Buenos Aires: Weeks 12–15 — Summarizing my Experience

Nick Zarras
Aug 31, 2018 · 10 min read

After 15 weeks spent living, studying, working, and traveling in another continent, it is hard to believe that my study abroad experience is over. Finally done travelling, I spent the last four weeks in Buenos Aires, making sure to do everything I wanted before leaving, and saying some difficult goodbyes to some of the best friends that I have met from all over the world.

Academics-wise, I have a few final papers and exams before classes ended, none of which were too bad, and I ended with pretty good grades thankfully. My 12-week internship with BeatHey ended, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I had to gain work experience in another country, and another language for that matter! While the reality is I did not help BeatHey with anything groundbreaking in my short time there, I did help with a lot of small projects and they truly made me feel like part of the team.

On the last week, my friend Matt and I took a tour of the Palacio Barolo, a historic palace and office building designed by Mario Pelanti. It offers a stunning landscape view of Buenos Aires from the top, something I wanted to see before I left, since views of the city are hard to find, being as it is so flat. We asked the tour guides what time would be best to see the sunset and scheduled our tour accordingly and were treated to a spectacular view.

Rather than simply just sum up my final month in Buenos Aires, I want to take this time on my last blog post to wrap up my experiences — both the good and the bad — in one place. To do this, I will go over the five hardest things about studying abroad, and the five best things about studying abroad in Buenos Aires.

5 Hardest Things about Study Abroad

1. Language

First, and most obvious, is adjusting to living in a country where a completely different language is spoken. Luckily, I had already taken Spanish classes through high school, which helped give me a nice base to work with, although nothing quite prepared me for the distinct way of speaking in Argentina. Since I never really explained much about the language, I’ll go over some major differences in the classroom or “traditional” Spanish versus the Spanish or ‘castellano’ or ‘lunfardo’ spoken in Argentina. For those who speak neither, feel free to move onto number two!

Now, to Spanish speakers, hearing a different accent with different words isn’t really that challenging at all from what I’ve heard, nothing more than an American hearing an English accent, let’s say. But for me, only learning and speaking in the US, it was a hard adjustment at first, but luckily because I was forced to hear it daily, I started the get the hang of it by the end. Some differences:

- Voseo

The biggest difference for me was learning ‘voseo’, a completely new conjugation. In most Spanish speaking countries, ‘tú’ or ‘usted’ is used for ‘you’, depending on formality. In Argentina, throw all that out the window, because all you hear is ‘vos’. “Tú eres” becomes “vos sos”, tienes becomes tenés, quieres is querés, entiendes is entendés, and so on and so forth. It’s very strange at first, although I actually grew to like it since I never had to remember formality and could essentially say vos to anyone.

- Colectivo/bondi

Instead of ‘autobus’ or “guaga”, in Argentina ‘colectivo’ and ‘bondi’ are used to describe a bus. Because the bus was my main form of transportation, I quickly adjusted, but was very confused at first.

- Pibe/tipo

Instead of ‘nino/a’ for ‘boy/girl’, you will hear ‘pibe’ or ‘piba’ in Argentina. Additionally, ‘tipo’ is often used for man instead of ‘hombre’ or ‘muchacho’.

- ¡Che boludo!

This is a phrase to get a friend’s attention, or it could be a phrase to tell someone to watch out, or insult them, depending on context. Kind of confusing, ‘boludo’ would normally be a word for someone that is stupid or ignorant, but in Argentina many friends will call each other this. ‘Che’ is another word to get another person’s attention, perhaps stemming from Che Guevarra, a revolutionary figure born in Argentina.

Here is a link to a website explaining many more examples of distinct Argentine phrases, for anyone interested: https://www.lifeder.com/frases-palabras-argentinas/

2. Bureaucracy

Dealing with government officials can be frustrating anywhere, especially in another country, and twice I had nervous/difficult experiences with bureaucratic processes while in Argentina.

First, when I went to Uruguay, somehow, I did not get the passport stamp saying I entered Uruguay, only that I left Argentina. On the return, the Uruguayan officials were confused, and did not allow me to enter the ferry. I was very nervous and tried explaining myself, and eventually a nice man had me fill out some extra forms and escorted me separate from my friends through customs. I ended up being fine, and now, officially, I was never in any country for an entire weekend…

