Universidad de las Americas Puebla: A Beautiful Facade Past Review

By (Spanish & History, Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for

Universidad de las Americas - Puebla / UDLAP : Puebla - Direct Enrollment & Exchange

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I don't consider myself a feminist but I despise the way boys and men treat women in this country. It is shocking how many men don't trust their girlfriends to go places alone or the appalling cat calls a girl receives which walking innocently on the street. At times here I felt more like a piece of meat than I did a real person. I feel this aspect of Mexico is still rather backwards and I have realized that should value my ability to be independent much more that I do.

Personal Information

If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: Universidad de las Americas Puebla
How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 6 months+

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Seeing as these were language classes to learn spanish the level of difficulty in some classes was not particularly high enough and I felt some classes were just busy work. That said, one literature class in particular was outstanding and all of my professors were great. I felt that they were genuinely interested in our well-being as students.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

I did not need their help very often but when I did the administration made themselves available to me.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Housing here is very strict, and if you know mexicans you would also know that they are not the most respective housemates. That being said, I still formed a very strong bond with the girls with whom I lived and I felt like a princess when the cleaning lady came in 5 days a week. It was a very different experience because one sees the division of class systems up very close by living in the dorms. In reference to my comment about the dorms being strict. The visitor hours were absolutely ridiculous. The visit rules in particular, I felt, advocated for students to leave campus more often. There was not one single place on campus where two students from different dorms could have a conversation after 11 at night. Absolutely no common areas. I found this to be an extremely stupid and ineffective way of controlling the residents of the dorms because as a result people feel the need to leave the security of campus for extended periods of time just to socialize casually with friends.

* Food:

The food was very average, but the hours of operation were not conducive to my schedule so I resulted to cooking in my dorm and going off campus more than anything.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Mexicans are very social people so I enjoyed meeting all sorts of different people throughout my time here, this also includes other international students that I bonded with through my experience.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

All of the gates are controlled by guards, thus making us feel very safe within the confines of campus. The clinic on campus was also very impressive. They are available 24/7 and you do not need to pay to use their services seeing as the cost is included in that of the dorms. Very impressed with both of these services.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

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

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? Yes
How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? Intermediate
What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? SPAN 230
If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition?

Language acquisition improvement?

Resilience and persistence are the most important qualities to have when learning a foreign language. It is easy to just get in a groove with speaking english with other international students, but it is worth the effort to branch out and meet locals. Speaking with people is the most valuable way of learning a foreign language and the classes I took were a nice supplement to my education of spanish.

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • International Students

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • The professors of my host university
* What could be improved?
  • The aspects that I did not care for of my exchange are much bigger than just the university.
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Well, I think ones needs to be able to think critically before coming here. Life in the UDLA is absolutely beautiful but after spending more time here and meeting the students, I am not sure that I feel this is as much a university as much as it is an elite club. Therefore, many of the people here have a different perspective of Mexico than the majority of middle to lower class people (which composes the majority of the mexican population). I hope to come back to mexico to work and spend time but I would have to say that one semester is enough for me. That said, this was still a very valuable learning experience for me that I am very grateful for.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

IIIA: Comunicación Oral y Escrita

Course Department: Español ID 341
Instructor: Magdalena Mejia
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: The professor was very accomplished in her study of the Spanish language, unfortunately the class itself lacked structure and consistency of the subjects. I think the faults of the class come from the nature of the course more so than the instructor herself.
Credit Transfer Issues: I am not sure about that yet...
Course Name/Rating:

IIIA: Comunicación Empresarial

Course Department: Español IS 343
Instructor: Belinda Hernandez
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: A rather easy course, but the regular homework assignments and tests kept me interested in the course. I enjoyed the professor's use of current periodicals to keep us engaged and educated on currents events in the business world of Latin America and in particular Mexico.
Credit Transfer Issues: I am not sure about that yet...
Course Name/Rating:

IIIB: Civilización mexicana

Course Department: Español ID 347
Instructor: Catalina Barrientos
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Really neat course and integral to understanding Mexico today is knowing pre-hispanic Mexico. My only complaint is that the tests were not a fair assessment of the students knowledge of the material. I found the questions to be unimportant to the bigger picture of the historical concepts which we learned. Therefore, there was a disconnect somewhere.
Credit Transfer Issues: I am not sure about that yet...
Course Name/Rating:

IIIB: Literatura mexicana

Course Department: Español ID 346
Instructor: Norma Segovia
Instruction Language: Spanish
Comments: Bar none, the best teacher I had at my experience at UDLA and that is saying something because I was impressed by all of my professors. Just an absolutely great class and the professor's ability to instill interest in the students was inspiring. This is a woman who is a clear expert in the subject and although it was a class that focused of mexican literature, Norma is from Argentina. Therefore, she brought a fresh perspective to themes presented in the readings. Furthermore, Norma is well read in classic literature from all countries, thus allowing her to help us relate and synthesize the mexican literature to other works with which us foreigners were better acquainted with.
Credit Transfer Issues: I am not sure about that yet...