Universidad de las Americas Puebla: A Beautiful Facade Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Seeing as these were language classes to learn spanish the level of difficulty in some classes was not particularly high enough and I felt some classes were just busy work. That said, one literature class in particular was outstanding and all of my professors were great. I felt that they were genuinely interested in our well-being as students.

On-site administration of your program

I did not need their help very often but when I did the administration made themselves available to me.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Housing here is very strict, and if you know mexicans you would also know that they are not the most respective housemates. That being said, I still formed a very strong bond with the girls with whom I lived and I felt like a princess when the cleaning lady came in 5 days a week. It was a very different experience because one sees the division of class systems up very close by living in the dorms. In reference to my comment about the dorms being strict. The visitor hours were absolutely ridiculous. The visit rules in particular, I felt, advocated for students to leave campus more often. There was not one single place on campus where two students from different dorms could have a conversation after 11 at night. Absolutely no common areas. I found this to be an extremely stupid and ineffective way of controlling the residents of the dorms because as a result people feel the need to leave the security of campus for extended periods of time just to socialize casually with friends.

The food was very average, but the hours of operation were not conducive to my schedule so I resulted to cooking in my dorm and going off campus more than anything.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Mexicans are very social people so I enjoyed meeting all sorts of different people throughout my time here, this also includes other international students that I bonded with through my experience.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

All of the gates are controlled by guards, thus making us feel very safe within the confines of campus. The clinic on campus was also very impressive. They are available 24/7 and you do not need to pay to use their services seeing as the cost is included in that of the dorms. Very impressed with both of these services.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Resilience and persistence are the most important qualities to have when learning a foreign language. It is easy to just get in a groove with speaking english with other international students, but it is worth the effort to branch out and meet locals. Speaking with people is the most valuable way of learning a foreign language and the classes I took were a nice supplement to my education of spanish.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students

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• International Students

• The professors of my host university

• The aspects that I did not care for of my exchange are much bigger than just the university.