Author: Peyton Hines | Major: Exercise Science | Semester: Summer 2024

Me and a patient at La Clinica Fisioterapia! This was taken during one of her sessions and I created the obstacle course she was performing to help with her rehab for a broken ankle.

For five weeks of my summer in 2024, I spent them living in Puebla, Mexico with a host mom and attending classes and clinical rotations. I was first interested in going to Mexico because my grandmother lived in Mexico City until she was 22, so I have always wondered what her life was like before she moved to the States. Choosing a study abroad program with a chance to learn more Spanish and receive clinical hours towards physical therapy school seemed like the perfect option! Upon arriving, I discovered that my Spanish skills were NOT prepared for all the speaking and understanding I needed to be able to do. Thankfully, my host mom was very patient with me and spoke slowly and with her hands to help me understand more and gave me a lot of grace with my speaking. All of my professors taught only in Spanish, but they took the time to make sure we understood at least half of what they were saying and by the end of the five weeks there I was able to almost fully understand everything people said!

While there, we studied at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla. We had labs on Mondays and Tuesdays in the morning and classes after lunch. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, we had rotations at different healthcare locations (hospitals or clinics) and then more classes after lunch. I learned how to perform CPR (RCP in Spanish), intubations, respond to trauma in a simulation lab, suture on a cadaver, perform injections, tape sports injuries, wrap injuries, and identify bones and anatomical structures in a virtual anatomy lab. In our lecture classes, we learned about the structure of healthcare and medical schooling in Mexico, nutritional components, triage, burn treatments, and injury classifications. I was given a very unique opportunity as the only person who wanted to go into physical therapy to have all of my rotations at the Clinica Fisioterapia on campus or in the rehabilitation center in Hospital UPAEP! I was also allowed to go whenever I wanted after classes to the Clinica Fisioterapia to shadow more physical therapy. This allowed me to leave Mexico with 49 hours of shadowing, way more than anyone else had.

My day-to-day life consisted of going to labs or rotations in the morning, having lunch at the campus cafeteria, and then going to another class in the afternoons. When I got out of class, I went directly to the physical therapy clinic and spent about 3 hours observing the physical therapists work with patients and eventually perform ultrasound therapy and electrotherapy on the patients myself. I helped to create exercises and obstacle courses for patient rehab and even got to directly help with one nonverbal, special needs patient’s stretching and mobility work. After I left the clinic, I would go home to have dinner and a long conversation with my host mom about anything you could think of. On the weekends, we traveled to Cholula, Mexico City, Cuetzalan, and Oaxaca where we experienced the different cultures, histories, and views. My favorite place to visit was la Ciudad de México (Mexico City) because it was incredible to see where my grandmother grew up and experience seeing the Teotihuacan Sun and Moon pyramids in real life. We also visited the Frida Kahlo Museum and it was such a surreal moment seeing the pyramids and museum in real life, after spending six years only seeing photographs and hearing about them. On days that I did not go to the physical therapy clinic, I went exploring around Puebla and Cholula with some of my friends. We visited El Centro and found many artesian markets, fun coffee shops, and ate churros from a well-known restaurant.

My advice to anyone wanting to study abroad, especially in a different language, is to just do it! I was so nervous beforehand about not being able to understand and speak well, but I truly learned so much Spanish while I was there. Everyone was super friendly and patient with me while I tried learning and never seemed to mind repeating themselves as much as I needed them to so I could understand. Not only am I leaving Mexico with clinical hours, but also a greater understanding of the language and the culture. I formed friendships with some of the physical therapists there who helped me get better at Spanish and my host mom did a wonderful job teaching me about Mexico and its culture and the language itself. Whereas I began the trip understanding about 30% of what people were saying, I left the trip being able to understand 80-95% of what people said!