Mi Semestre en Mexico

This is from my final essay turned into BYU about my student exchange in Mexico. Enjoy!

My Semester in Mexico

In reviewing my time in Mexico, I find it a difficult task to sum up some of the most rewarding, and yet hardest, months of my life into just a few pages and words. Perhaps the best way is by telling a story.

My experience during my semester at the Tecnologico de Monterrey can be best described by using my very first experience upon arrival. I had the great fortune that my parents’ home in McAllen, Texas was not a very far drive from Monterrey, Mexico. Owing to this, my father was able to drive me down himself. However, not knowing the logistics of where I was supposed to register my father thought it would be best to just drop me off on the corner of campus to try and navigate my way to registration. It should be noted that neither of us had cellular service at this point, and I only had a vague understanding of when and where I was supposed to meet up with him again. Just like that, I was on my own, and I was doing my best to hold myself together. Thoughts of “How could Dad just drop me off here?”, and “What the heck am I doing in Mexico?” started to fly through my head. However, I knew that I had made a decision to come and stay, and I was bound and determined to do so (with a little prayer in my heart). Soon enough I found a well groomed and uniformed security guard at the gate, and tried my best to convey my situation in the growingly apparent, little Spanish that I knew. I am sure that the sight of very a confused “gringa” must have tipped off the man as to where I was trying to go, and he quickly pointed me in the direction of registration.

After running around a little and getting lost a lot, it became increasingly apparent to me just how friendly and willing to help the staff and students of Tecnologico were. After getting registered and settled in to my very nice dorms, I did meet up with my dad again in time to have a nice lunch with the other two students from BYU. Once our stomachs were full, it was time for my dad to return home. As we walked back to his car, we saw a very startling sight; he had parked on the road next to my dorms and alongside many other cars which were now in the process of being towed. We ran up in time to see the tow man hooking up our car to his truck and asked him to stop while we found out what was going on from the nearby police officer. According to this officer we had been in violation of some parking restriction, and a “fine” would have to be paid if we wanted to keep our car from being impounded. “Great,” the thought came to my mind, “I’ve only been here three hours, and I am already experiencing the classic Latin American police stereotype.” After paying the fine, I asked my dad about what had just happened, and he explained to me just a little about the intricacies of the Mexican government and police force which allowed to me to view what had just happened in a completely new light.

Although this may seem to be a somewhat lengthy example, I feel that it adequately illustrates many aspects of my experience abroad. First off, I learned very quickly which locations were safe, and what guards were trust worthy. The guard at Tec had been well groomed and in a nice pressed uniform, and while appearances can be deceiving, I was taught that in this situation it is a good indicator of where the security or officer receives their pay. In the case of Tec, they gave sufficient pay to their employees, and they did a great job of keeping things safe and secure because they did not have to worry about making money “on the side”. Along these same lines, I also learned many general rules of thumb that allowed me to venture out and experience many wonderful aspects of Mexico because I knew what precautions were necessary and wise without having to be paranoid.

This example also illustrates my overall experiences socially as well as when dealing with government and academics. To my pleasant surprise making good, close friends came rather quickly while I was in Mexico. Before going down, I had no idea just how large the international program at El Tecnologico was, but this quickly became apparent within the first few days and weeks as I attended many planned activities put on for and by the international program. The best of these, in my opinion, were the organized tours offered through the international office. While payment was necessary, they offered guided tours to a variety of locations, each of which had their own cost making it very easy to pick out safe, fun and affordable excursions. One of my most cherished trips was on one such tour down to Mexico City and Teotihuacán. There is far too much to write about this trip here, but I can easily pinpoint it as one of the key experiences that allowed me to get to know and become very close to many of the other international students. People from across the U.S., Germany, Spain, etc. are now among some of my closet friends, that I still keep in contact with, because of those few days we spent together in Mexico City.

As mentioned earlier, my example is also indicative of my experiences with some of the governmental and academic policies while I was abroad. The actions of the police officer on that first day seemed to be initially unjust and made no sense. It was only after the reasoning behind those actions had been explained to me that I could begin to view and understand those actions in a new light. The same could be said about my experience with classes and obtaining my visa. For example, it had been my impression that when a class was listed as having “no pre-requisites,” that it carried the same meaning as it does in the states. As I soon found in one of my business courses, this is not always the case. I had signed up for a financial management course that I assumed would teach me the basics and build from there. In the second week of school, however, when we began to quickly review complex financial math problem after problem, I quickly realized that I had a problem. Knowing that I was no longer able to add any other classes, I decided to stick the course out and do my best to teach myself both the basics and the problems that were being covered in class. For the longest time I still couldn’t understand why so much of a “no pre-requisites” course could be flying over my head. Then one day, this exact question was posed by another international student in class. The reply came that while there were no pre-requisites, because courses were taken in a set order, the professor was teaching under the assumption that we had all taken the financial mathematics course already. And while I still faced the problem of finishing this course, I at least had a better understanding of how this misunderstanding came to be.

Obtaining and registering my visa also proved to be an unforeseen problem that in hindsight could have been made much easier with a little more understanding of the Mexican government. Before starting my semester abroad, I had decided to try and get my student visa in the states so that I could save myself a little of the total cost. Doing this required many return visits to the Mexican consulate in McAllen, Texas, but once it was obtained I was told that all I needed to do was register it at the border once I crossed. I did just this, and thought that I had successfully obtained and registered my student visa in Mexico so that when the time came to turn this documentation into the international office so that I could get my transcript at the end of the semester, it came as a surprise to me that they could not accept it. As it turns out, the visa needed to be registered in the Mexican state in which Monterrey resides, and I had had it registered in another state. After many more visits to the consulate, paying the late fee, and then ultimately canceling the entire thing because of the emergency evacuation, it is needless to say that I suffered more than one headache at this expense.

In my wish to fully convey all aspects of my semester abroad, I have found that there are a couple of things that I would have done differently if I had only had the knowledge and understanding that I have now. But that understanding was only made possible through these occurrences that, along with the positive ones, made for a truly invaluable experience that I would never trade.

As mentioned in my earlier story, I had a prayer in my heart during much, if not all of the time I was in Mexico, and I would feel ungrateful if I did not mention how I saw the hand of the Lord through out this entire experience. He put kind and generous people along my path in both school and church that allowed me to make some amazing, long lasting friends and memories. Also, He used these amazing friends and family to help me navigate my way through many of the challenges that I faced. In all, this is the greatest lesson that I learned; that the Lord is always there to help us in both the small and large problems that we face, wherever we are, if we only humble ourselves and ask Him.