Felicia (Sam Housten State University)
Felicia's Experience:
Dance Abroad Argentina takes place in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. I arrived at the end of January and right away knew I would love living in the quaint yet exciting neighborhood of San Telmo. I lived in an adorable apartment with other students from other countries. Everyone spoke no less than three languages, so it was interesting to practice not only my Spanish.
In the program, we were required to take a month of Spanish class at the University of Buenos Aires. The class helped immensely, especially since the teachers spoke only Spanish throughout the course. With all the discussions, homework, and exams that were given, my Spanish picked up quickly. Not only did my Spanish instructors speak only Spanish, but my dance instructors as well. Out of all eight of them, not one spoke English, therefore this helped improve my Spanish. For this 5 month program, I was able to earn credit for a Spanish class and my dance classes for my last semester at Sam Houston State University.
Dancing kept our program busy, but our director Nathan Moyer still found the time to take us to the Buenos Aires Zoo, a show, Uruguay for the day, the Malba Museum, an empanada cooking class, and the beach.
I was trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, contemporary, and Argentine tango. Our ballet teacher, Maria Diaz, was the most amazing ballet teacher I have ever had. She formerly danced for the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, so having her for a teacher was extremely intense. She pushed us hard and worked us until we couldn't do another pirouette. I found myself gaining more self-confidence than I ever had, and with that I began to work even harder and push myself until I couldn't think anymore.