Classes at the University of Belgrano have ended. My class at the University of Belgrano was fantastic. I was enrolled in Spanish Intermediate Level 1 at the University. I really enjoyed it because I was able to go over the basic grammar and focus on grammar that I was not confident about. My classmates and I didn’t feel like the class was too easy either. We all had different strengths and weaknesses in the grammar while we learned, and gained more knowledge of the topic. I met a lot of other exchange students from various states of the United States at the University of Belgrano. We had classmates who were staying for only the summer semester, like me, and classmates who were staying for the fall semester as well.

My professor was very helpful and encouraging. She explained everything in Spanish very well. When there were times that my class or I didn’t understand something, she would explain it in another way in Spanish by using a different word or situation to understand the topic or lesson. We would constantly hear Spanish for the entire class period. I think this was very helpful for me, and for all of my classmates as well, in improving our comprehension of Spanish. Our class had many fun discussions in Spanish. It helped everyone with beginning to be comfortable speaking Spanish. Our confidence in the language increased and we really enjoyed our time at school.

My class was from Monday through Friday from 9:30am to 2pm. But don’t worry! We also had breaks in between. The major difference between school in the US and school in Buenos Aires was that I actually walked to school. Thankfully, I lived the closest to the school and took only 5 minutes to get to school, unlike my other classmates who had to walk or take the subways to go to school.

After class, my friends and I would go to a cafe or go to a restaurant to grab some lunch. I think school life in Argentina is very similar to the United States. I have improved in my listening skills in Spanish due to my class solely being in Spanish instead of English. I would have to explain my opinions in Spanish. I was able to get out of my comfort zone and was not able to use my English as a way to keep myself comfortable. My journey doesn’t stop here with my class coming to an end. The journey to improve more of my skills is still ahead of me.

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Julie Jeong is currently a freshman at the University of Missouri-Kansas City studying Chemistry, Entrepreneurship, and Spanish. Julie will spend the summer with the UMKC Spanish Program in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She plans to attend UMKC’s Dental School after her undergraduate study. She plans to use Spanish in her career as a future dentist who strives to help patients and eliminate miscommunications.