As a yanquí expat in Buenos Aires, it is basically in my blood to be pesada and complain about the things that I don’t like in Buenos Aires, while arrogantly explaining why the U.S. does it better. However, being abroad also makes you realize what you love about the culture of the country that you are living in. As my time in Buenos Aires draws to a close, I wanted to share with you the Top 5 Things That I Absolutely Love About Buenos Aires And Will Truly, Dearly, and Ever-So-Faithfully Miss:

#5: Saludos!

One of the things that Argentines tend to comment is that estadounidenses are frío, meaning they are not particularly warm or friendly. While I happen to disagree and believe that it depends on the area of the U.S. you are talking about, what is true is that the way we greet each other is a little cold.

Imagine my pleasant delight when arriving in South America I got a kiss on the cheek from everyone and their madre, no matter how well or how little I knew them. At gatherings or parties, it’s customary to greet everyone with a kiss on the cheek, even if they are el hijo del cuñado del primo de tu amiga that you are meeting for the first time. There’s something about human affection (even if it’s polite affection), and acknowledgment of the people around you that was really refreshing, and will definitely miss when I go back to Fríalandia.

#4: Culture of Sharing

The fact that Quilmes (the national beer) basically only comes in bottles by the litro should speak volumes to this culture of sharing. In fact, when going out to drinks with friends, it’s very customary for the friend pouring the drinks to serve everyone first before they serve themselves. The same goes with food or drink, as it is tacitly expected of you to offer the goods to other people as well. Being surrounded by this heightened sense of sharing has made me less of an individualistic, egocentric yanquí and more aware of peoples’ needs around me.

#3: Ice Cream

The porteños may not have done their Italian ancestors proud with their pizza and coffee (insert angry porteño rebuttals here), but their helado is top notch and something only a rehab clinic would succeed in weening me off of when I leave this dear country. It tastes more natural, is less sugar-loaded that us yanquís are so quick on doing, and is just creamy enough to make you feel satisfied, but not sick to your stomach. Unless you have been known to kill quarto kilos on multiple occasions….errr….

There are a lot of great flavors to choose from, but some of my favorites include:

• Mascarpone con frutos del bosque
• Dulce de leche granizado (A classic)
• Chocolate suizo
• Frutilla a la crema
• Chocolate con dulce de leche (Because really, can you ever really have enough dulce de leche? Don’t answer that question)

#2: Public Transportation

Besides New York and DC, public transportation in the States is embarrassingly abysmal. It was no wonder then that in the first couple of weeks in my semester abroad in Santiago in 2009, my sheltered suburban self almost had a Mariah Carey meltdown just thinking about how I was going to get around the city without a car. Now, in Buenos Aires, I can’t get enough of it. Whether it’s the subte (subway), colectivos (buses), or trenes (trains), there are plenty of ways to get around Buenos Aires, and for cheap; even with the unfortunate subte tarifazo that the government has imposed, Buenos Aires still has some of the most affordable transportation in the world.

If public transportation is my god, then the Guía T is my bible. The Guía T is a little pocket-sized book with little grid maps of the Buenos Aires, along with the bus routes for every colectivo that makes it way through the city. With a little Guía T ayuda, you’re all set to go for your transporte público adventure. Yeah, sometimes the amount of people on public transportation forces you to become spatially intimate with strangers, but it’s a great way to save money, practice your listening skills by creepily eavesdropping on conversations, and get to know the city!

Also, thinking about what the subway will look like in the (allegedly) near future makes me almost have a subte-gasmo:

#1: Fútbol

There is one thing you cannot deny here, and that is Argentina’s passion for fútbol, a passion so deep that some hinchas (fans) are willing to risk their lives defending their local club and/or national team. As someone who has played soccer since I was five years old, it is absolutely awe-inspiring to be in a country with that much love for my favorite sport. Argentina may be a machista country that thinks girls are incapable of even dribbling the ball blah blah blah (see previous blog posts), but I have managed to find a niche here and have some really awesome people to play with (this is where I TRL shout out The Outsiders, Fútbolfeminino Fenix, and los chicos de dominfútbol). I play so much soccer here, I don’t even have to buy a membership to the gym – my Fútbol 5, 7, and 9 games keeps my body and my wallet happy.

