One of the most incredible parts of my time abroad in Argentina were all the wonderful friends I made while abroad, both with Argentinians and other exchanges students from around the world who lived there at the same time as me. Although I discovered that even the friendships were different abroad in many different ways that I hadn’t completely expected, largely due to many other cultural aspects.
It was very challenging to make friends with some of my classmates, especially in the beginning of the year as I was learning to speak the language. As the only exchange student in a very small school, I was always seemingly on show as the foreigner and often the butt of jokes as I couldn’t understand much for a while. This group of girls above were really helpful as I learned the school dynamics and their language, they were patient, kind, and welcoming but becoming a real friend was challenging as they saw me as just a special visitor for 11 months in many ways. I wasn’t always able to invite them over to come hang out due to my small house and the challenging communication barriers, both with them and my host family. And due to the natural dangers of the city, hanging out outside of homes was challenging for five young girls because whatever we did, we’d need to be home before dark and in a safe area, off the streets. I also found it challenging to connect with them because most young people in Rosario, Argentina didn’t make their closest friends from their school. Many would hang with their friends from sports or clubs that they were a part of outside of school or family friends or relatives. School friends were fun, and they liked to party with one another, but as far as close friendships, they weren’t made so readily in the school settings.
I was then so grateful for the other exchange students and found myself becoming fast friends with many of them. The first image above is one of the girls that I connected most with, Charlotte who came from Belgium but was able to speak English as well as Flamenco and she was learning Spanish too! We were able to learn the language together as well as the Rosario bus system and how to get our host parents to allow us to adventure and explore more. Charlotte was only abroad for 3 months but when she left I found myself drawing nearer to other students as well.
Above are a few more of my wonderful friends that I became so close with in Argentina. We were able to become tighter knit as we bonded over mutual experiences and struggles, and somehow we all became friends in Spanish and were able to understand one another better than most locals. My friendships with the other exchange students better reflected those that I’ve had at home. Both those friendships and my Argentinian friendships are very dear to my heart and I am so grateful knowing that anytime I go back to Argentina or many other places around the world, I will have somewhere to crash!