Twelve Penn State students had the opportunity to travel to Oaxaca, Mexico, for “Maymester in Mexico: Language, Culture & Community,” a four-credit Penn State study abroad program, writes Christina Billie for Penn State Brandywine.  

The Maymester in Mexico program was designed by faculty in the College of Education in partnership with Penn State Brandywine and the Universidad Autonóma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca.

Students spent three weeks in May and June immersing themselves in the Oaxacan culture and the Spanish and Indigenous languages of the region.

The program also collaborated with Ollin Tlahtoalli, a community-based organization in Oaxaca that offers cultural and language instruction for students coming from abroad.

Daniela Martin, associate professor of psychology at Brandywine and one of the faculty leaders of the program, said the trip to Oaxaca was a great opportunity for Penn State students to learn about cultures different from their own.

“As a professor, it brings me great joy to facilitate student experiences that center on learning about global issues in a ‘hands-on’ manner: visiting locales, learning from community leaders, collaborating with universities and non-profits,” she said.

The trip allows Penn State students to join other young people to discuss what affects their communities, weigh working solutions and barriers, and figure out the tools required to make a difference, according to Martin.

“Our program provides the first steps to becoming a mindful young person that can orient themselves in a complex global environment, such as learning a foreign language ‘on the go,’ living with local families, and figuring out the daily customs and how to ‘repair’ situations once a mistake is made, and crucially, considering how one is viewed through the lens of another culture and another set of values and priorities.”

The program was open to all second-year students and above from all majors. Students were free to design an ethnographic research project in their field of interest.

Topics included water sustainability, traditional medicine, disability services in Mexico, family values, arts and feminism, and others.

McKenna Loney, a third-year plant sciences major who just transitioned from Brandywine to University Park, said she wanted to study abroad in Oaxaca to get immersed into a different culture.

 “I really enjoyed how the trip allowed us to learn in a fun way through all the excursions we went on. We did so much in just over three weeks.”

Students spent time on hiking trails, farms, ecotourism sites, and the communities in central Oaxaca. Students also were able to check out Zocalo, a shopping center that caters to tourists.

Loney’s favorite excursion was to Teotitlán del Valle, a woman-owned weaving cooperative in one of Oaxaca’s Indigenous communities.

“They source their wool sustainably and make all-natural dyes out of plants, bugs, and other parts of nature,” she recalled. “It was a really enlightening process and very inspiring.”

The best experience, Loney said, was immersing herself into the Oaxacan culture through her host family and “intercambios”. (Spanish for “exchange students”)

“It was cool because we were able to talk to each other about our cultures, and we found that we have so many similarities,” she said. “Whenever we had free time, they would take us around Oaxaca so we could connect with the locals and eat different street foods.

The host families created a safe haven for the visiting students.

Read more about the Maymester in Mexico experience at Penn State Brandywine.