It’s getting cold in Europe! Have you been dreaming about enjoying some sun and learning Spanish at the same time? Buenos Aires is South America’s most cosmopolitan city and an ideal place to take a Spanish course while discovering the Southern continent. The summertime has just started…
Lifestyle
With its bustling streets, grand avenues, coffeehouses and stylish restaurants, Buenos Aires feels like a European city in Latin America. Most of its immigrants came from Western Europe, particularly from Italy and Spain, which had a big influence on the architecture, history and gastronomy of the city. As a melting pot of different cultures this vibrant city boasts great collections of art, countless music venues, big theatres and non-stop nightlife. The “Paris of South America” offers you an endless number of things to do after your Spanish course. The porteños (the locals) are not exaggerating when they say, “everything is possible in Buenos Aires!”
Food
Influenced by Italian and Spanish cuisine, Buenos Aires is home to dozens of Pasta and Tapas restaurants offering delicious Mediterranean food. However, the most famous dish on the Argentinean menu is without a doubt the asado. The Argentinean barbecue has a long tradition and is widely seen as a social event. On this occasion Argentineans get together with their friends and family, mainly on Sundays, to eat, drink and chat for hours. If you get invited to a parilla you can be sure that you will not leave the place before you haven’t tried the carne (beef) with chimichurri, a garlic and oil sauce which originated in Argentina and can now also found in neighbouring countries such as Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil. Another typical food are empanadas, a baked pastry stuffed with meat, cheese or vegetables. These are cheap and very easy to get. If you fancy something sweet like pancakes or ice cream, you should definitely order it with some dulce de leche, a milky caramel sauce Argentineans use to sweeten almost every kind of dessert.
Tango
Buenos Aires is the birthplace of the Tango. There’s nothing else to say. First danced in Río de la Plata, a region on the border between Uruguay and Argentina, Tango soon became popular worldwide. In Buenos Aires the Tango dance grew in the suburbs and followed its way to the streets. The Tango is an expression of passion and nostalgy and cannot be danced individually. The woman seduces and the man is supposed to lead. Today you can see many dancers performing in the streets during the weekly market in the district San Telmo or the La Boca district, mainly influenced by Italian immigrants.
Travelling
Buenos Aires offers enough to keep one busy for months but it’s also a great departure point to discover the rest of Argentina and the South American Continent. Depending on the time you will have after finishing your Spanish course you’ll have to make a difficult decision: mountains, sea, snow, waterfalls or desert? With a total surface area of 2,780,400 km2 Argentina has everything and you have to decide wisely what you want to see as distances are large. But also the surroundings of Buenos Aires offer great possibilities for weekend trips. The Delta del Paraná or the proximity to Uruguay are easy to reach within a day and are great destinations while studying in Buenos Aires.
Climate
You are shivering back home even though you’ve turned on the heater and prepared yourself a hot tea? You don’t know what else to do to warm yourself up? Well, there’s a place where it’s sunny and warm right now… Summer has just started in Buenos Aires and the average daytime temperature will be pleasant 28 degrees in the following months. If you get your Christmas money, it might be a good idea to simply invest in a flight ticket and forget about the new heater. When you’re back from Argentina -with a fresh tan on your face and improved Spanish language skills – spring time will start in Europe!
