Why Argentina?

This was the automatic response I got when explaining that after graduation I decided to pack up and buy a one-way plane ticket to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For the most part, people were surprised that I would actually choose to live in a foreign country that I had never visited, to live with people I did not know, a place where I did not speak the native language, a place where I did not know a single person, to work in a unknown job, and essentially be fully immersed in a total foreign culture. Yep, that sounds about right.

The honest reason as to why I chose to live in Buenos Aires is more that I did not choose Argentina, but rather Argentina chose me. After graduating from UW-Madison in May 2010, I decided to postpone the two conventional routes for graduates (getting a job or going back to school), and opt for something a little unconventional. No surprise there.

Two years ago, I learned of the Americas Journalism Training (AJT) program after seeing a flyer posted outside of my advisor's office in the Journalism School. My curiosity got the best of me and I chose to investigate a little further. I learned that the sole purpose of AJT is to help student's become bilingual journalists. Now, becoming a journalist was... ehhh, okay. I enjoy it, journalism was an excellent major, but reporting is not my future. Becoming bilingual, however, was the selling point!

What appealed the most to me about this program was the opportunity to travel to a somewhat unconventional Spanish-speaking country, live with a native Argentinean host family, attend intensive Spanish classes and weekly journalism seminars, all while honing my craft by working at an internship that related to what I'm good at: communicating. Plus, the thought of living in the metropolitan, capitol city of Buenos Aires simply added to the program's appeal.