My review of my experience with Road2Argentina has come quite late because upon my return to the United States I was still dealing with residual issues that were unresolved when I left. Along with that I had to leave the program early - one month early- just because they could not provide me with what they'd advertised. But I will start from the beginning...
My absolutely terrible experience with this program all stems from extreme miscommunication and lack of help from the coordinators at hand. Before I went to Argentina I'd paid for and was given an assignment in a medial clinic for a medical internship I'd applied for months in advance. I'd received specific information about where I would be working, but I when I arrived in the city and began my first day of work I was taken to a clinic 2 hours outside Buenos Aires, was the only volunteer in a clinic, in a not so safe area. I was under the impression that this was not the clinic I'd been given information about because I'd done research before arriving and knew that the clinic they'd sent me information about was only 45 minutes away from where I was living. After making the 2 hour commute, one way, (4 hours a day), by myself for about 2 weeks, I approached the Road coordinators about this miscommunication. They then came to tell me that the information I received BEFORE I arrived in Buenos Aires was incorrect and the spot I'd been told I would be given had been filled. I was not aware of this at all until that moment and was furious that I hadn't been given ANY information before I was assigned to a completely different clinic so far outside of the city, as the only volunteer, making a commute on the subway, train, bus, and foot to get to a place where I did not feel safe and stuck out so obviously as a foreigner. So upon my realization that Road had assigned me somewhere else without notifying me, I became quite upset and requested to be moved to another medical position inside the city where I felt safer and did not have to make such a lengthy commute.
My request was not addressed for about 2 weeks, leaving me idle in the city as I waited for them to find another position for me. During this time however, I was also moved 4 times in total from a shared residence, to a shared apartment, to a hostel, and then finally into a home stay. This issue stemmed from the closing of Road House, (the shared residence formerly owned by the program), which I knew was closing before I'd come to Argentina and thus chose to be relocated into a shared apartment when it closed. When this happened however, I was moved into a more dangerous neighborhood, in an apartment that had not been previously inspected by any of the current Road 2 Argentina coordinators and was not somewhere I was comfortable staying in for 3.5 months. So when I requested to move elsewhere I was relocated to a hostel intermittently and then given a place in a home stay about two weeks later. The moving was exhausting and the final home stay I was placed in had numerous problems as well - such as flooding floors in my room and malfunctioning furniture - but at this point I was too fed up with moving to complain.
As for my internship position, at this point I'd been assured that there were no actual medical internships within the city but that I could volunteer in a place that had medical influences. I felt as if I really had no choice so I began to work as a volunteer in a slum area of the city. The job was much closer and more convenient, but it most definitely did not contain a medical aspect and I ended up teach English instead. This was another big strike against the program. But, the biggest strike Road 2 Argentina managed was when I found out that TWO other students in the program, that had come to the city AFTER I'd arrived, were involved in medical internships at a hospital 5 MINUTES AWAY from where I was living and from the coordinating offices for Road 2 Argentina. I approached Road 2 Argentina about this and questioned why they'd misinformed me about medical openings in the city and was given evasive answers that essentially summed up to, "you applied for something different." This, I assure you was untrue, because although one of the students who worked at the hospital had applied to Road far before I did, the other student had applied AFTER me, through the same exact portal, for the EXACT same position with the EXACT same application process and yet they'd received this position in the heart of the city and I'd been assigned to the provinces of Buenos Aires.
Upon making all of these realizations about the positions available that Road coordinators had misinformed me about and my lack of involvement in ANYTHING medical - which is what I came to Buenos Aires for in the first place - I decided it might be best for me to cut my 4 month volunteer abroad plans with Road 2 Argentina short by an entire month. I was stressed and tired from all of the moving around and the "miscommunication" the people at the program had fed me during me stay. Because I was leaving early I requested a refund for some of the money I'd paid for the program and thus encountered the issues I am continuing to deal with today in the United States.
So, in conclusion, my review of this program is so poor because of lack of communication and lack of desire to help the volunteer or student abroad that emanates so strongly from the coordinating staff at Road 2 Argentina. They were always very evasive about my requests and were slow to acknowledge my complaints, leaving my idle or uncomfortable for extended periods of time and only making changes when I forcefully demanded them or threatened to leave early (which I ended up doing anyway). I also know that specifically for the medical internship positions, the program advertises more opportunities than they have available. But, if you do choose to engage with the program and complete an internship, be absolutely 100% sure BEFORE YOU GO that the position they've offered you is legitimate and you will not be reassigned unknowingly upon your arrival.
