Alley's Internship Experience in Buenos Aires

My name's Alley. I'm from New York. I study at Columbia University, and I have loved my experience here in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, doing the Mente Argentina program. I lived in a student residence and enjoyed it a lot. I got to meet students from all over the world who wanted to study and live in Palermo, and we hung out a lot and went to cafes and restaurants. I interned with a social media company, and a lot of my responsibilities included working with 3,000 Latin American clients, gathering information about the clients, and making sure the partnerships between the firm I was working for and the clients were healthy. What I enjoyed most about Buenos Aires were the museums. I went to MALBA a lot. I love MALBA, and I highly recommend the Mente Argentina staff and going through the program. One of my favorite things to do with the program was the Tigre excursion. That was my favorite excursion. It gave me a chance to get outside Buenos Aires and do something different. The office was a technology-based social media firm, so the culture was something I was accustomed to. It was smart casual. I would say it was a startup, and a lot of startups have that culture of a T-shirt and jeans, more based on what you do than the way you look. I found the culture similar to America, but very welcoming and very inviting. Everyone was always very nice and helped me learn Spanish and practice my Spanish every day. My advice is to try to do as many outdoor things as you can. Go to the parks. I love the parks. The museums are free, which is something I didn't know before I came here, so that was a nice treat. Walk around Palermo in Buenos Aires, and just get ready to have some fun and meet some new people. One thing I would note is that it's a huge city and very diverse, so you're going to encounter people from all over the world. I would recommend that students go through Mente Argentina, because the staff here have been incredibly helpful. They help with the immersion experience and any questions you have, and they help place you at an internship that really fits your needs, based on where you are, what you want to do, and what responsibilities you want to have while you're here.