An expert guide to study abroad in South America

Complete with my personal experiences

Why I am an expert to write on this:

• Extensive regional travel, including: Argentina, Aruba (technically not Latin America in my opinion), Belize, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, airport layover in Uruguay (that doesn’t count).
• Masters in Latin American Studies from Georgetown. Bachelors in International Affairs (Latin America concentration) from University of Colorado.
• Two separate study abroads in Paraguay and Chile.
• Spanish speaker (as a result of study abroads) and basic Portuguese.

Why go?

• Different perspective on life.
• Solidify your Spanish.
• Super friendly people.
• Less expensive cost of living means you can do more.
• Fascinating place to study with contrasts all over the place.
• Generally the food is quite good!
• With a few exceptions, generally not as touristy.
• You are more likely to learn Spanish than if you were in a party area in Spain. Besides, Latin America is much more friendly than Spain.
• Wide variety of climates.
• Good infrastructure to be able to travel around, get internet, buy groceries.
• Quite far but you don’t feel like you are in a completely different world, like if you lived in the Mongolian desert.
• Instagram worthy pretty much everywhere you are.
• Adds color to life. Just walking around and seeing the buildings and people is a beautiful experience.

Very important things to know:

• The seasons are reversed! So if you go in May-Aug, it’s winter there! Colder temps and sun goes down early.
• If it’s winter down there, pack warm! Even fancy houses don’t have much heat at all. Where you are likely to stay might have a tiny heat fan. So buuuundle up bhhhhhr!
• Water quality varies on where you go. In Paraguay, for example, tap water is totally safe to drink. Don’t do that in Peru though.
• The continent is massive! Example: All of the continental USA is about a third the size of South America. There are tons of differences, including geography, climate, food, urbanization, you name it.

Example starting point to research destinations

Let’s take a look at my grad school alma mater, #1 in international affairs, Georgetown University! Even if you’re not going through Georgetown, the universities they partner with will be top notch. Bring up the Office of Global Education website, let’s search for potential South American destinations. An important academic consideration is:

• Special program for international students — great great way to meet others, coursework will be a lot easier, they will likely have tours. Harder to learn the language, since there will be many other English speakers.
• Direct matriculation — more or less akin to going native. Great route for advanced speakers. Excellent way to learn the language.
• Do your own thing — you don’t need a formal program of study. You can practice the language anywhere you go and will learn tons just from daily conversations and observations. Best way to learn the practical way to speak the language.

Georgetown is not the end all be all; these resources are intended as a starting point. I figured picking some high quality common ones paints a valid picture. Let’s peruse some options.

Argentina

Incredible steak! Lots and lots of meat. Italian food. No veggies.

Buenos Aires is marvelous! European elegance at Latin American prices. Fantastic city! Funny accent compared to the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. Good cost of living. Need to practice street sense to avoid crime. Water quality depends on where you go. You can take the subway system to get around.

Some of the latest night cultures. If you are a night owl, this is the place for you! Early morning person? This would be atrocious.

There are other awesome places in Argentina (I loved Mendoza) that would be well worth looking into.

Brazil

Tudo bem? Reportedly one of the final grad comprehensive essay exam questions in a prior year was, “Is Brazil part of Latin America?”, and writers had to justify using scholarship and culture. Food for thought.

Entao si vc quer visitar ao Brasil, vc necesita saber que falam Portugues! (So if you want to visit Brazil, you need to know that they speak Portuguese).

Brazilian people are quite possibly the friendliest in the world. Daily example: customer greeting is with 3 cheek kisses! The rest of Latin America does 2, some places 1. (Not zero like us cold North Americans).

Major study abroad hubs:

• Sao Paolo — the NYC of South America. MASSIVE CITY. Something for everyone. I like the Portuguese more here.
• Rio — world famous. Great place to have fun! Strange accent. Need to be mindful of safety.

Brazil is basically its own continent, so there is tons to explore. Maybe you want to study elsewhere in the country?

