This is a guest blog post from our student social media ambassador, Lorpu. Currently studying abroad on the semester program, “Communication and Media Studies: Migration & Social Change in Mexico”. Casa Augsburg in Cuernavaca is our longest-running global location, since 1982!
These past three weeks of study abroad have been amazing. We have learned a lot about Mexican culture and history since we have been here. During the first week, we had orientation and talked about health and safety, especially things to know and be aware of while studying abroad. We also had a scavenger hunt in downtown Cuernavaca to get to know our environment better and there was a pride parade that same day. We also got a brief history lesson about Mexico from one of the professors here at Casa Augsburg. Two of my favorite topics from the first week were the topics on cancel culture and conflict resolution. It was a great topic to talk about since we are all students here from diverse cultures and backgrounds. We also went to Museo Palacio de Cortes which also went into the history of Mexico in a more visual way. The weekend of the first week was great. We went to the Teotihuacan Museum to see the pyramids of the Sun and the pyramids of the Moon and other historical figures. It was a beautiful site. The second week, we started our regular classes at Casa Augsburg and our Spanish classes at Universal which is a language school across the street from Casa Augsburg. We also had guest speakers come talk to us about different topics during the second week. We learned a lot from them.
The third week, which is the week that we are in now, we took a three-day trip to the town of Amatlan which was amazing. We hiked to the top of the mountain to see the view of the town and other towns surrounding it and we had lots of amazing speakers that spoke to us about different topics. The most beautiful part about the experience was us getting to stay with host parents during our time. There were two students per host family. The host families were nice to all the students. Everyone of us had a wonderful time. My host family taught me how to make Tortilla from scratch and it was the highlight of my time with them. They also had taco stands and we would go there at night and play cards, and board games, and eat tacos. This entire study abroad experience has been great so far. Looking forward to more experiences.