Pre-Trip Blog 4: May 23, 2016

I can reiterate what others have said in saying that I’m a bit worried there will be a big language barrier in Argentina. I think that with studying a language, there’s one aspect of it that’s conjugation charts and studying tenses. The other side of it is actually using the language in a natural setting. I don’t have much, really any, practice with the latter.  

I don’t know just how strong my Spanish foundation is. I was surprised at how strong the Argentinians’ English was. They could function so well in the US, and I’m questioning if I could do the same in Argentina. I’m doubtful. The Argentinian students can speak English, so I feel like their inclination upon hearing our broken Spanish will be to just speak English to us, but it’s important that they speak in Spanish so we can make these mistakes and learn. Also, so much of the trip is about learning about the culture, it’s not just a study of language. The culture is probably what I’m most excited about, particularly the food, music, the lateness of the schedule there, etc. 

Patrick Phelan

Pre-Trip Blog 3: May 4, 2016

As the summer approaches the stress of the end of the year grows, but I know after it ends I will be able to have a more relaxing time in Buenos Aires. Although I have a decent spanish grade, I fear it may not be enough to work there. I know the food should be good because I have tried their cuisine before and it is similar to many other Latin countries. My exchange brother Juan and his older brother have great English, so small translation issues should not be a problem. While he was here we managed to Skype his family once and they all seemed nice. I am interested to see what new experiences will come from living with his family for about three weeks. I am excited for the different activities we will do their and to see the interesting places Juan showed me in a tourist book he brought. Th night life should be interesting because everything starts and continues later i to the evening then they do here. Once when I was talking to Juan he said that his parents tell him to get home by six in the morning. The trip should be an interesting way to start the summer.

Mark Vaccaro '18