Exchange Stories | Franscesca Verschoor – Argentina

Argentina is a country of extremes.

They have the best steak and wine, but also the worst pizza you will ever have. They have the best and worst people you will ever meet, the best parties and the worst hangovers. Argentina knows endless Pampas, deserts, sea, coloured mountains, Iguazu Falls, and the most southern city before Antarctica. It is a country with an inflation rate of 35% and a black exchange rate that almost doubles the official one. It’s hard not to fall in love with this country.

Before I went to Argentina, I didn’t know what to expect. My motive was to master Spanish, aware of the dialect they speak (some would argue it’s not even Spanish¦). At the university I studied at, Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA), all courses are in Spanish, so some knowledge of the language is required. You can easily schedule your classes in a way that allow for a lot of free time and neighbouring countries such as Chili, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay are waiting for you to discover them. But even without having expectations, Argentina surpassed them greatly. Never have I felt so at home in a country. Besides the fact that Buenos Aires is a very international city, a lot of Argentinians have recent European roots.

I was still a blond and slightly taller Dutch girl, but I never really felt like I was a foreigner there. In this period in life, where so many difficult choices have to be made, there is only one of which I am sure: go to Argentina!