Buenos Aires: Independent Life in the Big City

I grew up in a teeny-tiny town in the middle of Idaho, which made the transition to life into Buenos Aires, one of the largest cities in the world, pretty challenging and overwhelming. I was excited about the prospect of living in such a fun and culturally stimulating city, however I was surprised by all of the difficulties I encountered. Adjusting to the Buenos Aires bus system and public transportation overall is probably my greatest accomplishment to date. The hour-long commutes were a challenge, fearing pick-pocketers and taxi drivers, constantly being cautious and being surrounded by crowds 24/7, and getting cat-called aggressively 1-10 times a day, were among the things I struggled to adjust to.

IFSA-Butler's Argentine Universities Program has phenomenal resident staff and directors -- I absolutely loved working with them, and they all proved to be super helpful (especially when it came to health issues, homestay problems, and travel tips!) However, my biggest complaint about IFSA is that, if you aren't a fairly self-sufficient, independent, and honestly social person, you might have a tough time adjusting and enjoying life in Buenos Aires. The IFSA AU Program provides a few small excursions and trips (ex: kayaking, biking, rugby games, etc.), however beyond that, you won't see the other IFSA students aside from your classes, if you're even taking classes in the IFSA office. I was lucky to meet an amazing group of friends through IFSA, whom I was able to spend a lot of time with exploring the city, which was really great and super helpful. However, I see how it can be challenging for some to find those friends right in the beginning, during orientation. Outside of IFSA, the only way to socialize and meet people is to convince yourself to wander out into the city alone, and go to some of the many free social events around the city. This might be easy for some, but it definitely wasn't for me. My language skills weren't great, so trying to meet and socialize with Argentines especially was no easy task, and alcohol almost always had to be involved. I had poor host moms who were never around, or who did not talk to me, which made things lonely and challenging. And, due to rules prohibiting us to have friends over to our homestays, and due to the distance between homestays (15-45 minute commutes), I oftentimes felt quite lonely and homesick.

Overall I do recommend this program because I think it's a good program, it's fairly organized, the staff is phenomenal, there are fun excursions (especially for Thanksgiving the Uruguay trip is INCREDIBLE), and I felt supported for the most part throughout my experience. I had a challenging time personally because life in the big city was really hard for me to adapt to, and I had a really negative and lonely homestay experience. Buenos Aires is a wonderful city, full of unique opportunities, delicious restaurants (try the Japanese-Peruvian fusion, or the late night shawarma), fun street markets (like San Telmo on a Sunday), interesting people, super fun nightlife, and overall an out-of-this-world experience. My time abroad had its ups and downs, but I think looking back on it it just didn't suit me very well as an individual.