Gabriel's Academic Semester Experience in Buenos Aires

I'm Gabriel. You can either do classes in Spanish or English with foreign students, or take classes with Argentines. I chose to do the classes in Spanish with the foreign students. It was an interesting experience. I met people from different parts of Europe mainly. I liked the classes. The teaching style is a little bit different. You have to read a lot, and you engage in different discussions. It was different from my university style. I really liked the activities that Mente puts on for you, such as on the weekends. My favorite activity is a hard question. There have been a lot of activities, and it was still nice. I really liked one of the walking tours we did. It was not in La Boca. I think it was the city tour. I liked that tour. I liked Mente, which was something really different from other programs. I felt engaged and close with the Mente community and the staff, and I think that is something you don't find in another program, that kind of close-knit community. I felt like I could send an email to any of the program advisors and they would come, and whenever they communicated with me or saw me it was like a friend talking to me or helping me out. That is one of the best parts I have had in this program. I came during the cold months, but I always had very warm people around me. I really liked the city, especially now. I find that it is a really interesting process. Mente gives you a little guide, a book that has all the street names, and you try to find your way, and then you really know everything about the city. In Buenos Aires you experience a lot of different cultures and a lot of different architectural styles, and after a while the city really opens up to you. The country itself, and the advice on how to get bus tickets and plane tickets and all that stuff in between, and I found that I really underestimated how big this country was. You really start to realize it is like a whole new world down here. I traveled to a few different places in Argentina. I went to Iguazú, and I went on the bus. It is a long bus ride, but you see a lot of beautiful things, and of course Iguazú is a beautiful waterfall. I think it is now one of the world's natural wonders, something like that. I went to Mendoza. We rented a car and went around to the desert. There are wine tours, and there is the second biggest mountain in Argentina. I went down to the glaciers in the way south, towards the end of the world. If you come down to Argentina you are going to find some of the most extreme geological sites. It has every type of visit you would want to make, whether it is going to an estancia, or going to play polo with Mente, or making your own trip out to the mountains and discovering something totally different from what you are used to. You are always going to find something you have to see.