SOL Abroad

I had a shining and wonderful experience of Buenos Aires for a month that stands out as one of the best experiences of my life. This is because of the particular care taken by our local coordinators, R. and A., who were extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic and accommodating. We had a perfect mix of commercial activities like buying souvenirs and non commercial activities like local plays, street fairs and the like, all of which cost us nothing additionally.

The only problem I had, the only headache in my whole vacation, was the fact that I clashed with my host family over minor cultural misunderstandings (which are to be expected, considering I was on a different hemisphere...) and was officially sanctioned because of it. Twice. The director, E., wrote a mass email to my mother, my school, and the study abroad office to warn them that I was 'near expulsion' from the program.

The incidents for which I was nearly dropped (which entails leaving the host family that same day, getting dropped from the university we paid tuition to through the program, and arranging a flight home with no refunds for any of the missed program) were ridiculously overblown and the reports were full of lies. The first was for washing my clothes in the bathtub, as backpackers and those without access to laundry services are wont to do. This was the within the first 3 days of being there, speaking little spanish and abiding by the rules of the house. That was a writeup because the contract says in fine print that laundry services are not provided by the host family. How that translates to "you can't do them yourself either" is beyond me. The second incident involved me eating a late night snack and not putting the plate in the sink.

When I wrote to protest these things, and indicate my embarrassment that this person (E., the director) had blatantly lied to my school and my parents, he wrote back with a smarmy, condescending email, which mocked my mother for being elderly. When I got an independent witness to verify factually that neither incident occurred as was described, E. told me "you're not a kid anymore and can't get your buddies to stick up for you." My mother knew he was lying after she told him she coudn't call me, and he pretended to call me "six times [that day]" and I was reputed to "have answered every time." This did not happen. Fact.

This program is a great and broad experience of culture of Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas. I had one of the greatest months of my life, but I would honestly NOT recommend this program because of the underhanded dealings of the smarmy egos I had to deal with just to get through. I've never had to kiss the ass of someone I was personally PAYING so much in my life. A person on this trip who expects to be able to party can expect official writeups just for unfounded suspicion. Who knows, they might even email your mother and your university telling them you have an "uncontrollable drinking habit" for simply suspecting that you party on the weekends. Even when the other students get by doing way more clandestine and even dangerously unscrupulous things and receive no punishment.

Buenos Aires may have stolen my heart, but SOL Education left a bitter taste in my mouth. Find another group.