Argentina Two Week Special: Care and Spanish

When I first became interested in going abroad, Projects Abroad's website let me choose from dozens of locations and placements. As soon as I chose Argentina's Care and Spanish program an Argentinean Project's Abroad representative got in touch with me, answering all of my questions and concerns about my upcoming trip. On the plane on the way to my placement, I met up with other Project Abroad volunteers and when we landed, I was taken straight to my new home to meet the family I was staying with. They were incredibly kind and welcoming, even though there was a language barrier, I felt like I fit right in. The next day we had an introduction day with all of the volunteers. Projects Abroad showed us around the city, teaching us to use the bus system and find our way to the mall and banks and other places we would need to go, so that we could find them on our own when we would have free time. The next day we started Spanish lessons and our placements. At my placement, I worked in an orphanage with young kids who needed people to play with them when they came home from school. During my time there, I got so attached to those little kids, it was so hard to leave them at the end of my two weeks. It was so rewarding to work there, I did it for every smile and every laugh. Once we had the opportunity to take them to the arcade in the mall and McDonalds. They get so few outings like that, so they were all smiles that day. I think what I was most surprised about during my trip was how much independence we had. Any time we weren't in Spanish class, in our placement, our at one of our social events, we could do anything we wanted, meet our friends at the mall downtown, go out to dinner, take a tango class. I loved this trip so much, I made amazing friends that I still keep in touch with, improved my Spanish, got an Argentinean family, and made fantastic memories. I would definitely recommend Projects Abroad to everyone.