My Time in Mexico

With my rural homestay

By: Kaity Berg

It is almost impossible to sum up these past few months here in México. From the moment I arrived to my day of departure México can and will be one of my second homes near and dear to me. I had never traveled outside the US before coming here to México in August and I am glad that my first experience was with CGE. Within the four months I was here I have learned more about myself and what is going on in the world around me then I have in any other four month time frame in my life.

My favorite part of the experience was definitely my home stays with Mexican families. Our business group had one in a rural area for four days and everyone had one for four weeks at the end of the program. These experiences have taught me what it is to live in Mexico and how families here cope with everyday life. Another favorite experience of mine is getting to know Cuernavaca. When I needed time to myself my favorite thing to do was to get lost in the city. I feel as if the city had an energy that I needed, there is always something going on in the city and people galore going about their business. This is also good for those people who like cities and people watching. As for the school, I really liked my classes and everyone that was involved with CGE. From the staff to the interns everyone was very congenial, welcoming and supportive when needed.

Homestays

By: Kaity Berg

A few weeks ago in international business we moved into our homestays, which has been a great experience so far. Before moving in, there were many anxious questions swirling around, and anticipations about what our family was going to be like. Many of the worries arose about our time in the homestays because as you can imagine, we are a group of many different levels of Spanish as well as personalities, not to mention the cultural differences. How do we get around the language barrier if there is one? What if we do not like the meals we are served? What if we have an early curfew?

For me, I was excited and nervous at the same time, however there was no way for me to mentally prepare for what we were moving in to. As cheesy as it sounds, I knew that it was crucial to have an open mind and positive attitude because as I have learned, these things, as small as they seem, can make or break your experience. Each student has a different situation so I am only able to talk about mine. But since we have been here, I feel as if I have already learned so much about the culture and day in the life of my Mexican mom.

My mom and I at a balneario (water park) on a day trip

For example, I feel like I have learned more about the Spanish language than I did in a term at school. The second day I was in my homestay, my mom took me to Tepoztlan (a little town with a large pyramid and many street vendors), where we walked around and ate pozolé (a popular local soup) for lunch. When we got home that night, my mom and I had coffee and pan (bread) and talked. This was an eye-opening experience for me because she talked the whole time about various things while I listened. This would be a normal situation if I understood any of it. Now she thinks I can apprehend everything she says because I give her head nods and say "si" at the correct time. This has definitely been my most trying and educational incident. All in all, I have been having a good time and learning a lot. If given the chance to do this again, I would not pass it up.

Host Family Preparation

By: Hannah Carlson

This week both the International Business and the Crossing Borders students prepared for their upcoming home stays. First there was a discussion or “training” on what is appropriate at the house, what is culturally acceptable or culturally different, and how maintain interaction with the families. For example food and meals, privacy, noise, greetings, family dynamics, guests and friends, going out, safety and health, bathroom, telephone, student as guest versus family members, humor, mannerisms and ways we carry our bodies and gifts were all topics discussed in the home stay preparation.

After discussing each topic individually people who have been in those certain situations before shared their experiences and what they did in the situation to make it better. One student shared about a bathroom situation where the students were forgetting that it was not good to flush the toilet paper and that signs started popping up reminding the students to throw the paper in the trash bin. Another huge theme that was brought up during this chat was communication. The main topic was that no matter what situation you are in it is always important to remember to communicate in order to feel comfortable in the house. While this talk was extremely helpful in most areas I feel like it failed to express that all situations will be somewhat different and even if you study and prepare yourself based on these examples your situation may be extremely different.

Christina and Marisela facilitate the building of the house of hopes and fears.

The day the students actually left for their home stays there was another discussion that included icebreakers and an interesting activity. The icebreakers were nice because, at the same time, it gave people the opportunity to get to know their host families and the families of the other students. After that the students and families had the opportunity to “build a house” that helped expose the hopes and fears everyone may have been feeling. All in all the home stay orientations were very helpful in order to see what may be done in certain situations.