Becoming an exchange student in Argentina?
Hey there, I'm from Canada and a Sophomore in high school currently. For my Junior year I am going to be an exchange student in Argentina for 10 months (January to November). I'm already aware of my costs and host-families but I was wondering if anybody could give me a little background on what the people are like, learning the language better (I've done 2 years of Spanish, which is hopefully enough to get me started) and cultural things :D I am very excited and would love to hear personal stories of living in Argentina, etc. Thanks in advance!
Buenos Aires - 3 Answers
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1 :
there's A LOT of stuff to say about argentina's culture... which you're going to learn there... I can't say everything here. so I'll just say the basics and stuff you need to know. 2 years of spanish? it's going to be hard, just saying. argentinians have this accent, that sound TOTALLY different to the spanish you've learned. my host sister went to an exchange in Argentina and she had 4 years of spanish in high school and she still had a hard time understanding the accent at the beginning. they basically change the “y“ and ll“ sound for a “sh“ sound. ex: english: “call me“ the beach spanish: llámame la playa argentinian: “shámame“ la plasha something like that. my advice: look up some argentinian videos on youtube, like the news or something, so you can get used to the accent. but don't worry if you don't understand. in other countries kids start learning english at a young age, so you're host family will probably know some english :) food: they eat a lot of meat! they have amazing empanadas <3 <3 they drink mate! just like here adults go and have coffee with friends “let's go have a coffee“. in argentina it would be: “vamos a tomar un mate“ advice: the food change sometimes can get you sick, so when you arrive don't get too excited with the delicious food they have, take it easy. I know most people think south americans are all brown! (not trying to be racist here, I'm brown-ish myself) like most mexicans. but argentina has like 80% european descendants, so most people is white. people say “hello“ with a kiss on the cheek, in some places they even do a kiss on each cheek. between boys and girls, and between only girls they give the kiss. always. between boys they also give kisses, in some places of argentina they only shake hands. so every time you meet someone, every time you say hi to your friends/family. kiss on the cheek anyway. people is very nice. you'll have all your classes with the same people, so you won't change classes or classmates in every period. so when there's a new kid in the class everyone talks to them because it's like someone new to look at haha... and specially since you're a foreigner, everyone will want to be your friend! you're going to be able to drink, it's normal for teenager to drink, go clubbing and that stuff. now, normally north americans go crazy about that, since they're not used to being able to drink so easily. don't go crazy about the drinking if you're planning on doing it.
2 :
Try this site to learn more spanish. http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/
3 :
You are welcome to come to Argentina whenever you want :) And you will feel welcome.
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