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This is a guest blog post from our student social media ambassador, Lorpu, from Augsburg University. Currently studying abroad on the semester program, “Communication and Media Studies: Migration & Social Change in Mexico”. This is an adaption from an assignment, shared with permission.

 On a Sunday in September, we met with a very confident and knowledgeable lady named Fabiola in Amatlán. She has one daughter and a fun fact about herself was that she is a dancer. Fabiola is a cofounder of the group called Women for Women in the town of Amatlán and other surrounding towns. Before she talked about her group and what they do, the first made a prayer asking the guardian to make everyone comfortable and to be able to understand and take away something from what she was going to tell us. That was interesting to hear.

According to Fabiola, Women for Women is an organized group of indigenous women that came together to unite and talk about their stories, struggles and other things that women go through and create a sisterhood. She said that she has also met with indigenous women from Peru, Ecuador, and the United States. Fabiola talked about how for a while she only saw herself as a woman from Tepoxalin, but travelling and being among different group of women made her realized that she was different. Another interesting thing that she said was that she is not married, and not being married made her work a little easier for her, because she doesn’t have an extra obligation to a man apart from being a mom. She also said that some of the women that she works with are not married neither. She also said that being in their group, she recognized that most the of the women had something in common. The thing that they all had a common was that they have all experienced some form of abuse, sexism, and racism. They had different kinds of violence in different ways. She also said that they don’t hate men even though they have experienced some type of violence from men. She said they are not what you would call “modern day” feminist. She said that they support their men and work beside them to stop violence. She said that their goal is to live free of violence and take full control of their lives.

This is a guest blog post from our student social media ambassador, Lorpu, from Augsburg University. Currently studying abroad on the semester program, “Communication and Media Studies: Migration & Social Change in Mexico”.

One of my fears of studying abroad in Mexico was the fear of being lonely. I was coming to a country where I didn’t know anyone. I couldn’t speak the language, and I was not sure if my two years of Spanish classes in college was going to work for me. I knew that there were students from my college coming as well, but at that moment, I had never met anyone of them. I had a lot of anxiety about things not going well. I reached out to Ann, the director here in Mexico to talk to her about some of my concerns about studying abroad, and she was kind enough to connect me with a student that had study abroad here in Mexico the previous semester. The student was very kind as well and she reassured me that everything was going to be okay once I arrive in Mexico.

My time here in Mexico has been amazing. The students here that I am studying abroad with are amazing. Maddy, Angelica, Bella, Savannah, Henry, Antonio, Towns, and Tori have all made my study abroad experience an amazing experience so far. It is great to have people that you can talk and relate to in other ways given that you all are going to the same experience. We have all been taking care of each other in ways that we know how to. For example, when I had some stomach issue during our trip to Amatlan, one of the students Angelica made me some tea and kept checking on me to make sure I was doing good. The same happens for other students as well. When someone is going somewhere cool, they extend the invitation to everyone in the group. We are like a family here.

The staff here at Casa Augsburg are more than amazing. Ruti our RA is amazing. She goes above and beyond to meet our needs. She takes everyone needs very seriously. I can say that I feel comfortable going to her about my needs. I am sure the other students feel the same way. Ann and the other professors have been amazing as well. Sometimes everyone has lunch together after class and just talk about what is going on at the moment. Everyone has been respectful of each other’s boundaries. We haven’t had a problem with that. The staff are open to questions that we have, and they are always more than happy to answer them. Having lunch together with everyone and talking has been one of my favorite parts of my study abroad experience.

My both my host parents in Amatlan and Cuernavaca is amazing people. My host parents in Amatlan were what I would call “cool” they had tacos stand at night and we would go there to play cards and board games with my host sister and host brother. They even told us to invite our friends to the stand. We invited our friends, and they had an amazing time. One of my favorites parts of the homestay was walking our host brother to school in the morning and picking him up after school. My host parents here in Cuernavaca are great people as well. My host mom makes sure that my dietary needs are met, and she encourages me to ask for things when I need them. My host dad is amazing as well along with my host sister. We have been to their family gatherings, and I had a great time meeting the extended family. I love both families.

In conclusion, I am having a great time in Cuernavaca Mexico! The people are very welcoming, and I have never been made to feel like I don’t belong. A word that I have used a lot in this post is “amazing” because that is the only way that I know how to describe my experience. There are days that can be a little hard because I get home sick sometimes, but I am enjoying the experience at the same time. I am making new friends and family here and it feels great to have that community of people who are supportive and loving.