CEA Study Abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires really is the Paris of South America. This city has a wonderful European vibe and there are always a mountain of free activities available to its residents. Overall, I loved my time in Buenos Aires, but I do not think my Spanish improved as fast as it could have. Although my skills did increase from how they were at the start of the semester, I know they would have increased faster if I enrolled in a university for Spanish speakers, rather than decided to take classes at the CEA Study Center for American students. During the spring of 2018, the CEA Study Center in Buenos Aires only offered 2 courses in Spanish and the rest were in English. I took those 2 courses and I do feel like they slightly improved my Spanish, but the simple structure of the course work felt like a review of my high school Spanish classes, rather than a course with challenging learning objectives. The courses taught in English were rather easy too. If I were to do it again, I think I would have enrolled in a university with other native Spanish speakers.

Aside from my Spanish skills not growing as fast as I would have liked them too, I genuinely loved my time in Buenos Aires. I think this is a wonderful city and I feel like my abroad experience enabled me to mature and learn more about myself.

Buenos Aires is an awesome city with a bajillion things to do, and the CEA staff was always helpful in recommending activities and helping us check off our list of things we wanted to do. My classes were all liberal arts classes since that was my program, and they all had an immersion component, where we'd go on field trips and link the things we were learning about in class to the country we were living in.

Everyone coming to Buenos Aires should definitely go see a fútbol game, because the fans in Argentina are so incredibly passionate. You should also go to a Milonga, a tango club. The one downside of my semester is that I didn't get to travel as much as I wanted because Argentina is so huge that a lot of the places I wanted to go couldn't be visited in a weekend because the actual commute took an entire day each way.

CEA has provided us with much more than just a campus in the midst of a vibrant city -- any questions about any thing here are answered; the host home they put me in is perfect, with pets, tasty dinners, great location, an amazing host mom; every couple of weeks they take us on a CEA excursion, such as yerba mate & food tasting, a Tango dinner show, an overnight to Iguazu Falls... and so much more!
Classes are small and engaging, with various class outings and fun projects to prompt unique cultural experiences. Buenos Aires is a huge city, which could be very intimidating to study in if it weren't for the support I get from CEA and the resources they give us.. including free coffee and yerba mate to get us through the long days!

I really loved studying abroad with CEA here in Buenos Aires. The staff is really great and helpful, and go out of their way to help us find activities to participate in, great food to eat, and fun places to go in our free time. The study center was kind of strange, because it was very different than a normal campus feel that I am used to. That being said, we had a lounge where we could hang out with free coffee and tea, a more quiet computer lab/study room with several computers and free printing, and a place to store things during the day if we needed to. I enjoyed the classes as well, because I honestly knew close to nothing about Argentina before coming and I feel that I have learned a lot. We went on several weekend/day trips, some with CEA and some on our own. I felt like a lot of planning went into these CEA trips and I really appreciated that! As far as enjoying my time in the city or travelling on my own, that was totally up to me. The staff did a great job of keeping us informed about what things were happening in the city so that we could always have something to do. I know that some of my friends here complained a lot about the workload and that we always had so many assignments that we did not have any free time, but honestly that's not true!!! I really feel that the workload was completely appropriate for university level courses.

Buenos Aires is an incredible, life-changing, big bustling european city. However, there is no reason to go to this incredible country and spend all of your time with other students from the United States. There are a few opportunities to connect with local people if you explore outside of your comfort zone but I would highly recommend doing an exchange or taking classes at Belgrano instead. The professors are nice and everyone has the best of intentions but I feel that it would have been much better for my Spanish if I hadn't been surrounded by other English speakers constantly. I met many students from other programs who also were in a similar situation. Host families always vary but essentially many of the programs offer the same services.

My recommendation is to choose a program provider that doesn't include trips. You can always plan the same trips on your own. Usually much more affordably as well. This way you can go when you want to go, where you want to go and you can go with the people you want to! On these planned trips you are usually grouped in on a massive bus full of other american students.

Otherwise, CEA was lovely. I wouldn't regret spending a semester in Argentina for a second. I only regret not taking a bigger risk and doing an exchange or direct enroll program with other spanish speaking students.

