Posing with the Puebla sign, overlooking the city

Author: Jenna Thomas | Majors: Biology, Psychology | Semester: Summer 2023

This summer, I found myself on a plane headed to Puebla, Mexico to study the healthcare system in Mexico for five weeks. I was excited to improve my Spanish, learn more about medicine, and explore the city while earning six credit hours towards my Spanish minor. However, I was unaware of how much this program would teach me about myself and the world.

I choose this program because it offered me a chance to study medicine while also earning six credit hours towards my Spanish minor. The program consists of transfer credits from UPAEP that can be used for any 3000 or 4000 level Spanish class. This fulfilled two of my minor requirements and allowed to work on my Spanish by fully immersing myself in the language. My listening comprehension increased greatly during the five weeks I was in Puebla. During the first week, I couldn’t comprehend most of what was said to me, but by the third week, I’d grown to understand most things I heard. In the health track, we had class every morning at UPAEP where we focused on either medical practice or various aspects of healthcare in Mexico. These morning classes were three hours long, so it took a while to adjust from the shorter classes I was used to at Arkansas. We also had different instructors almost every day, and a lot of our instructors were doctors. Most of our instructors didn’t speak English, and it was an adjustment each day to adapt to each new instructor’s speed and accent. Each class focused on a different topic, and we learned everything from treatment and classification of burns to the insurance system used in Mexico. These classes improved my confidence in asking questions in Spanish as well as my ability to carry conversations with locals at restaurants, shops, or on the streets of Puebla. In the afternoons, we either had a lab with hands-on medical practice or rotations, where we shadowed in the university’s medical facilities. These medical facilities included the physical therapy center, the emergency room, and the urgent care facility. These rotations allowed me to learn more about an alternative healthcare system and medical techniques while improving my Spanish greatly. The academic set-up of this program allowed me to greatly improve my Spanish and learn medical techniques that will be useful in the future.

On the weekends, our group traveled with another group from Wisconsin to different places across Mexico including Oaxaca, Cuetzalan, Cholula, and Mexico City. My favorite weekend was Oaxaca, where we had the chance to see how tapestries, mezcal, and black clay pottery is made. Watching and learning about these techniques gave me a deeper appreciation for the indigenous culture in Mexico, and I enjoyed how traveling on the weekends gave our group a chance to see the different cultures around Mexico. The food in all the cities was incredible but my favorite dish I had while in Mexico was Mole Poblano, a type of sauce made of chiles and chocolate over a chicken breast. Trying all the different kinds of food available was one of my favorite things to do in Puebla and when traveling on the weekends. It allowed our group to bond over good food and allowed me to practice my Spanish by speaking to waiters and asking questions.

If you’re looking to learn more about your field of study and greatly improve your Spanish, I would recommend taking a month of your summer to participate in this program. One of my biggest pieces of advice for studying abroad is to soak it all in! The days can be long, but it’s important to make the most of your time abroad, because when will you ever spend a month living in Puebla, Mexico again? So, spend an extra hour up talking to your classmates or going to new places, eat the street food, pay attention in class, take in all the new information, and enjoy it! I wouldn’t trade this experience I’ve had in Puebla for anything regardless of all the sunburns and hard days I had along the way. Although I can’t wait to sit in some air conditioning and sleep in my own bed, I will miss experiencing Mexico with some of my newfound closest friends.