Best summer ever in Argentina

This was one of the best experiences of my life! I made a lot of wonderful friends, and am very close to my host family. They were incredibly welcoming, and they helped me practice my Spanish and I learned a lot about Argentinian culture with them. The ciee staff were very friendly and supportive too. On my second day, me and another student had no idea how to get home, so one of our instructors went with us on the subway to make sure we got to the right place. We had a lot of structured activities, especially during the first week. However, I thought we also had a lot of opportunities to explore the city by ourselves, which I enjoyed a lot. I also really enjoyed my Spanish class. It was really small, only 10 students, and there was a big emphasis on speaking. While I think my Spanish improved, I think my confidence improved much more. I thought the workload was reasonable. We had classes every morning, and we would have a long writing assignment due every Friday. If you do a little everyday it's not that bad at all. We only spoke in Spanish during class, at home, and at restaurants or wherever else we went. However, I did speak in English a lot with my friends, who I was with a lot. I am really happy with the friends I made. However, if I had chosen a semester abroad or something where I was with Argentinian teens instead of US teens I think my Spanish would have improved a lot more. But overall, this was a wonderful experience and I can't recommend it enough.