Mexican Studies and Spanish Immersion in Querétaro

I strongly recommend this study abroad trip. The classes were challenging enough that I feel like I learned a lot during the 6 week session, but I also had a decent amount of free time on weekdays and always had a lot of free time on weekends. My host family was amazing. I got a ton of practice speaking with my host mom, who knew essentially no english, and I built a great relationship with her too. The weekend trips were a lot of fun and gave me the opportunity to see many different parts of Mexico! By far my favorite part of the program was visiting Mexico city and seeing many of the buildings and museums I'd been learning about for years before in previous Spanish classes.

So I spent 6 weeks in Querétaro as a part of the University of Oregon's GEO program. Before even getting to Mexico I had some problems. The coordinator for the academic part of the trip neglected to show up for the MANDATORY information meeting so I knew little to nothing about my classes or any of the subject manner. Once I arrived in Querétaro, our on site coordinator was fabulous. He was available for any and all questions, and I felt like he really listened to what we had to say and our concerns. I feel like while the coursework was satisfactory, I feel like I didn't get as much out of it as I would have taking the 201-202-203 sequence, which is to be expected as it is a condensed course. The teachers were fantastic and accommodating for the language barrier and I really felt like they wanted us to learn the language. While I really feel like the program itself could use some work, overall it was a positive experience that I would recommend to anyone looking to experience the Mexican culture.