Quote: (10-11-2012 04:48 PM)kickboxer Wrote:
Shit.
The question should say.
In your opinion, which location offers the best experience?
I am studying abroad for a semester next year and I am in the process of choosing where I want to go. I would be in the location from September to December of 2013. The price of each school will cost the same as the tuition of my current college.
Spain would be fun and I have been taking Spanish, but, perhaps Shanghai would be a better option in the long haul.
Each location offers a business/international business program as well as cultural studies.
I've been to Buenos Aires, Alicante, Barcelona, Seville and Madrid, and I've lived my whole life in São Paulo. But I haven't yet visited China, Italy or Costa Rica, so I'll restrict myself to the places I know.
Spain is awesome, and I loved the weeks I spent there while I was travelling in Europe. It is a beautiful and friendly country, not very expensive, and easy to get around. I've seriously considered living there for some time, but I'm now much less romantic about that thought.
The thing with Spain is that people will be nice to you and they'll talk to you there, but they will never accept you as their own. Regardless of your friendship level with them, it is very likely that you will always be considered a foreigner and an outsider above all else, and that they simply won't allow you the access to their groups like they would allow it to a spaniard. As much as I liked my time there, this made me rethink some future plans.
And if you're not getting close with the locals, then you're going to befriend the other foreign students. It's up to you wether this is a good or a bad thing. But if I'm going to a different country to study and learn about culture and women, I want to be friends with the locals, talk to them in their language, learn about how they live. If not, it's like going abroad and only fucking the girls in the hostels, instead of the native women.
Out of the options in Spain, I'd choose Madrid. I just didn't like Barcelona (too many tourists, expensive). Seville and Alicante are very nice in different ways, but I believe their relatively small size would start to annoy me if I was planning to stay there for a year. That may not be the case with you, though, since you only want to stay for a few months.
Buenos Aires is a very nice city and it is a good option, great place and very cheap. However the country is very unstable economically and social circles are also a bit hard to crack. Still, cool place.
As to São Paulo: very different style from the other ones mentioned.
For starters, the metro region houses 20 million people. It is expensive as fuck. Real estate prices are escalating in a huge bubble that will soon pop. Traffic jams are absurd (yesterday was the second highest of the year: 259km inside the city). It is a brutal and cruel city. You got to watch your back all the time around here.
However...
There are many good schools here.
The nightlife is awesome.
Girls like gringos.
Depending on where you are gonna study, you will have some of the hottest girls of the city in your class.
You'll have a place for yourself without parents, which is a major thing here, and will open many possibilities (few girls in their early twenties have already left their parents' home).
The market is growing and expanding.
Knowledge of portuguese is a differential in comparison with spanish. (How many americans speak spanish and how many speak portuguese?). Also, if you pick up on portuguese, spanish will be piece of cake.
The greatest thing, though, is that people will be friendly and take you in, introduce you to their friends, family, take you out.
What institution do you plan to enroll in if you choose SP? PM me if you prefer not to reveal it here or have any questions.