Becoming an honorary porteño

I went to Argentina with the goal of improving my language skills and earning credit towards my Spanish major, as well as having the experience of living, not just vacationing, in a foreign country. After doing this program, I can honestly say that I improved my Spanish skills a considerable amount, and feel comfortable speaking with whomever, native speaker or not. I earned credits toward majors at home, became fully proficient (CELU exam certified), made tons of friends, and had a great cultural experience. I feel like I integrated pretty well — IES staff helped expose us to as much as possible, and I learned a lot from Argentine friends I met in class and while going out. Everyone was very welcoming. Make sure to surround yourself with native friends and don't use English! I learned about the history of the country, how to use porteño accent & slang, how to prepare the traditional drink "mate", spoke about the current political situation, and read Argentine literature. I feel like Buenos Aires is another home for me, and the locals and IES helped make that possible.