Buenos Aires may not be perfect, but it is a city I have fallen in love with and will truly miss.

Lo que me hace quedar tranquila es que no es un adios, sino un hasta luego.

Gracias por todos los lindos recuerdos, Buenos Aires!!!! Te voy a extrañar!!!

Expanish ofrece a sus estudiantes la posibilidad de participar en muchas actividades semanales. Gratuitas o de bajo costo, las actividades son una gran forma de conocer a otros estudiantes, gente local, profesionales de distintas disciplinas y por sobre todo, divertirse haciendo algo novedoso y cultural, que ayudará a los estudiantes a sumergirse en la cultura Argentina.

Ejemplo de los actividades semanales

Las opciones son variadas y hay para todos los gustos e intereses. Entre las actividades gratuitas, por ejemplo, contamos con clases de tango, reggaetón y salsa. Bailarines profesionales de cada disciplina vienen a la escuela para enseñarles a los alumnos los pasos más importantes y la técnica de cada baile. Los estudiantes tienen la posibilidad de practicar su español con sus compañeros de baile y con los profesores al ritmo de cada música. Es una forma divertida y diferente de sumergirse en la cultura local.

También gratuitas son las actividades relacionadas directamente con la práctica del español como el Club de Conversación o los Expan-Games. Los estudiantes ponen a prueba su conocimiento del idioma y lo que han estudiado en sus clases. Es una forma muy práctica de sociabilizar y practicar español al mismo tiempo y resulta de gran interés para aquellos estudiantes que no quieren estudiar solos o encerrados en sus habitaciones.

Si lo que les interesa es el cine, nada mejor que acercarse al Club de Cine y presenciar una película argentina subtitulada en español, con la compañía de un profesor que responderá las dudas y dará una pequeña charla sobre la película.

Por otro lado, cuando una persona viene la Argentina, sabe que va a tener que probar el asado, las empanadas, jugar al fútbol, bailar tango, etc. Por eso es que ofrecemos un mate-tasting gratuito; una pequeña orientación sobre qué es el mate, cómo se prepara y de qué trata este hábito tan común y cotidiano entre los argentinos.

En Expanish procuramos reducir al mínimo los gastos de los estudiantes. Por esta razón es que ofrecemos actividades de bajo costo y que resulten de interés para cualquier persona interesada en, por ejemplo, realizar un tour por el barrio de La Boca, o quizás visitar museos por el barrio de la Recoleta. También contamos con un tour histórico, uno de diseño y moda y otro que muestra el arte callejero del grafiti en Buenos Aires. Todas estas visitas están organizadas y conducidas por guías altamente capacitados y profesionales que garantizan que los grupos reciban una experiencia cultural gratificante y a la vez segura por la ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Si los estudiantes prefieren realizar algo más deportivo pueden contratar un tour en bicicleta por Tigre. Los guías los conducirán por esta localidad en las afueras de la Capital Federal, para pasar un día al aire libre, lejos de la ciudad y de los edificios. Es una forma distinta de conocer Buenos Aires y sus alrededores mientras se practica un deporte agradable con gente nueva y divertida. Por otra parte, está la posibilidad de participar de un tour en bote por el delta del Tigre, otra opción para recorrer esta localidad desde otra perspectiva.

Los estudiantes no deben perderse la posibilidad de jugar al fútbol con otros compañeros de clase y gente local. Para los argentinos es el deporte privilegiado y constituye una parte fundamental de nuestra cultura. Expanish organiza encuentros para que cualquier persona interesada viva la experiencia de jugar un partido y de, por supuesto, poner en práctica el vocabulario específico del fútbol!

Si lo que buscan además de aprender español es conocer la noche de Buenos Aires, los estudiantes pueden ir al Buenos Aires Pub Crawl; una visita guiada un tanto distinta, que los llevará por distintos bares de la ciudad y terminará en el “boliche”, donde pueden poner en práctica los movimientos aprendidos en las clases de baile de Expanish. También organizamos encuentros en Sugar y cenas con profesores de español en Acabar, otros bares del barrio de Palermo.

