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Habla español? No hablas?

Autumn 2008 is the first time we have students in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lén-Veronica Kongerud is studying Spanish language and Latin American Literature, a study program in cooperation with Vestfold University College (Høgskolen i Vestfold).

After a week I realized I'd been walking around saying “He/she does not speak Spanish,” while my original intention was to express that it was me who did not know a single phrase. Hence, my first and so far most used Spanish sentence was completely wrong. But, don’t be in despair, to learn Spanish is one of the reasons I'm here in Argentina with Culture Studies.

The students travelling on Culture Studies' joint departure arrived in Buenos Aires early Saturday morning in late August and were met by the jolly brothers Christian and Eduardo Tiscornia, who is working for both Culture Studies and the volunteer organisation Amartya, which the students can volunteer with during the stay in Buenos Aires. After the arrival we were taken into small minibuses into the city centre where we checked in to our cosy and colourful apartments in San Telmo, the tango capital's oldest suburb. Curbed streets, antique dealers and small cafés on every street corner is characteristic for Buenos Aires' tango quarter. Every Sunday you can walk around the antique market in San Telmo where you can go treasure hunting for jewellery, cutlery, fur, shoes and other treasures.

”Hola. Como te llamas?” I looked confused at the other students and tried to answer the teacher's question, without much luck. In the classroom at Facultdad de Ingenieria, a grand building where Culture Studies conducts the teaching, you have no choice but to go for it and do your best when it comes to the Spanish. The language of instruction in Spanish and English and the students have lectures and seminar throughout the week to be up to date with all the study requirements. If you need some peace and quiet for homework or phrase learning there are reading halls and seminar rooms in the gigantic building with screeching elevator and marble stairs. In the basement there is a cosy canteen (just follow the sign to the bar!), and you might be lucky to bump into some salsa and tango-dancers in front of the elevator on the second floor.

For those with no special skills in Spanish nor tango (me included) there are tango classes for the Culture Studies students where the instructors Nina and Felipe are teaching in Swedish and English. After the classes you can visit one of the many milongas where you can practice the newly acquired dance moves with the locals to live tango music. For the gym enthusiasts there are several gyms around the area where you can join for a week at the time and go to group lessons in yoga or karate or get a real workout (if you have any strength left after the tango and homework) in the weight studio.

In addition to daily lectures in Spanish and Latin-American literature, the students can spend their evenings on nice restaurants enjoying fantastic Argentinean beef and cheap wine. It has been said that Buenos Aires, as with New York, is a city that never sleeps, and true enough, for how can you sleep when the bars does not close before sunrise? The restaurants are empty around 8pm, but around 11pm they start to fill up with chatty and smiling Argentineans. After dinner, a pulsating nightlife is waiting for the already jetlagged students. The time passes quickly when you are learning a lot, and most likely exams and return will be on our minds before we know it. I'm glad there is two months before I have to go back to cold Norway. In the meantime, summer and more rewarding experiences awaits in Buenos Aires.

Chao!