"An outside viewpoint can challenge assumptions that you may not even realize you have and can make you look at familiar questions differently."
Spending a semester at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) was an opportunity to experience another country, another university, and another perspective on a subject I already enjoy studying.
Having spent many years abroad, living in another country was not a completely new experience for me. What made Buenos Aires different was that it was another opportunity to learn from a place I had not lived in before. I have found that no matter how much international experience you have, every country has its own culture, routines, and ways of looking at the world, and there is always something new to learn.
I chose UBA because as a student at Columbia, many of the political questions we study are naturally approached through an American lens. Studying in Argentina allowed me to encounter those questions from a different starting point and to hear ideas shaped by Argentina's own political history and experiences. Being able to discuss politics with Argentine students and professors added a perspective that I do not necessarily get from studying the same subjects in New York.
A big part of enjoying the semester was simply getting to live in Buenos Aires.
I liked the atmosphere of the city and its pace of life-spending time at cafés, walking through different neighborhoods, and getting used to the city's late dinners and social culture. I enjoyed discovering the city gradually and finding my own routines there. Those everyday experiences were just as much a part of the semester as my classes.
More broadly, I think one of the greatest values of an education is being exposed to ideas and ways of thinking beyond the ones you already know. An outside viewpoint can challenge assumptions that you may not even realize you have and can make you look at familiar questions differently. For me, studying in Argentina was another way of expanding the range of perspectives I bring to my education. It reinforced that there is rarely only one way to understand a political question, and that having more information and more points of view makes it possible to think about complex issues with greater context. Especially in political science, where the subjects we study often involve different countries, societies, and competing interpretations, I think having that range of perspectives is a crucial part of a meaningful education.
I was able to have this experience thanks to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The scholarship was particularly meaningful to me because, as a student financing much of my education independently, studying abroad represented a significant financial commitment.
The Gilman Scholarship helped make my semester at UBA possible and gave me the opportunity to pursue an experience that was important to me academically and personally.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed my time in Buenos Aires. I enjoyed the city, the people I met, the academic experience, and the chance to add another perspective to my understanding of politics. More than anything, the semester reminded me how much I value learning through new experiences and being willing to step outside what is familiar. I left Buenos Aires with a deeper appreciation for the value of studying beyond the environment I already knew and with a greater curiosity about the places and ideas I have yet to encounter
