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Eating in Buenos Aires...on a Student's Budget

Nearly 4,000 U.S. students studied abroad in Argentina in 2006/07, up 26% from the previous year. The vast majority studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina's enormous and fascinating capital city. But B.A.'s skyrocketing popularity should really come as no surprise: Argentina's massive capital city boasts some of the finest food in the world and is home to a culinary tradition unparalleled throughout the rest of Central and South America.

Since winning its independence from Spain in 1816, Buenos Aires has seen so many waves of immigration arrive at its port that it has truly become a metropolitan melting pot of culture, origin and ethnicity. And as a result, the city's cuisine has been transformed and influenced over and over again. Today, traditional porteño (a term meaning "of the port," referring to all things Buenos Aires) cuisine is a fusion of European (most notably Italian, Spanish, French, German) and indigenous flavors. This amalgamation of diverse flavors has become a draw for gastrophiles the world over. Typically, when the terms "almagamation of diverse flavors" and "gastrophile" appear in the same sentence, one of two things is true: Either (A) the haute-cuisine in question is overpriced and pretentious or (B) the critic in question is overambitious and pretentious. In this case neither is true. Buenos Aires' cuisine is not only splendid, but it is for the most part, quite affordable. Due to a favorable exchange rate (3.78 Argentine pesos to the U.S. dollar) and B.A.'s favorable location in the fertile Pampas region, raw ingredients are locally produced and very inexpensive. This means that students on a tight budget can enjoy spectacular food.

Some of the main staples of the Argentine student diet include pizza, empanadas, and grilled meats.

Pizza in B.A. is unique in that it resembles an open-faced calzone more than it does traditional Italian pizza. Popular varieties include fugazzetta (mozzarella cheese with topped with grilled onions) and napoletana (a thick-crusted take on an old school Italian style, topped with tomato, mozzarrella and oregano). This pizza is, in fact, so thick and rich that one slice, or maybe two, will satisfy even the most voracious eater. Most pizzerias display their freshest pizzas behind glass, so if your Spanish is only so-so, pointing to your choice will suffice. To get your fill, try pizzerias Guerrín (1368 Av. Corrientes, +54 11 4371 8141) and the mysteriously-named Kentucky (Av. Santa Fe 4602, +54 11 4773-7869).

Empanadas are a quintessential South American snack consisting of a doughy pastry filled with any combination of meat, poultry, cheese and vegetables. In Buenos Aires, empanadas can be found on nearly any street corner and sell for less than $1 apiece. While empanadas are plentiful and cheap, they come in every imaginable taste, size, and quality. For some of the absolute best empanadas in town, visit Cumaná (Rodríguez Peña 1149, +54 11 4813 9207) or Mi Taragüi (Julián Alvarez 2399, +54 11 4825 2006). Pizzeria Kentucky also serves excellent empanadas.

It would be blasphemous to write about B.A.'s food culture without mentioning the mouthwatering steaks, sausages, ribs and other meat products available. Argentina consumes more beef per capita than any other nation, and you can't really blame them, as they produce the world's best cattle. Argentines are adept at finding any excuse to gather at an asado (essentially a barbecue) and grill some of the best meat you've ever tasted. Make friends with a porteño and you'll receive the inevitable invitation to eat your heart out at a traditional asado. But if you prefer to go at it alone, there are plenty of options throughout the city. Follow your nose to one of B.A.'s thousand parrillas (restaurant-grills) and choose between grilled steak, sausage, pork chops, and poultry. With a phrasebook and an open mind, you can eat virtually any part of the cow or pig that your heart--or stomach--desires. Parillas are often cheap, quick, and informal. For the perfect steak, try the eponymous Lomo Da Dá at Da Dá (San Martín 941, +54 11 4314 4787). For an upscale parilla with waterfront view, head to Happening in Puerto Madero (Alicia Moreau de Justo 310, +54 4319 8712).

Other staples of the porteño diet include mate, a bitter tea-like infusion made from the yerba mate plant and drunk from a gourd, and dulce de leche, a milky caramel sauce that tops most local pastries and desserts. Be sure to try an alfajor, a pastry made of dulce de leche sandwiched between two shortbread cookies.

For the study abroad student, Buenos Aires offers more just than tango, soccer and sun. The city also offers unbelievably delicious, inexpensive and sophisticated cuisine. You may return home a few pounds heavier, but at least your wallet won't be too thin.

Study Abroad and Global Citizenship: A Match Made in Pleven

In a recent Inside Higher Ed article, Elizabeth Redden reports on groundbreaking research from this year's NAFSA conference showcasing the strong correlation between study abroad and increased global citizenship. The study found that even short-term programs resulted in students demonstrating increased awareness and interest in cross-cultural issues.

