One misconception folks might have about an education abroad program in Mexico over spring break is that it’s just meant for partying and that you’ll be in a super touristy area of Mexico like Cabo or Cancun. While I did really enjoy spending time in Oaxaca’s city center, exploring shops and restaurants, we put in a lot of work on our program assisting the city’s social service agencies.

My group worked at a Casa de Día, a senior living facility. We spent our days chatting with staff and residents to see what they wanted in a mural. It was a lot of hard work planning and preparing and dealing with some obstacles along the way, but I had a lot of fun.

I got really close with my group members, as well as getting to know some of the residents and staff a lot better. They really welcomed us at Casa de Dia. They had lunch provided for us every day and plenty of agua frescas and constantly checked in on us. Getting to see their reactions as we slowly progressed on our mural day-by-day made me more confident in the impact we had on their community.

It was also great coming back to the hotel every night and chatting with participants who were serving at other locations in the community and learning about their experiences. I really enjoyed the fact that my program had nightly reflection classes to help unpack our experiences and to provide kudos to people who had positively impacted our experiences. I also really enjoyed our excursions to visit the homes of various local artisans and important archeological sites such as Monte Alban.

The International Engagement in Mexico program blends the perfect amount of hands-on community service, independent exploration, and cultural/historical experiences. I really treasured my time in Mexico and can’t recommend this experience to enough people.

Name: Charlotte Bachelor
Status: Junior
Major: Professional and Public Writing with a minor in African and African American Studies
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Program: International Engagement in Mexico – Oaxaca