Hello! I’m back in the U.S. and missing my home in Mexico. It was hard to say goodbye to my friends and family in Queretaro because I don’t yet have a plan for when I will return, but I know that I will, and soon. I suddenly have a lot of free time now because the program actually ended up having a lot more homework than I planned for. Three classes don’t sound like a lot on campus during the year, but during the summer, while I was spending so much time exploring the city, meeting people, and hanging out with my family, the course load was a bit heavier than expected. Luckily, I had my friends in the program to study with, and we spent much of our last week working in cafes and buying souvenirs before our return.
One way my trip affected my thinking is that I now have much less fear of getting sick while abroad. I somehow completely avoided stomach issues and colds while abroad (save for a very mild case of traveler's diarrhea upon my return to the U.S.) I am lucky that my body did a good job adjusting to food and bacteria in Mexico, but I also saw firsthand that a lot of the American information about food sickness in Mexico is really just thinly veiled xenophobia and a belief that anything “foreign” is “unhygienic.” Mexico has many standards for food quality that are different from the U.S., but this is because bodies build up a tolerance to different bacteria. Contrary to what I was told (often by the internet) about traveling, I found myself sick less often, less bloated, and with more access to fresh fruits and proteins. While abroad, I tried many foods that are very different from the ones I eat here, like huitlacoche and migajas, and they were some of my favorites! I recommend to anyone traveling to try new foods, especially the ones that seem unfamiliar; they’re often the most flavorful.
My host family and I text at least once a day, and I’ve been enjoying sending photos of my house and my neighborhood to show them a small portion of where I come from. When I left for Mexico, I knew that I would enjoy living with a local family and spending time with their kids and four cats, but I couldn’t have possibly imagined that by the time I left, I would truly feel like part of their family. They still write to me with so much love, and I am so grateful that I was able to share their home. I struggled so much to locate the right words to put in a card before I left that I ultimately elected to send them a care package from the U.S. instead. Now that I’m home, I have the words, and I plan to send them candies and art and a card with all of it written down.
Ruby Samuels-Ellingson, Diverse Ducks Ambassador
Mexican Studies and Spanish Immersion in Querétaro
