Stereotypes are apart of human nature, no matter how much we may try to aviod them; especially for my generation where most of our information comes from the media instead of from personal experiences. I dont know if I really have stereotypes about Mexicans that live in Mexico, most of my stereotypes are of Mexican Americans. For example, when most of us think of Mexicans in America, we automatically picture them doing some type of landscape or consturction work. A stereotype that I have recently formed in my mind about Mexico is that it is running "a muck" with all of the drug scandals, and that the country is full of drug dealers roaming the streets. However I have tried to dispell many of those stereotypes in my mind, esepicially because I have done more research on the Mexican culture today. Although I dont have many stereotypes about the entire country of Mexico, I think that most of my stereotypes are more about Merida. When I think of Merida, I picture an old fashioned rural town with not much advance technology. So I picture Merida as a very slow pace town, maybe as slow as Athens. But, only time will tell if my stereotypes are accurate or not!

         Before I began the process of applying and interviewing for the study abroad trip to Merida, Mexico, I had always wanted to look into studying abroad, but without really knowing where. But when I found out about Merida, and I got to hear from many people, who had went in the past, talk about how much they loved and appreciated the time they spent there, I knew that this was a trip that I had to be a part of. Being given the opportunity to be able to travel and momentarily live in another country has already exceeded my expectations of what I thought my college experience was gong to be! But, if I had to have any expectations about living and studying in Merida for a quarter, they would have to be: to learn new family traditions and values, improve in my Spanish language skins, make new friends and added family members, have an alternate view of my own country, taste delicious (and maybe some not so delicious) food. But, my greatest expectation that I have for my time in Merida is that once it is all over I know I won’t have any regrets, but will instead be even more proud of myself for making this decision.