Oaxaca's Kindness, Color, Resilience and Resistance July 08, 2026

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The courses varied in rigor and all focused heavily on experiential learning. Every class had tailored excursions and/or visiting speakers that deepened the academic materials we reviewed, and made everything feel more real through real world experiences. Sometimes people struggled with unclear expectations, but I think this was a result of a very dynamic and flexible set of courses that responded to opportunities and challenges as they arose, rather than sticking to a rigid syllabus that was given to us from the start. Professors were overall accessible, despite personal challenges that pulled them away at times in their personal lives, but much of this was due to the fact that everyone was doing work beyond the program itself, which is part of what stood out since it was a more realistic look into people who are doing work in the site location that aligns with the things we are learning about (immigration law, education, language revitalization, to name a few).

On-site administration of your program

Every single individual on the SIT Oaxaca team was spectacular-- really good at what they do, knowledgable, deeply kind and welcoming. The spirit and impact of the program was innately tied to the people who make up the SIT Oaxaca team, as individuals and as a collaborative team.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Relations in my homestay were sometimes difficult, and while my homestay mother had very good intentions and wanted so deeply to make my homestay sibling and I feel at home, communications sometimes broke down, and she was fearful of the program directors hearing about anything going on at home so I think that she was missing out on some support from the program that she could have used. I was always encouraged by the program directors to speak up and ask if I wanted to change homestays, but at times the host mothers as a whole seemed like they had hesitations communicating their needs and desires in order to keep us (the students) happy, which led to discomfort on both sides. Overall it was fine, and I don’t regret my time there, knowing it was a valuable experience and in part a cultural adjustment.

Everything was sooooo delicious, I just missed cooking and being in charge of what/when I ate sometimes!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The people of Oaxaca were profoundly kind, welcoming, and curious to chat at any moment -- it was so easy to strike up conversation, and make friends around the city. The city's landscape itself is a welcoming place to spend time walking around, sitting in the Zócalo, exploring the many workshops and libraries and galleries, and enjoying a marquesita or agua de pepino y limón on the street.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I had a remarkable, almost comical number of health issues that came up during the program. I passed out in the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, got severe food poisoning in Puebla, and a throat infection during the last few weeks of the semester. While unfortunate, the attentive, caring response of multiple SIT team members (Nancy, Paola, Omar) made each of these experiences quickly into humorous stories, and I was very well taken care of. Nancy stayed by my side through the Mexico City episode, and all day in a hotel room in Puebla while a doctor was called to come treat me. Paola happily picked me up and accompanied me to the medical clinic in Oaxaca for check-up and throat swab appointments. Friends in the program remarked multiple times that if any one of these things had happened to them, they would have been on a flight home, but I felt completely looked after and even in a humorous mood because of how ridiculous these things were as they were happening, and I'm very grateful that this was the case because it could have been so much worse.

We received a lot of guidance on how to safely navigate the city, and as long as we were conscious of those recommendations it was overall relatively safe. The only instances that arose were my housemate getting her phone stolen out of her hands on the street, and the weird comments you hear from men when you go out dancing anywhere.

Oaxaca is not the European vacation study abroad experience that so many people embark on, and this was one of the reasons I chose it. It felt like the work we were doing and the things we were learning about were deeply important, and at just the right time.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Very easily; even though we were told we would only get one or two meals in advance according to the SIT website, we were provided three home-cooked meals a day, which I mention because the thing I purchased most was coffees and food/snacks. Everything is very affordable, and at the right places you can easily have a full meal for 100 pesos or less (5 USD). Even buying artisan goods and keepsakes, budgeting was very easy to follow, and only on occasion did we go places where people would need to spend money (on a bottle of water, a few meals, etc.).

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Host Family

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Americans

• The excursions and experiential learning
• All of our professors and program coordinators
• The internship

• The communication network between the students, host families, and program, so that they are not as disjointed

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer