Thoughts on the USAL housing options...

One of my biggest struggles here in Argentina was with the places I was living. It took almost 3 months for me to find a situation that actually worked for me - I'm now living in my own apartment more or less in the center of the city. As one of the reasons for this blog is as a resource for my University, and therefore potentially a resource for students looking to study abroad in Buenos Aires in the future, I thought it would be good to write about the different housing options available to the exchange students, so that maybe they have a little bit more information than I did when I made the decision on where I'd be living.

For my first month here, I lived in a student residence called Proyecto Alfa 2000. I generally enjoyed my time in the residence (here, endearingly referred to as "la resi") but I think if I stayed for more than just my first month, I would have a very different opinion. I came to Buenos Aires a month before the beginning of the semester to participate in USAL's Curso Intensivo de Español, and it was for the CIE that I was staying in the residence. This time was good for me because the majority of the other people participating in the CIE lived in the residence as well during this time, so it was a really great opportunity to get to know and build friendships with people from all over the world. The best thing about living in a student residence like Alfa 2000 is the opportunity for meeting people and making friends. Chances are you'll be paired with an Argentine roommate, and the residences are packed with people from all over Latin America, who are generally all really friendly and fun. The main drawbacks to the residences are the rules - drinking is not allowed, most of them don't allow visitors from outside the residence to be anywhere besides the common areas, and having guests in your room (even people who also live in the residence) is generally frowned upon. A lot of American friends who stayed in the residence after the CIE have gotten very frustrated with the lack of privacy, and many of them feel as though they aren't treated like adults. However, out of all of the housing options, the residence is definitely the best for making quick friends your age who help you figure out the quirks of the city and can show you some of the best places to go out and have a good time.

After the CIE I lived with a Argentine host family. This is the experience that would probably be the most variable, and I've heard different stories from friends who have also lived with a host family, but there are some things that seem to be cultural common denominators. For example, Argentines (and perhaps Latin Americans in general) tend to see their home as being a very sacred and personal space - you should be honored that they've opened their home to you. They tend to accept you immediately into the family - but you have to be open enough to take advantage of that. If you're shy and you think that you'd have trouble with the idea of participating in a huge family function where everyone has known each other for years and 8 different conversations are going on at once, all in loud, fast Spanish - you might want to think about another option. In order to really get all the host family has to offer, you have to really participate in the life of the family. Have dinner with them, join them for their asados (basically, barbeques that last all afternoon), ask them questions and share information about yourself, too. I think that with the host family experience, what you get out of it is about equal to what you're willing to put into it - from what I've heard, the people who have had the best experiences have been the people who were really willing to participate. But in regard to what I said before about the home being sacred - the biggest problem for me about life with a host family was the fact that (like in the residence) visitors are a problem. Just having a friend "drop by" or have someone come back from class with you to study generally isn't allowed. If you bring a friend by, you should ask permission first and be prepared to introduce the friend to the head of household. Your host family is generally going to want to know who comes into their house and when, and to bring somebody by without notifying them first and getting permission is considered extremely disrespectful. This was the once cultural adjustment that I couldn't make - it was too important to me to have my own space where I felt comfortable inviting people over for whatever reason.

If, like it is to me, it's important to you that you have your own space and the freedom that that comes with, the apartment is the option for you. If you organize it through USAL chances are you'll be placed with other international students, but it is sometimes possible to be placed with an Argentine student (better for practicing your Spanish) if you let them know that that's what you want. It's also fairly easy to find an apartment on your own once you're down here (cheaper if you have a roommate, obviously) and something that many people from the CIE did was to stay in the residence for the first month and begin their search for an apartment while there. It's usually possible to find something and get everything set up within about 2 weeks. What you miss out on in an apartment (especially if you're on your own or with international students who also aren't familiar with the city) is the information resource that the residence and the host family provide. In the residence and with the host family, its easy to figure out which bus to take to get where, what's the deal with the latest protests going on around the city, etc.

Hope that might be helpful to some future intercambios :)