Welcome to a new semester with Kulturstudier in Buenos Aires!
My name is Emma. I am twenty one years old and from a small town in the center of Norway. After high school and my military service in the north of Norway, I wanted to try something new. Moving to a tropical country far abroad has always been a dream of mine. For this reason, I did a semester in Costa Rica in the autumn of 2023 where I studied Spanish and sustainability. Since this was my first trip outside of Europe, I was quite nervous and excited before going. Therefore, I felt doing a semester with Kulturstudier was a safe option. When I traveled to Latin-America in August, I felt safe and reassured in knowing that there were always people available to help if I needed it.
New semester, new country, and now we have adjusted to the life in the heart of Argentina’s capitol – Buenos Aires. The semester started with a welcome party where we got to meet all the students and the staff for this semester. We are a group of 15-20 people who studied together in Costa Rica the previous semester, so it was a nice time to catch up on the past couple of months. Additionally, we also met the people in charge of the program and broke the ice with an open bar and some karaoke. We have about 20-25 who are doing their first semester with Kulturstudier. For most of the students here, it is our first trip to South-America.
Personally, I feel like the weeks have flown by. We have classes at the school at Edificio Volta everyday of the week except Thursdays. Volta is only a 10 minutes walk from the hostel.
On Thursdays, we take the metro and train to the UNSAM (Universidad Nacional De San Martín), and is about one hour away from the hostel. Thursdays are my favorites. I love traveling with the train and seeing other parts of the city, especially the campus itself. It is beautiful walking through the area as it is always filled with other students – often lying in groups in the grass or sitting around tables while sharing their mate and talking.
Mate is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused herbal drink. When you travel to Buenos Aires, you will see people
drinking and sharing this wherever you go.
The building where we have our classes used to be a train station. It has a circular shape with an open circle in the middle filled with green grass and plenty of space to sit and study or relax. I always come early before class or stay later after class
to do some studying at the campus – just because I love the atmosphere so much!
It should be noted that the library at UNSAM also offers computers to borrow, though you can only use them at the school. This was perfect for me, since I forgot my computer at a hostel in Guatemala before traveling to Argentina
Traveling within Buenos Aires is cheap and fast. You can easily get from one place to another by taking the metro (el Subte as we call it here), train, bus or just an uber. If you have the time and energy, Buenos Aires is an incredible city to stroll around in as well. The city portrays beautiful architecture and many parks which you can see wherever you go. Of course it should be noted that it is important to be aware of your surroundings while moving around. But personally, I feel
very safe living in this city so far.
I highly recommend traveling before or after your semester with Kulturstudier. Before leaving for my semester in Costa Rica, I knew that I wanted to stay and travel through Central-America. A handful of my classmates also did the same. For this reason, I only packed in two backpacks: one big «check-in» backpack and one smaller carry-on. This gave me a huge advantage when traveling – especially since I backpacked solo. I came across several situations where I was beyond thankful to have the flexibility that my backpacks gave me.
I am looking forward to sharing more of my life as a student in Buenos Aires – hope you found
this blog post helpful 🙂
– Emma