Growing up I never once imagined going out of the country. I used to say how I wanted to travel the world just for fun, but I never realized how much significance an experience can bring by going out of the country and helping a community. Spring 2024 I had the opportunity to study abroad with the IEM program to Oaxaca, Mexico. I have so much to say about this experience and how it enhanced my life in so many ways.

Before I go any further, I would like to speak about my experiences that I was so blessed to experience. Arriving in Mexico was very unbelievable, from the moment that I stepped out of the plane it felt so different. What I mean by different is that my parents are from Mexico, and they would describe their home as this beautiful country filled with so much land. They weren’t lying. It was incredibly beautiful. Seeing my parents’ home was a great blessing but of course that was one of many blessings.

This experience enhanced my perspective in service learning, and the importance of helping others. I always knew that helping others would bring a positive impact to the communities, but I never thought that I would've done a service outside the country.

This experience enhanced my communication and leadership skills as well. In my career field, law enforcement requires a lot of communication and leadership skills and with this experience it was very beneficial for me. Before the program I would never want to get to know new people, communicate in general, or was too timid to even want to step up and do anything remotely related to leadership. But during the program that changed. With this service-learning experience, I allowed myself to get this full-on experience. I met so many new people that are now my long-term friends.

I got to taste new and delicious foods, as well as experience a beautiful insight into culture.

Besides the foods and the culture, me and my team were blessed to have a great community that opened their homes to us. Though they didn’t know us they did not for one second hesitate to open their homes to us and allow us to help them. Our agencies were so wonderful, and they also wanted us to experience Mexico in every way possible. There would be some activities that they hosted to allow us to embrace their cultures. It was a beautiful experience getting to see how their traditions would bring a whole community together.

Being in a community that was very heavy on Spanish was a bit difficult for me. Not because I didn’t understand it but because my Spanish speaking skills weren’t the best. After a couple days my Spanish was improving a lot more. Having an environment where one language is spoken was very beneficial for me and I was able to get through well, I also got the chance to interpret for some of my friends as well.

Some of the things that I learned from the host culture is that Oaxaca is very culture heavy. Everywhere you went the streets would be filled with so much color including these creatures called “Alebrijes.” They were different creatures filled with so many different colors. They were everywhere you went; it was part of their culture, and these creatures were made in so many different colors and would usually take a while to get done.

Another thing I got to experience was this beautiful wedding. They have these traditional weddings in Oaxaca that so many people from all over the world come to have these traditional weddings. It was filled with so many colors and they had this wonderful traditional dance. It was such a wonderful time.

I hope other students get the opportunity to study abroad and get to experience the same things while I was abroad, see all the wonderful things that come while studying abroad. It’s truly beautiful seeing other cultures and communities other than just the ones you're familiar with. Mexico was such an experience and I miss everything about it already. I hope students take this chance and help a community in a different country rather than just the U.S. you get to learn so much about different
communities and cultures.

Name: Jennifer Vazquez-Guerrero
Status: Freshman
Major: Criminal Justice
Hometown: East Lansing, Michigan
Program: International Engagement in Oaxaca, Mexico