STUDYING ABROAD

Maitane Andueza is a student who was born in San Sebastian and is actually studying her fourth year of teacher training in "EHU", the university of the Basque Country. Last year, she had the great oportunity to go and do her third year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She went on a similar programme to Erasmus. I asked her some questions about her experience abroad:

ME: Why did you choose to go to Argentina?

MAITANE: I'm not really sure. Since I was a child, I've always liked it as a country.

ME: How was it at the beginning, did you have any problems?

MAITANE: At the university they were all really relaxed and didn't really care about giving in the work. It

took time to get used to that. Here they are much more strict with the deadlines.

ME: What was the experience like in general?

MAITANE: It was a great experience, I really loved it and I learnt and got to know lots of things.

ME: What was your favourite thing?

MAITANE: The people. When I came back I realised that what they say about Basque people is true. We are not very sociable people, whereas in Argentina they are all really open and friendly. They helped me at all times and they made me feel as if I was part of their family.

ME: What did you like the least?

MAITANE: I was located in Buenos Aires and I didin't like their lifestyle. I thought it was really chaotic and I often felt quite lonely. I didn't get used to their lifestyle at all.

ME: Anything special about your stay?

MAITANE: As I also spent the whole summer there, I had the opportunity to travel around with a group of Basque students that I met there. When they left, I was on my own and I learnt a lot of things. That was really special, I could have never imagined myself in a country like Argentina on my own.