Right after finals freshman year I flew from Columbus to Merida, Mexico in the Yucatan state. We then stayed with Yucatecan host families for three weeks and went to guest professor lectures at a local university. Although the program was on the shorter side, being in Mexico and seeing not only the “tourist” areas such as Cancun but also the residential areas that average Mexicans live in was a new and eye-opening experience.

Having studied Spanish since primary school, getting the chance to speak it with native speakers was invaluable to me. I loved speaking with our bus driver, Beto, my host grandmother Gloria and using my language skills to explain to my eight year old host sisters how to play “Jackpot” in the house’s pool. The moments of communication my classmates and I had with uber drivers, security guards, people on the bus and kids our age at clubs and bars were some of my favorite experiences I had in Mexico.

As a class we learned a lot about the Indigenous Mayan people and how the Mexican population is a mixture of indigenous and Spanish race. We learned about the Mexico’s history of being conquested by European settlers and enslaved to work in “haciendas” or plantations. We also learned about how this history affects the current Mexican society and how Mexicans prefer to view themselves as more Spanish than Indigenous, in a form of imposed self-racism. All of these topics were new to me, and I was grateful to see another way of life even though Mexico is the US’s neighbor. Seeing the ancient Mayan villages while in Mexico really added to my learning experience which I wouldn’t have gotten just in the classroom.

Through the program I took a large step toward becoming independent. Through constantly living with other students and being exposed to people I became much more comfortable around people than I was before. I made some amazing friends and will forever have fond memories and a desire to go back to Mexico.

After returning to the states, I made a video of my experience, which can be found here.

After my freshman year the summer of 2017 I studied abroad in Taiwan for two months. The program was not Ohio State organized, rather it was a private scholarship program. I, among fifty-four other American students, were accepted into the scholarship program and we studied together at the National Cheng Gong University for the months of July and August.

Although this was my second time studying abroad, as I had spent May in Mexico with my Ohio State peers, studying in Taiwan was a big step for me in terms of responsibility and independence. It was my first time flying by myself internationally. Once I landed in Taipei, the northern capital of Taiwan, I had to figure out a way to get on the subway and then the bus to where my university was in Tainan. During my stay in Taiwan, I travelled once to Hong Kong and maneuvered the subway and taxis from Tainan to the southern city of Khaosiung on my own. Once again in order to return to the United States at the end of the program, I boarded a bus at midnight for the Taipei Airport and made my 7 AM flight to San Francisco.

My experience abroad not only taught me about Chinese language and Taiwanese culture, it taught me about myself and my previously undiscovered strengths and abilities, it made me new friends and changed how I see the world. The trip reminded me of the things that I really love, and helped me to decide to pursue a Chinese language major at Ohio State.