I studied abroad with CEA spring of 2012 and I did the liberal arts program at the Global Campus. My experience was amazing. I never thought that I would learn so much about myself, the U.S. and the Argentine culture!
I stayed in Eldita's residencia which was the perfect fit for me. It was the perfect balance between homestay and dorm. I was surrounded by tons of friends, yet I could go into the kitchen and talk to Elda in spanish for hours if I wanted to. Elda doesn't speak any english so in order to communicate with her you have to speak spanish.
Some of my favorite things that I did in Argentina was the Iguazu Falls trip that we went on with CEA. It is probably the most beautiful "natural" place that I have ever seen. I also traveled to Salta, Mendoza, and a little into Patagonia. Traveling around is pretty easy in Argentina, so I definitely recommend it.
The Argentine culture is beautiful, and the food is AMAZING. We would go to "asados" which were all you can eat meat grill-outs. And you haven't had a good steak until you have hard Argentine beef! Buenos Aires is beautiful and the culture is so rich. Try to learn as much about the "dirty war," as you can; it is fascinating.
The staff on site are AMAZING! Anything that you could possibly need, they will take care of for you. I ended up getting really sick and one of the staff members took me to the doctor personally. It's not a secret how much they care about their students and it is nice to have a family away from the U.S. I am actually still in contact with some of the staff.
I highly recommend this program, and I really hope that you don't focus on the money or the semester that you won't be at home. It is TOTALLY worth it and if I were not graduating in May, I would study abroad again..no JOKE. I made some great friends that I have already traveled to Boston to see...this truly is a life-changing event.
GO WITH CEA, you won't be disappointed!

CEA is a wonderful study abroad program that I would recommend to anyone going to Buenos Aires. I was at the University of Belgrano so we didnt have as much day-to-day contact with the CEA staff, but if we ever needed anything they were always available for help and information. CEA organized fun trips and activities for us, and gave us the opportunities to meet alot of great people. They give the option of living in a residencia/homestay, or to organize your own living, and I chose independent living in an apartment.

I studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the Spring of 2011 with CEA. I did the program Latin American & Integrated Studies where I took classes at the Universidad de Belgrano, and I was able to take classes just with other international students or I could take classes with local Argentine students as well. I just took classes with other international students, which were all in Spanish and some of my classes were really good and interesting, and I had some that I felt I barely had to do any work or where I didn't feel like I was really learning anything new. But overall I enjoyed my classes and was able to learn a lot about Latin American and Argentine history and culture, which I really enjoyed. I had some friends in CEA who did programs and took classes at "CEA Global Campus" but they told me they didn't really enjoy the Global Campus and wish they would've taken classes at Belgrano like I had. So, I don't have first hand experience with the Global Campus, but I heard that from a few different people.

I decided to live with a host family, and I couldn't have asked for a better family. There were other students from the U.S. in the house as well, but it was nice to have a mix of cultures and views, which really made dinner conversations more fun! I'm not it the "best" neighborhood; our house doesn't have too much around it (like cafés or stores), but I am a block away from the subway stop, have plenty of bus stops nearby and close enough I can walk to places to go to a restaurant, café or shop. I wouldn't change anything for what I have since the family is so great.

Towards the end of my semester here in Buenos Aires with CEA, I decided to stay another semester (I have just grown to love the city and I want to continue to learn and practice my Spanish), so I am still in Buenos Aires through this Fall 2011. I didn't go through CEA this time, but rather all independently, so I'm paying the school and my host family directly. The only reason I didn't go with CEA again is because I don't need the great excursions they offer since I already did them, so I didn't want to pay for something I didn't need. Even though I'm not with CEA anymore, I have kept in contact the staff here in BsAs, and they have been great to me and have helped me with anything I have needed even though I am not in CEA anymore.

Buenos Aires has something for everyone to do, and if you ever need to get out of the city and get a little bit more nature than just the parks, you can always take a train or bus out of the city. Overall I had a good experience with CEA and I am excited to have my three more months in Buenos Aires to continue to explore and discover new things.