Blake's Intensive Spanish Experience in Buenos Aires

My name is Blake, and I'm from the US. I was a participant with Mente Argentina for about two months. Right now, as I'm giving this interview, I am on a gap year between high school and college. I decided to take my gap year because I wanted to travel the world a little bit more and maybe work on my Spanish. I did a program in the fall in Asia, and afterwards I didn't really have any plans, so my friends and I decided to travel in South America. We spent a little time in Bolivia and Chile, and then I decided that I just wanted to settle down a little bit and spend more time in a city like Buenos Aires and practice my Spanish. Over the internet I found Mente Argentina, and I was communicating with Marcelo and David, and it was a super simple process. I had no knowledge about Buenos Aires, or how to navigate the process, or how to find a homestay or a place to live, or a Spanish school to study at. Mente Argentina was super helpful with all of those things. They were a great intermediary. Through them I was able to find the Spanish school, which has been such an amazing time. I've gotten to meet so many cool people from all over the world, and my Spanish has gotten so much better in only a few weeks. When I got here, I had basically spoken no Spanish, even though I had taken Spanish class for my entire life, which is the experience of a lot of people in the US. Through my time here I've been able to have conversations with Argentines, and it's been such an awesome opportunity, and I'm so grateful for that. Mente was also an awesome opportunity because, during my time in my apartment, I was able to have conversations with my host mom and learn more about Argentina, the porteño lifestyle, and the history of Argentina. That's been such an integral part of my time here in Buenos Aires, and I'm so grateful to Mente for both of those opportunities. While I was here I was also able to connect with so many different people from all over the world, from Italy, Holland, the US, Britain, other parts of Europe, and South America, and that was all because of Mente. It created an amazing network. I was able to go to events, free events, where we could drink and eat and play games and do all different kinds of things, and see different parts of the city. Without Mente I wouldn't have been able to see them, just because I didn't know about them. We were able to learn a lot about the city from some of the people who work here, who might be foreigners but have spent a lot of time in Buenos Aires and have a really cool perspective on the city, and they were able to teach us a lot about it. I'm so grateful for Mente and everything they were able to provide during my time here. It was unforgettable, and I would definitely recommend joining them.