Hello again! I arrived in Buenos Aires at the end of January for the Latin American Studies program at the Universidad de Belgrano. Since I last wrote I’ve completed a one-month intensive Spanish course. Rollins IP offers the option to take this course in addition to the semester at no additional cost, and I’ve found it invaluable for becoming familiar with the unique dialect spoken in and around the capital city.
We were given a week-long break after the intensive course, which I used to travel to Mendoza, a western city near the Chilean border. The dry, mountainous landscape was a fun change of scenery from coastal Buenos Aires. If you enjoy hiking, rafting, or anything similar, Mendoza is just one of the great destinations you’ll find in Argentina.
Because Argentina’s summer is just now starting to draw to a close, my actual semester is only just beginning this coming week. It feels a bit strange to be in this position while classes and even Fox Day speculation have already been in full swing at Rollins. I’ve already noticed where the actual university administration begins to differ from that in the United States. At least for our specific program, students spend a week “shopping” the various courses that are available. This means that we’re encouraged to, more or less, drop in on whatever classes seem interesting to us so we can learn more about their structure. This isn’t drastically different from the add/drop period at Rollins, except here our course registrations are not actually set in stone until we confirm everything at the end of the first week. For many American students, who already have an idea of what courses they need to work toward majors or other requirements, this can seem a bit strange.
All this aside, I’m extremely excited to engage with the university setting in Buenos Aires. The university itself is mostly condensed into a single high-rise building in the residential neighborhood of Belgrano. There is much more stair-climbing here than I’m used to, but I’m sure Rollins has prepared me well in many other aspects of the experience. Until next time, I’ve included a few disparate photos of the trip to this point.