• Where I want to go? Florianapolis. Sounds and looks pretty close to a perfect place!
• Curitiba — super safe, won multiple international design awards for urban planning and fantastic mass transit. Looks excellent!

Chile

The economic darling of South America. Great beer from the German heritage. World class wines. Beer and wine can be cheaper than bottled water. Tremendous outdoor activities. People feel a bit like the English of South America. They will tell you they are better, which is true in some cases, not in others. Generally bland food, though food scene is improving. Empanadas and seafood are fantastic. You can shortcut this by eating Peruvian instead.

Destinations:

• Santiago — fantastic mass transit. Big city. People not as warm.
• Valparaiso — right at the ocean. Bohemian vibe. Great seafood, colorful houses. Smaller than Santiago. About 2 hours bus ride away.

Major weather differences on the seasons than in other countries. Examples:

• I went in the winter, so pollution, but world class skiing. I went skiing in July and got stuck in a blizzard! I was super cold everywhere I went.
• Weather is supposed to be great in the summer. Would have been great to experience and hit the beach.

I noticed that Americans here where there for the longer haul, not just popping in and out like with other study abroad destinations around the world.

Ecuador

From what I’ve heard, cool place you can see a good chunk of the country with with much smaller transit distances compared to the rest of the continent. Very interesting indigenous cultures. Unstable political system (though it’s less likely to affect you when you are there). Great if you like mountains!

Peru

One of the world’s best cuisines, intriguing indigenous cultures, wide variety of climates. Lima is a major city with the contrasts of rich and poor. Faaantastic year-round weather. People are super friendly. You are warmly greeted as an American. Good cost of living. Terrible mass transit and traffic. I was there as a tourist but would happily go back for longer.

Notable omission from Georgetown’s initial searches:

• Colombia. This would be my next choice of South American destination! I have not met one person who did not have a great time here. Many have returned and some now live there indefinitely. Awesome people, great Spanish with no funny accent, incredible variety of climates. Big cities to small cities.

Omissions for smaller countries:

• Bolivia. Fascinating place to study! One of the places with the strongest indigenous cultures. Fascinating landscapes to see. More “off the beaten path.” You will likely get sick for about a week.

• Uruguay. Development indicators across the board are some of the highest on the continent. In my opinion, the most beautiful Spanish in the world. Montevideo is medium-sized. Super safe. Great wine! Beef. More low key experience. Easy access to Buenos Aires.

• Paraguay (I don’t think there is an accredited program, but there may be some where you travel there for a portion of the time). More sedate compared to much of the continent. Incredibly warm people. You will feel like a gem as an international visitor. Close to make it easy to travel to Argentina and Brazil. On the rare occasions you meet other young Americans, they are likely Peace Corps volunteers or Mormons.

Where did I go?

On my first adventure, I did my own thing in Paraguay for a summer after freshmen year. I lived with an incredible host family whose daughter had lived with a friend of mine in high school in Colorado

On my second adventure, I went through a special Georgetown program for international students at a Jesuit university in Santiago, Chile for another summer in grad school.

• We developed our own research proposals that guided much of our coursework. I did some really cool interviews on how copper resulted in Chile’s economic development. Great linkage of theory to practice.
• The international program also featured a series of super interesting topics on contemporary society, such as how spatial distribution affects poverty.
• I thought it would be like Colorado meets California with Spanish, but it wasn’t quite like that.

The con: I am technically missing two summers, so I need to make up for that by living in the Southern hemisphere for yeti of their summers.

What I wish

I really wish I had gone for an additional year and spent it as a direct matriculate in Argentina. I would have been fully confident to a level that I was not when I was younger (early in college). That time you have when you are young and without responsibilities is an exceptionally rare time in your life — I feel like I missed out on it b/c I was too nervous to be away from home for that long!

For similar reading on international destinations, check out Levi Borba on Medium. Levi, feel free to add your two cents on these destinations!