This summer, 12 students and two faculty members are traveling to Oaxaca, Mexico to immerse themselves in the culture and language of Oaxaca, Mexico and develop their conversational fluency and understanding of daily life in Mexico by living with Oaxacan families and attending class at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez. Please enjoy this blog post from Daisy ’26 as she shares about her progress with Spanish and the groups experience taking a salsa dance class ending with a celebration for her birthday.
Hola familias!
Today my homestay gave us a breakfast of fruit and pancakes for my birthday before sending us off to school. In my class, we convinced the teacher to take a break from learning and watch a movie. We ended up watching The Minions in Spanish and then did some karaoke once we finished. My Spanish must be getting better because I didn’t need English subtitles this time.
After school we went back to our houses for lunch with our homestays. Adela, my homestay mother, loves talking with us during meals and it makes it much more fun. Luca ’26 and I took quick siestas afterward, before going back out for a walk on the streets of Oaxaca.
At around 5:00 we had a salsa dancing class. The instructor taught us two different steps: the salsa and bachata. The girls switched partners each round so we danced with everyone. There were a couple people who joined outside of our group, and I danced with a nice older guy who didn’t really know the steps but moved so confidently that it looked like he did. I wish we had danced for longer; it was so fun.
When we were done the sun had almost completely set and it had gotten a little cooler. Luca and I wanted it to downpour to wash off the sweat from dancing for so long.
Our whole group went back to Adela’s home to celebrate my birthday. We all sat on the balcony, and someone lit what I thought was a candle but turned out to be a sparkler, which had my life flashing before my eyes. Everyone sang what sounded like three different versions of Happy Birthday and lasted what felt like 30 minutes. Then we dug into the three cakes: two that were gelatin and one with a jam on top which was my favorite. I had such a good birthday in Mexico and I’m excited for the weekend! Adiós, hasta mañana!
