An Experience to Remember!

Hola!

That is me on the left. Mi nombre es Maria Del Carmen Ortiz, I'm 20 yrs. old and I live in Purcell, Oklahoma. I will be a sophomore at Murray State College. My mayor are Computer Science and Spanish teacher. I like to travel and to learn about different cultures.

Mexican Ecology and Culture was one of the most exciting classes I've taken. I think my classmates will agree with me on that. We were all looking forward to taking the trip to Mexico. We were eager to learn about the people and the environment.

What I learned.

Although I'm Mexican, this trip made me realize how ignorant I was about my own country. Because I was young when I came to the U.S., I was unable to explore my culture more in depth and know more things about it then what I did.

The opportunity to be among students of the Universidad De Morelos, which were from various parts of Mexico, made it easier to understand the whole concept of sharing ideas. By doing that, we learned from them and they learned from us.

The Trip.

We drove for 30hrs., but it was worth it. We got to get along with each other and to get to know each other better. Once we were there, they divided us into groups:A,B,C,D. They kept us busy most of the time, but we still had time to go on our own and do many other fun things. I think I was kept busy more than anybody else since I had to translate all the time. Each group did a different thing everyday. We collected mammals, fish, lizards, snakes, and we looked for birds. We examined them, classified them, and got them ready to be taken to a museum in Morelos.

Looking Forward To.

Next year, I'm looking forward to taking this class once again if I can. I will be going to my hometown, Monterrey where there will be a conference for biologists from here and Mexico. And in August, I will be going to Canada.

Finally.

Traveling to Mexico has made me more open minded to learning about different cultures and environments. I'm very thankful to my teacher, Mr. Stewart, for giving me the opportunity to be in this class.