I expect to learn a lot of stuff in Mexico. I want to develop my language skills. I need to focus on perfecting “simple” Spanish instead of the complex stuff. I want to expand my eating habits. I want to be able to create great friendships. I want to be able to make a connection with the city and the culture.

I stereotype that all Mexicans like bright colors, eat a lot of food, are close with their family, and go out and party while drinking tequila. I stereotype that all Mexican men want to get with American women and that I will get cat-called by drunk strange men when I walk down the street. I stereotype that it will look like Rio Grande.

I was successful in meeting my Merida expectations. Because I lived with a family and used my Spanish in conversations I think my “simple” Spanish has improved the most. I can have a simple conversation with most anybody and I can communicate most ideas. This trip also created many amazing experiences and many great friendships. Not even the pictures I took can give justice to all the things I saw and the great people I met.

My stereotypes about Mexico were not all accurate. It was true that many of the houses in Mexico were brightly colored but that did not mean that all Mexican people liked to wear colorful and cultural clothes. In fact most people wore an American style with American brand name clothes. It is not true that Mexican people eat any more than American people. There is much less fast food consumed in Mexico than America and much of the food served is prepared from fresh ingredients. I was right about being cat-called on the street but the men were neither drunk nor strange. It is a consequence of the machismo culture and it is not meant to be insulting as I would interoperate it in the United States. I still did not ever get used to it though. The one stereotype that was true is that family is very important to the Mexican culture. But I also learned that there are many people without a family, especially older people who were abandoned, and it is very difficult for them to get help in this culture. Tequila is most definitely the alcohol of choice.