a lot.
It’s also noteworthy that Buenos Aires is sort of modeled after Italian and French cities, and is therefore very European– don’t come expecting it to look like Mexico, Chile, or Bolivia– it has a large immigrant population and is not a Central America experience. People who know this coming in have a nice time, though I did once meet someone who said that Buenos Aires was not a “Latin” enough experience for her.
The city is amazing though, there are a lot of things to see! It’s summer right now and it’s hot, so I think I’m going to be a better explorer once it cools down a little bit. I’m keeping a travel blog at yespositively.wordpress.com and plan on posting some of my shots of the city– I’m sort of behind right now though!!!
The FLACSO building (program headquarters) is in a nice area with lots of eating options, and since the program (I live with a host family, but you can live in a resedencia if you want) includes breakfast and dinner, it’s nice because you can get a sandwich for $4 pesos ($3.3 US!!).
The exchange rate is great, and there are a lot of cool artesian markets, given some of them are touristy. If you’re looking for a party city, I’m not sure Buenos Aires is the one (it CAN be, if you seek out that environment)– Fridays and Saturdays are great for heading to a local discotec or boliche, and there are bars that offer nice happy hours during the week, but week nights are typically more “tranquila”. That’s sort of my going out style, and I’m sure you could find more week night options if you really want to find more of a night life.
All of the host families are required to live within 30 minutes of the FLACSO building, so you’re limited to living in a few different barrios which are all neat and have different things to offer. I love mine, and few people in the program would say anything different. I love living with a host family, because you get to speak Spanish all the time, and it’s really nice to not have to worry about what to have for dinner.
TRAVEL
So far I’ve gone to Uruguay, where there is no visa fee, and to Bariloche, an area in northern Patagonia. Both trips were a blast. See more on the travel blog in the next week or two.
If you’re a US citizen there are reciprocity fees to get a visa for Brazil and Chile, but there is so much to see in Argentina that you can easily stay in budget and do lots of travel. There are also two trips that are included in the program, which are to places that are a bit closer by but still worth your while to see.
My other trip I have planned (tentatively!) is to Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world! We’re going to fly there and see the glaciers and do some other nature-y stuff. If I’m right about when you plan on studying abroad, you’ll have plenty of time to decide what you want to do!
WHEN TO GO
Spring semester worked best for me because of lots of reasons, but I’m enjoying it because it’s summer right now (I didn’t leave the US until February 20 because they had their summer break here!), and it’ll turn into fall and I’ll get the beginning of a mild winter before I get home. My summer is short since I’m going to have to head back to Georgetown on August 10 for RA training (yay!), and I don’t leave Argentina till July 20. Some people stay a week longer and explore / travel more.
I do know a girl who went last semester, and I think she liked the season she was here, too. She got here in the cold winter and enjoyed spring and a bit of more summery weather before heading home. Everything is pretty mild here, so fitting it into your four plan should be easy.
GRADUATING ON TIME
As a Political Economy / Spanish double major in the college, I’m getting two Spanish elective requirements and one PeCo elective requirement satisfied while I’m here. Not bad for only taking four classes! Typically the program classes regularly accepted since the program is a popular one at Georgetown, and the Spanish department was pretty fast at getting back to me about questions. Some Georgetown kids are also satisfying their history gen eds while they’re here. You cannot satisfy a math or science gen ed while abroad in Argentina.
COMPLAINTS?
So far, the one complaint I had was the length of the registration process. You have to pre register forever and then the shopping period is challenging. Now that I’m settled into a schedule though, I’m happy with it and looking forward to a nice 16 week semester. 
PRAISE?
I love being a part of a big program with other US kids from lots of different universities. It’s a nice support system and I still get to be independent and do my thing while living with a family. The balance is nice. I love the Filo and spend a lot of time there due to the way my schedule worked out. I also have a crazy coffee habit that’s turned into an espresso habit– that’s about all they have here! I work at UG so I’m a bit spoiled, but most places do a pretty legit shot of espresso, with milk or with cream, and for under $2 US!
I love the exchange rate also, it made a lot of the things I wanted to do while abroad a lot more financially possible, including travel, going out to eat, and buying some souvenirs while I’m here. Travel is the big one– Europe and the rail sounds great, but it’s hard to beat the great exchange rate in such an interesting and diverse country.
Okay, that’s probably enough to at least get you thinking more about the program. Obviously hit me up with any more specific questions and keep in touch, since I’ll know more in the next four months (I can’t believe I’m one month in already!). Overall I’ve been happy with the program thusfar and hopefully I will continue to be– Buenos Aires is a great mix of Latin American history (which I love), with a neat European infusion and something that is distinctly… porteño (what Buenos Aires citizens call themselves, literally, people of a port).
Okay! You made it through my little Argentina “information thing”. As far as your specific questions– opportunities to speak ONLY Spanish: Yes, with my family and at my school (the direct enrollment courses). I made good friends with two women in my history course at the UBA and we did coffee after class twice a week. To be realistic, not a ton of students end up going out regularly with Argentines, but it’s easy to meet them in clubs (especially if you’re with only a few American students). The tricky thing about friends from the UBA is that (at least in my case) my friends commuted in to go to school, so they weren’t in the city on the weekends. We did drink lots of coffee together though. I find that the people who were a bit better at Spanish going into the program made more Spanish speaking friends during the course of the semester. Additionally, FLACSO offers enrollment in Ricardo Rojas classes, which are one credit little elective courses like tango or drawing, and lots of Argentines (many who actually live in the city) take those courses. They’re a cost on top of the normal enrollment (but like $30 / semester), but fun and a nice way to meet people. I think that regardless of where you go, your experience is what you make it. The Buenos Aires experience offers ample opportunities to students who want to go and speak montones of Spanish, but I also know kids who only went to American style ex-pat bars, only hung out with Americans, and probably didn’t improve their Spanish a lot while they were there. I DID speak a lot of Spanish, which is what I wanted out of the experience.
As far as safety level? Let’s see… FLACSO is located in the densely populated microcentro of the city, in Once ( a barrio). All of the residences have to be 30 minutes travel time from the headquarters, which limits you to Almagro, Belgrano, Palermo, Recoleta, Flores, and Once. Maybe a few people lived further out than that, but those barrios are typically the upper- and upper-middle class ones of the city. That said, the homes are nice, and you get your own room. FLACSO cares for students security and has an emergency phone (I never called it) for students to call 24-hrs a day. I will say that Buenos Aires is a Latin American city, and it happens quite regularly that an American has an iPod or cell phone stolen. Very few incidents are worse than this, and very few robberies are violent. It’s a city, and like any city, prudence and smart decision making are really the keys to keeping yourself safe.
If it gets late (and Argentine bars stay open til 6 or 7 am, and nights run to at least 5 without even realizing it!), you take a cab home. Cabs are quite cheap, so it’s completely worth it if you’re alone. I lived in a nice, safe neighborhood (as did most students) and felt safe for my time there.
I encourage you to take five minutes and scope out my travel blog if you’re not exhausted after reading all of this!!! The link is www.yespositively.wordpress.com . The last few entries are sort of personal and don’t tell you a ton about the city, but if you browse through it you’ll see a lot of photos, and I tried to capture day to day things as well as the trips I went on, so it should give you a bit of a portrait of what life in Buenos Aires looks like for an American student.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
