Andrew's Internship Experience in Buenos Aires

Hi, my name is Scott File. I'm going to be a senior next year at Williams College, and I was here with Mente Argentina for a six-week program. I did four weeks of Spanish study. I was kind of rusty on Spanish, so I wanted to get back into it, especially Rioplatense, or Porteño, Spanish. It's a little bit different from what you might have studied in high school or college, so that's something I really appreciate. The double L makes a different sound, so it's kind of different, something to get used to, but I really liked it after a while. For my internship, I was a legal intern at a small law firm. We did intellectual property rights management and licensing. Some of my tasks included getting in contact with companies from all around the world, sending out emails, and translating documents from Spanish into English in a way that was marketable to different firms, so that we could get our name out there. The people at my office were really, really nice. I got to practice a lot of legalese in Spanish and office vocabulary. It was really cool to develop those skills. All along the way, Mente was very reliable and very helpful. We went on a lot of great trips together. Some of my favorites were Colonia, Uruguay. We went there for the day. It was a lot of fun, and I got another stamp in my passport. We also went to the Luján Zoo, which was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I got to go into a pen with a lion, which is absolutely incredible. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit scared, but it was a great time. I got to pet the lion and feed the lion milk, something you wouldn't be able to do anywhere else, so I really appreciate them for that. There were just a lot of great opportunities to hang out. Just recently, we went to a theatrical piece that was very crowd-involved, with a lot of water splashing around. It was a very unique experience, and something I wouldn't have known about if it hadn't been for the Mente Argentina staff bringing it to my attention and inviting me along, so that's something I really appreciate as well. One thing I wish I knew before I got here is more about the mate tradition, because it's something I discovered on the first day. I didn't really know too much about what it was. There was a guy staying here who introduced me to it. For a lot of people it's bitter at first, but if you give it a few tries, it's actually really good. I bought my own mate to bring with me to school. I think mate is going to be my go-to instead of coffee now, whenever I need to study or cram for a test.