Argentina

My name is Nico and I'm from England. I went to study abroad in Buenos Aires using expanish's study abroad program. I have to say that it was more fun than I expected! People there have been really nice and I got to learn a lot about the culture. I highly recommend Expanish Study Abroad.

I traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina at the end of last year with Expanish's Study Abroad program and must admit that it was a unique experience.
Upon arriving at the country, I was treated very well by their staff and was explained everywhere I had to go and everything I had to do. That was pretty cool, considering it was the first time I traveled abroad.
I studied at Universidad de Belgrano and quickly made new friends. It's amazing how easy it is to make new friends in Argentina.
Any way, I'm recommending Expanish's Study Abroad experience to all my friends and didn't want you to miss out so I wrote this review.
Hope it comes in helpful when the time comes for you to pick a study abroad program.
Cheers!

Lowdown on housing via GIC: Homestays (what I did) - yes they had a reputation for good homestay families the month I was there. Student dorm - they won't tell you the name of the dorm they use - but it's called "Azul" if you want to google them and apply directly...although evidently GIC rents blocks of beds in advance so you might find space easier thru GIC. It is really nice like in the online photos. Shared Apt - they don't seem to have very many and the ones they have are not so near either the GIC or UBA school. I heard a couple people complain about the travel time/distance from their apartments in Palermo or Belgrano to downtown to the school.
In general though, the GIC Spanish school in the Palacio Barolo is beautiful with great teachers - learned a lot for the month I was there, had fun, and would recommend it.

I also liked the GIC Spanish programs. I did a month at the UBA school and a month at their own school after maxing out the levels at UBA, and thought both were very good. The teachers at both locations were experienced and kept things interesting for the most part - and there wasn't a lot of changing of teachers which I don't like (well the GIC-UBA program had 2 teachers and the GIC school had the same one for the month). They seemed to have a good group of homestay families for the ones of us staying with families - mi familia era di-vi-na! Would recommend either of their Spanish programs.

I don't know anything about their volunteering, but their Spanish school is actually pretty good. I studied Spanish for a month with them and everyone seemed to like their teachers a lot - I thought the teacher I had, Federico, was awesome. Ask for him!

GIC was wonderfully helpful as I was preparing to travel to Argentina. They answered emails promptly, gave extensive descirptions of my options, and provided a general orientation to living in Buenos Aires. But once they had my money it was like pulling teeth to get them to respond to my questions and problems. My accommodation were not at all what I had paid for but GIC refused to adjust the prices according to their information on their website. Though I had paid for a volunteer placement, it took three solid weeks of emails and phone calls and in office visits before I actually began- only to find the program was something completely different than had been described. They are disorganized and unprofessional and I would not recommend them to anyone. Unfortunately, the experiences of my classmates and flatmates with GIC have been much worse than mine. Hopefully they will share their stories here as well.
The spanish classes through UBA however, are excellent and I would highly recommend them. If you pay UBA directly without going through GIC, you'll pay half as much!

I joined this organization back on 2008. I had a horrible time with them. the director (Marco) is most rude and Rebecca who is a siter of Marco also most rude to volunteer. My recomdation never use this organization.

Overall, a positive educational experience! So that my days would be full, I agreed to work for three organizations while in BsAs: IFEP (research organization of the national parliament), Creer y Crecer (think tank of the powerful leader of the PRO political party) and Amartya (an NGO with a socialist slant focused on issues like education, fair trade etc.). I worked on research projects (i.e. Functionality of the Freedom of Information Act in Argentina and in Capital Federal; Comparison of the "Big City" Gubernatorial Issues and Political Platforms in the US with the Issues of the Province of Buenos Aires and Potential Political Platforms). At Amartya I was to work on fundraising and grant writing.
I enjoyed the high-level placements. And even if I wasn't included as much as I would have liked, they look great on my resume all the same. I worked with some very interesting, intelligent and passionate people at Amartya, Creer y Crecer and IFEP and through my interactions with them feel more comfortable in choosing a very defined field of study for a Masters (and perhaps PhD). I also now have a functional level of Spanish, which will certainly be beneficial when I am applying to my intended graduate programs.
I do think it would have been helpful to take an intensive Spanish languge course PRIOR. In my experience, every organization for which I would have liked to work required a conersational elvel of Spanish. I feel that to be an effective member of the team at the organizations dealing with research in political & public policy issues, like IFEP and Creer y Crecer, one would need at least high-intermediate to advanced spanish conversation skills. The positions at these organizations are not for anyone with less comprehension & conversation ability. Because my own Spanish conversation skills were less than fluents, I think I missed out on a bit.
I lived by myself, when I first arrived, and then a homestay. I found it much cheaper and more fulifiling to live with a Spanish speaking family. My conversation skills and fluency progressed more rapidly during my homestay than when I was living alone. I cannot recommend it more highly. My advice to other program participants is to do the homestay or stay with a group of other international students, if only for the first few months, but don't get a single aprartment to live by yourself.
My Int'l Program Director, Lorena, was amazing. She answered all of my e-mails and phone calls in a timely way. She went out of her way to make me feel welcome in BsAs and to include me in group activites in the city and countryside. She is very serious about her job and about making sure that her interns are doing well. She went out of her way to organize dinners and other outings so that all interns could have the opportunity to eat and interact with each other.
The application and interview processes were easy and well organized. Overall, I had a wonderful experience in Buenos Aires. I was able to meet and interact with high level political players as well as to gain insight into the political and economic environment of a Latin American country. The city itself is phenomenal - alive and vibrant, like the portenos themselves. I would certainly recommend Buenos Aires to anyone intersted in learning more aobut Latin American politics and developmental issues.

Everything went so well...the housing situation worked out very well...This program is great...I would recommend it to everyone...My job is also going very well. This weekend I am traveling to Bariloche for four nights, next stop, Uruguay.