Mexico: Kaitlin Cassell
Program: CFHI Global Health Internships in Mexico, Summer
Major: Genetics & Genomics, Neurobiology
What is your advice for someone considering your program?
My advice for someone considering this program is to have strong Spanish skills before entering. I got my Seal of Biliteracy in my senior year of high school, but it had been over a year since I last took a Spanish class. My Spanish grammar and vocabulary weren’t rusty, but my auditory and conversational skills were. It took me about a week to adjust, but after that, things were easier. The Becari Language School also helped me a lot because we solely spoke Spanish, the teacher would have us explain everything in Spanish. My host mom would also make us only speak Spanish. It got tiring at times, but everyone improved at the end.
I thought leaving the US also meant that I’d leave the origin, ethnicity, and look-alike questions and comments. I would say for Asian Americans traveling abroad to Mexico, that they should just be prepared and not take it to heart.
During my internship, I met a group of people from Princeton (pictured left) who were also in the same program as me. We all became great friends over the trip and went on adventures together. Every weekend we’d go to Mexico City, Puerto Escondido, or a historical site in Oaxaca. During the week we would go to fun events such as the baseball games in Oaxaca, restaurants, celebrations, karaoke, and more.
What is a custom, food or tradition from your host country that you are taking forward?
I tried Quesabirria for the first time, it’s birria but in a quesadilla. The ones I had were really good, perfectly crispy and oily. Coming back to the U.S., every time I see a tacos de birria or quesabirria truck, I always eat one of those two options from the truck. Adjusting from the American diet to the Oaxacan diet did some numbers on my gut health, but I adjusted after a week and felt better. I got used to tortillas being served every day with every meal so when I got back home, it felt weird to not have an oven mitt full of steaming tortillas on the table waiting for me to use for my food.