About 3 months ago, I was sitting in a coffee shop and e-mailing my spanish teacher this question: "If I can´t afford study abroad. What are my options? Is it possible to just go somewhere and learn spanish on my own? I don´t think i´d be able to learn grammar this way, but at least I would be able to speak it."
Her response: "Study abroad is probably your cheapest and best option. There are plenty of scholarships. Good luck!"
I knew I couldn´t afford it because I had already met with the study abroad advisors and learned about the costs...my heart sank and I was just about to give up on my dream of traveling abroad to learn a language when...
At that exact moment, the girl sitting next too me started chatting on the phone in french! With the little french I knew, I struck up a conversation with her. She was a French teacher at the University and she spent the last summer in Guatemala learning Spanish. She didn´t get university credit for it because she went to a language school.
THIS WAS MY AH-HA MOMENT! God works in mysterious ways, but how can I be so lucky without Him...What are the odds of finding the answer to my question...sitting next to me in a coffe shop?! Slim chance! But it happened!
So, I started researching language schools in south America just to make sure I could find one-there are plenty. I worked and saved money in order to travel. I bought tickets to Buenos Aires and then I started to narrow down my choices and I chose to first go to SET idiomas in Cordoba. I actually prefer a language school to a university sponsored study abroad. The classes are smaller (usually no more than 5 people), they last 4 or more hours per day, they are cheaper (I´m saving about 12,000), you aren´t around familiar people (i.e. people who speak english) unless you want to be (which I don´t), thus, you are forced to learn Spanish. Finally, you have the option of doing what YOU want...not what the school organized for you.
Since arriving here, I´ve made a ´few´ friends at school (most people speak english or skip class to party...not my thing), and I´ve made a friend on the city-bus, I´ve made a friend by getting lost in her apartment complex (she invited me in to tomar mate) and through her, I´ve made even more friends. Most of my friends can´t speak english. It´s great! It´s always better to make friends with the locals.
My plan is to spend 3 more weeks in Cordoba and then 6 more in Buenos Aires. I actually want to spend more time in Cordoba because I feel like (after 3 weeks) I´m just starting to get settled. I don´t want to have to move to BA and start all over again. It takes a while to make friends and I´ve had my fair share of lonely days...but that´s expected!
So if I can, I´ll try to find somewhere to live in Cordoba and stay un poco longer.
I´m coming home August 4th. I want to have a coming home party with pictures and stories! Get ready!
