Tag Archives: Universidad IberoAmericana

Classes and Ibero

Well–my experience in Puebla has come to its end!  I can’t believe it! But, before I write my farewell/final post (and about my travel fiascos), I thought I’d write a quick one about my actual STUDY abroad experience. I’d wanted to post this before I came home, but I got sick on my penultimate day, which put me behind work and packing.

 

IMG_4081.JPGAnyhow, our program was a PSU faculty-led one, and we were housed at one of the many universities in Puebla, Iberoamericana de Puebla. It is nowhere near the size of Penn State, but I absolutely loved it!

 

IMG_4079.JPGIt’s a pretty campus with gardens and a pond–and lots and lots of birds!

 

school2.JPGschool3.JPGWe earned 9 credits during our 6 weeks here. 2 classes were Spanish-based with our PSU professors. I took Legends and Myths of Mexico with Roxana, and she alternated teaching Mexican Culture and History with our other professor (who also taught a Conversation course), Monserrat. They are both giant sweethearts, and I enjoyed my classes so much! The workload wasn’t even toooo bad (aside from the crazy last week of essays and exams). Our third class was an Art class that was taught by a professor from Ibero, Hilda. Even though I do not have much artistic talent, her class was fun, too! We had a little exhibition of our works at our last group dinner with all our families!

 

IMG_3892.JPG Hoping to put a video or something together soon and post about the great farewell/ terrible travel fiasco. It’s so weird to be home. I’m loving it, but my thoughts at the moment are still just full of my experience in Mexico.


Location: Puebla, Mexico

Día Cuatro

Well.  Day four of Puebla, Mexico!  J

 

So far everything has been going wonderfully well.  We had our first ever tour of the Universidad Iberoamericana today, and it’s really, really beautiful.  A nice little green setting basically right on the outskirts of the city of Puebla.

 

The first adventure of the morning was figuring out a way to get to the bus.  Apparently, there used to be a bus that went directly from a street near the little part of the city where most of us live straight to the university. 


Not any more.

And unfortunately, none of our se�oras seemed totally sure about where, when, or which bus we would need to take to make up for the missing one.  However, we all managed to make it to the appropriate bus catching streetcorner (unmarked by signs or a bus “stop”) and waving when what was thought to be the correct bus rounded the corner.  I think the idea was, if we’re wrong, at least we’re all wrong together!

 

We rode this bus with our professors, one of whom is a native Mexican who currently lives in America, and she got us to the University (which basically entailed getting off the bus in the middle of the highway onto a median and walking from there to the entrance gate of the university.)

 

Once at school, we students chilled for a couple of hours at an outside caf� while our professors got everything in order for the next six weeks.  Then, around 11am, we had a presentation by the person in charge of foreign exchange programs at the school, and watched a short movie in Spanish that detailed the history of the University and the programs that it offers.  A lot of information to digest in a single sitting, and all in Spanish.

 

Finally, for the remainder of the day, we had a walking tour of all of the University.  The library, the cafeteria, the gymnasium – pretty much every building.  It’s kind of a peculiar set up.  There is one HUGE building that kind of circles the whole campus, and that’s where all the classrooms are.  Inside this structure is a kind of courtyard for studying and chilling during the day.  The library is at one end of it and the gymnasium and auditorium are at the other.

 

Around 2pm, we returned to our haphazard bus stop to try to make the voyage back to our individual homes.

 

Though I was briefly lost (due to no fault of my own), I did eventually make it back to my house.  Win!

 

The afternoon has been mostly filled with napping and catching up on the internet.  I worry that I spend too much time sitting on the computer here, looking at Facebook or e-mail or blogging, but then I decide that I need this time in English to decompress from the constant flow of Spanish that I am required to both comprehend and speak for the majority of the day. 

 

Till tomorrow – adios!


Location: 11 Sur 5307, Prados Agua Azul, Puebla, Mexico