Posted by Ben Wroblewski, Kenzie Flynn, and Samee Ahmad
The University of Texas at Dallas offers a summer study abroad program called Culture and Society in Mexico. It is a 5-week program that offers an immersion experience for students in the city of Oaxaca. This past summer, there was an opportunity to extend the program for four weeks to partake in an internship experience.
Ben Wroblewski ’14: This summer, I traveled to Oaxaca for 5 weeks for a language study program so that I could refine my Spanish skills and experience the accompanying culture. We were given the option to extend the program by 4 weeks for an internship. I ended up going to Ixtepec with Samee to work in a migrant shelter. I originally just wanted to stay to continue the immersion experience, but the shelter seemed like a really unique opportunity to help while learning.
Kenzie Flynn ’16: I traveled to Oaxaca to study the Spanish language and Central American history and culture. I decided to participate in this study abroad experience to jump back into my language studies after a break, study public health in a region very different from my own, and experience life in a new country for the first time.
Samee Ahmad ’16: I traveled to Oaxaca for the 5 week study abroad program and then traveled with Ben to Ixtepec, located in the southern half of Oaxaca state, where we stayed at a migrant shelter/refugee camp. I decided to go after hearing about the dire need for workers at the shelter. I wanted to offer a helping hand in any way I could.
Culture Shock!
Kenzie: Right off the bat, I was terrified. I had to navigate delays in Spanish in the largest airport I’d ever traveled through, and after my host mom picked me up at the airport there was a political protest blocking the roads on our way back. The 20 minute ride turned into an hour and a half of trying to hold a conversation in Spanish with a native speaker. It was admittedly a rocky start and took a few days before I stopped feeling homesick.
Ben: Having studied abroad before, I figured my transition to Mexico would be pretty easy, but it was actually really difficult at first. The culture shock was more than I expected and I got homesick quickly. But it didn’t take long before I felt like Oaxaca was my home and I was sad to leave it. The transition to the shelter was much harder, and I’m not sure I ever got fully used to it. I told myself beforehand that I should expect it to be emotionally difficult, but it was actually the physical and mental stress of everyday life there that made it so taxing. It was not an easy thing to transition to.
Samee: After living in in Oaxaca City for 5 weeks, I was more confident in navigating Mexican culture and speaking Spanish, but when we got to the shelter, it was exceptionally difficult and emotionally challenging, especially to speak Spanish.
Surprises
Kenzie: One of the most surprising things about the trip was the chance that we had to engage with historic architecture. In the US, I can only imagine that I would have been forced to observe from behind ropes and glass, but on one excursion we took in Oaxaca, a group of us found ourselves on the roof of a church that started construction before the year 1515. I couldn’t be more grateful for the spirit of exploration that this experience ignited within our group and myself.
Ben: Seeing the reality of the migration situation while at the shelter was really eye-opening for me. The narrative we are constantly fed from the news and political talking points doesn’t really have anything to do with what’s actually happening. There is a much more widespread humanitarian crisis going on that nobody seems to be talking about, and that I was completely ignorant of before going to Mexico.
Samee: Despite our preconceived notions of the difficulty of migrant life, the shelter, Albergue Hermanos en el Camino, was really a happy place. Despite everything, the migrants use the shelter space as veritably that – a shelter, a place of respite from the pain of their forced itinerant lifestyle. The migrants there were not worried.
Favorite Memories
Kenzie: A group of the students who travelled to Oaxaca used our free weekend to take a trip to a beach on the coast of Oaxaca state. Getting there was definitely not my favorite part of the trip. (Eight hours crowded into a van driving through mountainous terrain in the middle of the night isn’t something I enjoy reminiscing on.) Once we arrived, though, a friend talked Ben and me into taking surfing lessons. It was beyond challenging. Annoyingly enough, Ben was a natural and stood up on his first attempt. For me, it took countless attempts and almost an hour and a half to properly utilize the motion to hop onto the board that I had “perfected” on dry land. It was something I’ve never done and will likely never do again, but was an incredible experience.
Ben: About once a week in the shelter the we’d have “Cultural Night”, where migrants and volunteers alike could share their culture with with everyone else by showcasing a song, dance, comedy skit or whatever they wanted. It was always a great time but one night they asked us, the group of Americans, to show them something, so we taught everyone the Cupid Shuffle. It’s a simple dance so everyone could learn it quickly and participate. By the end we even had the wallflowers joining in, and it was a lot of fun for everyone.
Samee: My favorite memory was the last day of my experience: when we left the Albergue. What I saw and heard and touched the day we were leaving was the manifestation of a month’s worth of friendships, goodbyes, and love – the impact of which would certainly last a lifetime.
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