Redden references Lisa Chieffo, Associate Director of the University of Delaware's Center for International Studies, who conducted a study revolving around the question “What impacts (if any) does a month-long study abroad program have on students?” Chieffo surveyed more than 1,200 students, asking questions like “Being in an environment where I don’t understand the local language makes me nervous,” and “I am able to ascertain whether a member of the host culture is annoyed with me.” The results illustrated strong positive trends in students' global engagement.

Chieffo affirms that "Something is going on in these short-term programs," and this research further supports the notion that study abroad can have a significant impact on American students' role in an increasingly globalized society. While Americans may be known as norotiously ethnocentric to those abroad, there is no better way to mold the next generation of leaders than by promoting international exposure among our students.


Hopefully efforts such as the Senator Simon Act can ensure that our students don't only think outside the box, but that they bring their passports along and think outside our borders, too.

The Foreign Relations Authorization Act: One Million Students to Study Abroad by 2018

To many, beginning college is a time of new opportunities - a time to leave home, to be exposed to new academic avenues, and to meet new people. Many U.S. institutions also boast the opportunities they provide in helping students to study in foreign countries. While over 800 colleges and universities send students abroad every year, very few students actually can or do take advantage of the opportunity. In the 2006-2007 academic school year, about 240,000 – or 1% of the U.S. college population – studied abroad. While some may jump to conclude it is because students choose not to study abroad, the reality is that many students do not have the economic resources to do so. The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act is trying to change that.

On June 10, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act, which is included in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 235 to 187. Presented by senators Dick Durbin and Roger Wicker, the bill has a goal of sending 1 million college students abroad every year – four times the current number – through $80 million in federal grants by 2018. The money will be available to colleges, individual students and other non-governmental study abroad programs. The bill’s goals are to increase and improve global awareness, critical language skills, and foreign relations. Senator Wicker, stated, “America will be served well by taking steps to ensure our students – the future leaders of our nation – have a higher level of foreign language proficiency and international and cultural knowledge.”

With more Americans facing economic troubles every day, studying abroad has not necessarily been a feasible option for many college students. This bill would not only allow many more students to study abroad than ever before, but it would also let them do so in non-traditional parts of the world. With marked increases in the number of students studying abroad in the Middle East, Asia, and South America in recent years, the bill promotes what students already desire to do.

The bill will now head to the Senate Foreign Relations committee for a vote. President Barack Obama has already stated he would sign the bill if placed in front of him. If it does pass, the opportunities for students to study abroad will increase drastically over the next decade. Living and studying abroad is one of the greatest ways to increase personal growth and awareness of the world at large. The Paul Simon Act recognizes that and will hopefully help to create a bridge over troubled water.

Living Abroad Linked to an Increase in Creativity

Writers, painters and thinkers from across the globe have long relied on overseas travel to stimulate creativity. Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Rudyard Kipling, for instance, all spent significant time living abroad and achieved some of their most important work from outside the borders of their homelands. For these turn-of-the-century artists, living abroad certainly sparked creativity and yielded obvious results. But can today's wanderer increase creativity simply by living abroad? The answer, surprisingly, is a resounding yes.

A recent study has shown that there is a definite link between living abroad and increased creativity. The study, which appeared the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, proves that those who have lived in a foreign country are more creative than those who have not. In the study, MBA students from Chicago's Northwestern University were asked to complete three tasks. The first task called for creative spacial reasoning and the second required a non-intuitive solution to an awkward disagreement. In both cases, subjects who had lived abroad were significantly more likely to solve the problem than those who had not. In the third task, subjects who had lived abroad proved to be more creative in drawing space aliens and solving word games than those who had not. Controlling for predisposed personality traits that often foster creativity, the authors of the study were able to definitively prove that living abroad promotes creativity. Interestingly, however, traveling abroad had no correlation to creativity; actually living in a foreign country made all the difference.

It's not too difficult to guess why living abroad promotes creativity: students abroad and expats alike face new and challenging situations on a daily basis as they adjust to a foreign environment and assimilate into an unfamiliar culture. They must come up with creative solutions to everyday challenges in work, school, and social situations. Upon returning from abroad, these new-found skills and tools can easily be applied to situations at home.

So to realize your own creative potential, take a cue from Ernest Hemingway: pack your steamer trunk, hop the next freighter to Europe, set up shop in a seedy Madrid apartment and melt your mind with Spanish absinthe. But if you're not feeling quite that ambitious, simply living abroad will do. Beyond the obvious benefits of spending time in a foreign country, living abroad will actually increase your creativity.

To read more about the link between living abroad and creativity, check out this article from The Economist or this article from US News and World Report.