BUENOS AIRES, COSMOPOLITAN CITY

Buenos Aires is the capital city of Argentina. Settled over a plain, at the river banks of the River Plate (Río de la Plata), it covers a surface of around 200km2. With almost 12 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area, this vibrant city is amongst the most populated urban centers in the world.
Founded twice by Spanish expeditioners in 1536 and 1580, it acquired its characteristic cosmopolitan feature in the early XIX Century with the arrival of several immigrant flows. Arriving from Spain, Italy, France, UK, Lebanon, Syria, Poland or Russia, these adventurous immigrants came to these lands looking for a better future and answering to the invitation of the Argentinean government to populate its rich but “empty” territories.
Such origins certainly are the root of the cultural diversity that distinguished Buenos Aires ever since. Throughout the twentieth century, successive migrations draw the final lines in the portrait Buenos Aires shows today: a singular fusion of cultures, religions, traditions, and worldviews.
For porteños (the name by which Buenos Aires inhabitants are called), culture is an invitation to meet, an essential trail for personal transformation and construction of their identity.
Buenos Aires is considered Latin America´s most important cultural pole and its rich cultural life is manifested in the presence of its 180 theatre halls (more than any other city in the world), 200 cinemas, 80 museums, 70 libraries and more than 300 bookstores. But bookstores in Buenos Aires are not only outstanding in terms of quantity. In 2008 the British newspaper The Guardian chose El Ateneo Grand Splendid (a refurbished former theatre) as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. Buenos Aires also has a great variety of convention centers, art galleries, cultural centers, literary cafes, music festivals, craft fairs, parks, squares and gardens.
Important traits of Buenos Aires life are sports and sporting shows. Football (soccer), of course, stands over others, being the city home to several world-known professional teams such as Boca Juniors or River Plate. Other sports are also practiced, such as tennis, rugby, basketball, golf, sailing, rowing, volley and swimming, given the city has over 100 clubs and organizations for sporting and training.
There is much to explore and enjoy outside the city as well. The Pampa and the Gaucho are an attraction not to be missed, mix of landscape, tradition and identity.
Finally, with more than 45 universities in the greater metropolitan area, Buenos Aires gives home to more than 1 million students, approximately 70% of the whole higher education enrollment in the country. This population, together with the more than 20.000 international students it host every year, makes of Buenos Aires a fine choice for a study abroad program.