The most difficult was obtaining my student visa. Annoyingly, the program I went with did not know much about the student visa process, only that we needed to get it before our 3-month tourist visas expired. Together, myself and other members of the program figured it out, but it was a lengthy process. First, I visited the first police station to my home, which wasn’t clear, to tell them I needed a residency form. Next, they come to your home to prove you live there and give you the form. You have to take that form to an office downtown to get fingerprinted, pay a fee, and apply for a background check. After waiting a few weeks, they send it to you, and you then have to make an appointment with the immigration office, which can take over a month. After finally having all your documents in order, you show up to your appointment, only to find absolute confusion everywhere. After being photographed and meeting with an official, they hold onto your documents, including passport, while you go to a completely separate building to pay for the visa (a separate fee from the background check), before returning. The entire process was extremely confusing and weird, and I did not even receive my visa until 3 weeks before I left. Another friend wasn’t even that fortunate, and on her appointment date found the immigration office closed because the workers were on strike, which leads me to my next point…

3. Protests

One of the slight annoyances of Buenos Aires at times was the amount of protesting. Argentines have a very expressive political culture, and when I was there a lot of very controversial topics, such as abortion, were being discussed by their Congress. Both sides would form very large groups and march through the streets, which would disrupt traffic a lot. I don’t mind the right to protest, but it would get kind of annoying when I wouldn’t be able to take the bus some days because the route would be blocked.

4. Very casual lifestyle

One of the things that took some getting used to was the very relaxed lifestyle in Argentina. Often, people would show up 15–30 minutes late to meetings, work, or whatever, and being late is not frowned upon there as it is in the US. It got frustrating at times. Another small example of this would be at restaurants, where the service is a lot slower than what I was used to. Anything they do, they make sure they take time to enjoy it and not rush through it. Eventually I got used to it and didn’t mind, but expect to spend at least an hour at a restaurant if you go out.

5. Traffic and navigation

As with any big city, navigating and learning my way around was tough at first. The subway system and bus system was very confusing to me at first, although I got used to it and felt like I mostly knew my way around by the time I left.

5 Best Things about Study Abroad

1. Learning Spanish

Even though it was also on my list of hardest things, learning Spanish was one of the things I enjoyed the most about studying abroad. I truly feel that immersing yourself and speaking Spanish with as many native-speakers as possible is the only way to truly advance your knowledge, and I’m really fortunate to have had that opportunity. By the end, I would often find myself thinking in Spanish as well, especially after spending time with many of my friends that speak Spanish!

2. Food and Drinks!

I will definitely miss the incredible food and drink of Argentina. Not only did my host mother always provide me with amazing home-cooked meals, there were incredible restaurants on every corner of the city. The asados, milanesas, choprripan, empanadas, jamon y queso, and everything else. Even drinking Quilmes, the most popular beer, and Fernet, a popular liquor, I will miss. I’ve even brought yerba mate back with me, to enjoy stateside.

3. The incredible landscape

What I came to learn every time I traveled while abroad, is how beautiful Argentina really is. It is so much more than just what Buenos Aires has to offer, with beautiful mountains in the west, deserts and cliffs in the north, and waterfalls and jungle in the northeast. I only explored a fraction of what Argentina has to offer, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to go back and explore more in the future.

4. ¡Fútbol!

One of my favorite things is how much everyone loves futbol, or soccer there. While it was unfortunate I didn’t actually get to play as much as I had wanted, I loved how every single restaurant or bar had the games on, and how people would celebrate and cheer all around the city when their team won. Soccer is my favorite sport, and unfortunately it does not receive much coverage and attention in the US. In Argentina, everyone shared the same passion with me, and I loved talking about it with the people there. It was always an easy way for me to start a conversation with someone. Of course, completing my dream and seeing a match at La Bombonera was incredible, and Boca ended up winning the league while I was there, which was incredible to be a part of.

5. The people I met!

Last, what I will miss the most about my time abroad is the incredible people I met everywhere. Most encounters I had with strangers were very positive, and I was constantly meeting new people, from Argentina and all over the world. My host mother was extremely welcoming and kind, my coworkers were very supportive and helpful, and I made some of the best memories of my life with all the friends I met. Some of them also live in the US and I will definitely be seeing them, while most of the others live in other countries. I hope to see them all again someday and recount and remember the great times we had and the memories we made! Of course, it isn’t as difficult anymore, because social media allows us to keep in touch.

Altogether, studying abroad in Argentina is maybe the craziest thing I’ve done in my life, and I don’t regret it one bit. Through all its ups and downs, I really enjoyed it, and can’t wait to go back someday. To anyone reading considering studying in Buenos Aires, or even in any other place around the world, I really encourage it.

Thanks to all those who stuck around and read all about my journey in South America, I hope you enjoyed! ¡Chau!

Nick Zarras

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Stories, photos, and weekly updates from my trip to Buenos Aires.

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