Como podrá ser observado, Expanish cuenta con una gran variedad de actividades de todo tipo e interés para maximizar el estudio del español en Buenos Aires. No duden en acercarse a nuestra recepción donde podrán obtener más información sobre las actividades que ofrecemos.

]]> http://www.expanish.com/blog/2012/01/3771/feed/ 0 http://www.expanish.com/blog/2011/11/how-to-secure-an-internship-in-south-america/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-secure-an-internship-in-south-america http://www.expanish.com/blog/2011/11/how-to-secure-an-internship-in-south-america/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:13:54 +0000 admin http://www.expanish.com/blog/?p=3506 Tweet

Being a student in the UK, when choosing how to spend my year abroad I had two options – either to study at a University in Buenos Aires or to work. Obviously the main thing was that I was learning Spanish so in the end I chose to work as I thought being part of an office would be a great way for me to improve my Spanish. Secondly, apart from anything else, I thought it would be great experience for me to get some work experience under my belt.

But deciding it is one thing, actually finding a job is a bit trickier…

Here are some ideas to help you find a job…

• Websites

There are lots of directory-style websites on which people list jobs and internships. CraigsList  and BAExpats in particular are good for this. They have great job sections which have a really wide range of jobs options. You’ll have to be patient though as there are a hundreds of them to search through so it may take a while to actually find one that you like the look of!

What’s great about BA Expats is that it is geared towards expatriates living in Buenos Aires and it has a forum where you can speak to fellow expatriates and learn tips about living in Buenos Aires from an outsider’s point of view.

To start looking… http://buenosaires.en.craigslist.org/jjj/

Or…http://baexpats.org/links/jobs-and-volunteering-215/
http://jobs.goabroad.com/

• Agencies

There are also a huge number of agencies whose aim it is to help people find internships or jobs so it’s definitely worth having a look on some of those.

http://www.studentsgoabroad.com/en/internships/

http://internlatinamerica.com/

http://www.easyexpat.com/en/buenos-aires/job/adverts-recruitment.htm

• Word of mouth

I often find that this can be the best way of finding a job. Sometimes just by asking around you can manage to find something. I know plenty of people who have succeeded with this tactic. Often you’ll find that friends or friends of friends have contacts in Buenos Aires, so it’s worth having an ask around. The worse thing that can happen is that you’ll be told no. But it’s always worth a try!

• Apply to companies

If you know of a company who have offices or are based in Buenos Aires then find out their email address and send then an email with your CV. Again, it’s a case of if you don’t ask you don’t get… the worse that can happen is that they´ll turn you down! Don’t just assume that because you’re not Argentinean you won’t be given a job. Often Argentinean offices are after a non-Spanish speaking person anyway so you might even be at an advantage!

Apart from working at Expanish, my dream job would be writing a blog about celebrity gossip.  It is mostly a pipe dream since people like Perez Hilton and TMZ pretty much dominate that blog niche.  This does not, however, deter me from writing my own little blog post about celebrities.  As a resident of Buenos Aires, Argentina I thought I would have an advantage about anything gossip-worthy here in Argentina, so what could be better than writing about celebrities who have visited this fine city?  So get ready for some best-of-the-best gossip over the past few years, some of them are especially bife de chorizo juicy…

Justin Bieber – 2011

As almost all 14-year-old girls in the world know, Justin Bieber recently visited Buenos Aires for a concert and while he was here did some press to promote it.  The most noteworthy of his appearanes was on the talk show, “Susana Giménez”, appropriately hosted by Susana Giménez.  This appearance was greatly anticipated by all of Argentina, yet the actual show was a bit of a boring disappointment.  I have not seen Justin in a situation where he actually has to put sentences together instead of just sing the word “Baby” or “Girl” over and over again, but the combination of Susanna being completely bonkers and Justin not understanding Spanish made the whole thing a bit weird.  It seems as though Justin does not enjoy talking about himself in front of an audience.  You can watch the video to see the full extent of the awkwardness here.

