Pasandola Bien en Buenos Aires, Argentina
By Tori Gillum, UTSA Education Abroad student, Political Science major, Spanish minor
"Having a good time in BA" began when I visited some family in La Plata before finally making my way to Buenos Aires.
Upon arrival, I met the girls I would be spending four months with, went to orientation, and managed to get extremely lost. Have you ever been lost? 
Genuinely lost, without a clue, in a country where you do not know their language? It's terribly awful. Anyway, aside from finally finding my way around my "barrio" (neighborhood), I thoroughly enjoyed speaking the language to strangers, discovering the city on my own through various subway and bus stops, all the while avoiding dog excrements on the street (no really, I have never seen that much on a sidewalk at a time).
Luckily, my university, The University of Belgrano, was a ten-minute walk from my apartment. While there, I took five classes: Spanish, International Business, U.S./ Latin American Relations, Gender History in Latin America, and Latin American Literature; my favorite two classes were Spanish and International Business. Secondly, I enjoyed my international business class so much that I am now considering obtaining a master's in it instead of international relations. The topics we discussed, the relevance of the material to everyday life, and all aspects of the class intrigued me completely- enough to want to pursue it further.
Buenos Aires will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the place where I improved my Spanish, understood the true meaning of language fluency (and that it takes years to acquire), gained a greater independence, tried to break the monotony of my routine life at home, and became more comfortable in my own skinfor that, I will be forever indebted to that wonderful city.
I definitely plan on returning to the beautiful South American country and experiencing more of what it has to offer, but for now, I am content with how I have changed and the path I am heading down, because of my semester abroad there.
Me encanta Buenos Aires y lo extraño todos los días.
Source: Utsa
