Qué Onda México?

GUEST COLUMN:

When I landed in Mexico, I was broke and without a cell phone. I lost my card running through the Houston airport terminal trying to make my flight and by the time I landed in Mexico, my cell phone had lost all service. I spent my first night with my home-stay family trying to explain how I needed to call America and order a replacement and that it was toll-free. Thank God the father of the house spoke some English and after 12 transfers and two hours later, my new card would be sent by next week. What a way to enter a foreign country right? My family however was more than understanding and helpful.

I would say from there it was smooth sailing but like life, there is never a clear path. Yet, there are all ways green patches.

I spent three months in Puebla, Mexico, from January to March, studying Spanish language and culture through my school's study abroad program. It wasn't like the Mexico that is portrayed in America. Some of the people in Mexico are well-to-do; I mean really well to do. They have their 1% of wealth just like in America. I went to college with kids wearing Burberry handbags, and Gucci and Prada flip-flops.

Besides the classes, I liked spending time and talking with my family the most. I wish I would have spent more time with them. The mother cooked me anything I wanted even though I didn't want much. The father loved talking politics, and the grandson was one of the cutest babies I have ever seen. They taught me so much about the Mexican dynamics of family and how much people loved Barack Obama better than Bush.

Through my program, I climbed pyramids and visited ancient cities like Teohucan where the Aztecs lived. I've walked through a coffee plantation, witnessed the production of chocolate in the form we know it as, and saw how much effort goes into making a rug. I bought a really nice one! Soccer games have more edge to them in Mexico. I learned some colorful new vocabulary that day. On a more dangerous note, I learned old Mexican horses and mountains don't mix, but it may be worth it to see a waterfall.

Too me it felt like I had celebrity status in Mexico, but after a while the staring got boring. Due to Mexico's homogenous population, people started at me, asked me about my hair and how it could be braided, and even took pictures with some of my black friends. Later we learned that a deep-seeded prejudice against Afro-Mexicans exist and those Afro-Mexicans have been exiled. But you wouldn't know it just by asking someone. There is also prejudice against the Native people of Mexico. Looks like Mexico and America have more in common than what they thought.

All in all, I would not trade my experiences in Mexico for the world! I think everyone should at some point in their lives leave their home countries and go exploring. Not on some touristic, happy camera snapping exploring, but more so on a profound culturist approach. I miss the family I stayed with and the people I met their A LOT!! Especially this homosexual guy named Martin, who only spoke in English and loved everything European and the word "Wetback." Problematic, I know, but he was great fun. Oh yeah, one of the best parts was visiting a market that sold silver jewelry at damn near free prices.

-Shayla Mars

Shayla Mars is orignially from the southside of Chicago,IL but now currently goes to school in the wilderness known as Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She is a Spanish minor and Cultural Studies major.