During his stay he was at the fancy Faena Hotel in Puerto Madero.  This is where past celebrities like Beyonce have stayed, so I guess if you are looking to see a famous person in real life you should probably just hang around there more often.  In true Bieber form, there were hundreds of crazy teen girls and, lets face it, lots of people of all ages and genders, waiting outside the hotel.  A few girls even tried to break through security when Justin waved to them so the police had to block off multiple streets.  It made international news on all gossip blogs and even regular periodicals like the New York Post.

With all of this great Bieber gossip I am not even sure how the concert went.  Does it matter?  The important thing is that he was the most talked about topic for a week straight, even right before the national elections for the new president of Argentina.  Isn’t that how it should be?

Natalie Portman – 2006

Before Natalie was an Academy Award winner, she was just a regular girl dating Gael Garcia Bernal.  Circa 2006, he was filming a movie in Buenos Aires and living in the neighborhood of San Telmo.  I know this because at that time because it was a common sight to see them walking through the neighborhood hand-in-hand.  This was just weeks before their break-up, so possibly Buenos Aires had something to do with that?

Many of my friends would call me to let me know that they just saw them.  Did my friends yell out “I love you Natalie!” or some sort of reference to her Star Wars role?  No, they did not.  They did not even take a picture.  This just goes to show you that you should always carry a digital camera just in case you have a celebrity sighting.

Jenna and Barbara Bush – 2006

During their trip to Buenos Aires they were staying in a boutique hotel in Palermo.  At one point they were in the neighborhood of San Telmo doing some shopping and got their purses and cell phones stolen.  Whether or not they were actually stolen or were just lost is not clear, but either way the U.S. Embassy and asked them to leave the country after the incident to not attact more negative attention.  What was the greatest was that they were being gaurded by the secret service and still managed to get into trouble.  A reporter even said that she was surprised by the lack of security for the twins in this article.

Some other celebrities spotted in the city and what were they doing?

Kate Hudson – Ate breakfast (gasp!)

Nick Jonas – Had a concert sans other brothers

Cindi Lauper – Had a concert, also got bored and sang in the airport

Miley Cyrus – Wore inappropriately short shorts (but is that really news?)

Michael Buble – Got married to an Argentine woman

Bono – Played a secret gig at Frank’s bar

I will say, however, that my knowledge of actual Argentine celebrities is limited, so I have mainly focused on more “international” celebrities.  Maybe I should get into local gossip as a new way to immerse myself in Argentine culture?  Sounds like a 2012 New Year’s resolution to me.

To wrap things up, I think it is extremely important for celebrities to understand the culture and language of the countries they visit (I’m talking to you, Bieber).  This is why I wanted to send an open invitation to any famous person who might want to take some group or individual Spanish classes here at Expanish Spanish School in Buenos Aires.  George Clooney, do you need to improve your accent in Spanish?  Do you, Oprah, know the difference between the informal “tú” of Mexico versus the “vos” of Buenos Aires?  I dare any celebrity (preferably Lady Gaga) to come and join us.

I am only in my third week here at Expanish and I can already tell that my Spanish has been improving by leaps and bounds! So what should you expect out of your classes…

Well, the morning bell rings at 9 am and classes begin. My professor Eduardo usually has us turn in our homework which could be a variety of exercises. One of my favorites is our vocabulary research – it´s not as boring as it sounds either. For example – words that end in “ero”: matadero, frutero, granjero, vinatero, etc… It’s a light way to start the morning and learn a ton of new words! The rest of the day is spent learning verb tenses and grammar – but in a fun and exciting way. We read about local history or the daily news, and discuss current events or attractions. Plus, I get to hear the adventurous things my classmates have done in the city. I get a daily tour guide to the city as an added bonus! Throughout my lessons, not only am I learning to sound porteño, but also learning common Spanish words and phrases used throughout Latin America.

Every day I feel more at ease in communicating with my classmates and expressing myself clearly.   I currently have 7 students in my class all of different nationalities: Brazilian, Slovakian, Swiss, and German. But throughout the school there are also people from France, Holland, Canada, England, Australian, and the list goes on! Since we are encouraged to speak in our classes, I am not only learning about Argentina, but also about countries from across the world.  I never imagined that I would become more worldly through my studies at Expanish in Buenos Aires!

Casie