Alumni

Keeping your own culture alive from a distance is not always easy. Sometimes you move to another country and suddenly find yourself surrounded by different customs and a different language, to the point that you even start leaving your own culture aside. That is what happened to several of my friends and me when we traded Argentina for the United States.

That is why Escuela Argentina was so special to me. There I had the chance to keep learning as if I were still back home. I learned a great deal about Argentine and world history in our own language, and we even organized debates between students and teachers to develop and share complex ideas.

But the best part of the experience went far beyond what happened in the classroom. With so many students and parents sharing the same culture and the same language, the atmosphere was so friendly that it made you forget the miles in between. Sometimes I felt like I was back there. We were united by the most important things in life: conversations, passionate arguments about soccer and, of course, food. Nobody minds a café con leche and medialunas in the morning, a couple of empanadas, or an alfajor de maicena for an afternoon snack.

That is what makes Escuela Argentina so special. To me it is not an institution where Spanish is taught. It is a place where, for at least a few hours a week, you can let yourself believe you are back there.

For me, Escuela Argentina was a connection to my culture, my family and my country. As a child I perhaps did not understand why it mattered to go to school on Saturdays to study something I already knew. Today I am grateful to my parents for making Escuela Argentina part of our lives. Speaking another language on its own does not give you the same experience that I, and many others, received here.

Growing up between two cultures is not always easy. At the school I found a place where we shared the pride of being Argentine with friends who were living the same thing. We learned our traditions, our history and our language. We spent very happy Saturdays among friends, catching up on everything that had happened during the week. The teachers gave everything to teach us. They taught us about the lives of the authors, not just what they wrote; about history and what it meant. They prepared dances and songs for the May 25 celebration. All of that reminded us that it was not only about the language.

Today I value having grown up with two languages and two cultures in equal measure. It helps me in my career to communicate with people from different backgrounds, adapt to different settings and understand diverse perspectives. It opens doors for me, professionally and personally. But I think the most important thing is that it allows me to feel at home in both the United States and Argentina.

Now my three daughters are students at Escuela Argentina, and I see in them what I lived myself. When they visit Buenos Aires they understand the language and the culture, and they feel connected to their family. For me, that is a priceless gift.