 “More students need to be aware of UDLA. The people and the program were five stars all the way. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.” |
Faculty & Student Profiles
Intensive Language Training in Mexico
After studying Spanish for a year in high school and a year at AU, Owen Graham (SIS, MA candidate) decided to take his language training to another level during the summer of 2004. For six weeks, he attended the Spanish immersion program at the Universidad de las Americas (UDLA) in Cholula, Mexico, just outside of Puebla. He studied intensive Spanish with a native instructor for four hours every Monday through Thursday.
Graham lived in a dorm on UDLA’s modern, wireless campus. The program’s staff members also lived there, giving him plenty of opportunity to interact with native Spanish speakers outside of class. “I learned so much and made so many friends,” reported Graham.
Cholula is a charming town with Mayan ruins, a beautiful church, delicious food, and “incredibly warm and inviting people,” said Graham. He enjoyed visiting Puebla as well as traveling on UDLA weekend trips to Teotihuacan and Acapulco. After the immersion program, he stayed in Mexico a month longer to explore the landmarks of Mexico City—including the Palacio de las Belles Artes and the home where artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived—and the towns of Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido.
Time ran out before he made it as far south as Chiapas, which he had also hoped to see. However, Graham’s new fondness for our southern neighbor will surely bring him back to visit parts he missed in 2004. In his words, “Mexico is in my heart forever. I will never forget.”