T Minus One Month

Welcome to my travel blog! I'm leaving for Buenos Aires the last week of July and I will be taking classes there for the fall semester. Check www.whatsupesperanza.blogspot.com for updates! I'm also streaming this blog though facebook notes. I just bought my plane tickets on statravel.com which is an awesome website for student discounts that helped me save hundreds of dollars on airfare.

FAQs

1. Why Buenos Aires? I wanted to go to a Spanish speaking city, and I've already been to Spain a few times so I thought Buenos Aires was perfect for me. I wanted to be near the water so I could go to the beach, but BsAs is like Boston- there's a harbor but no beaches in the actual city. Oops. And I also wanted somewhere warm... Except I conveniently forgot that the Southern Hemisphere has opposite seasons, so I'm actually going in the middle of winter! Fortunately, winter there is milder than North Carolina, and definitely less extreme than CT. Anyway, despite my limited knowledge of the city, the more I learn about Buenos Aires, the more convinced I am that it's a good match. There is mucha marcha: street tango shows, italian food (and gelato!!), public parks and gardens, etc. There's even an ultimate community: http://www.discosur.blogspot.com

2. Where is it? Someone asked me why I was interested in Brazil (Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina...), so I thought I'd add a map to show you exactly where I'm going. It's interactive so you can x out of the white box:


View Larger Map

3. Isn't it expensive to travel? I'm actually saving more money going abroad than I would if I stayed at Wake for the fall: http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter?amt=1&from=USD&to=ARS&submit=Convert#from=USD;to=ARS;amt=1

4. What exactly will you be doing? I'll be taking classes with the abroad program. They offer programs through the center, but I also have the option of taking classes at universities within the city. I'm not sure how strong my Spanish is, but if I pass the language entrance exams, I definitely want that experience.