By Malone Morchower
On March 10, a group of ten Collegiate senior scholars set out for Mexico to take down the competition at the Belgrade International Model United Nations conference (BIMUN). We all headed out from the Richmond International Airport, position papers in hand, ready to represent our separate delegations, as part of the International Emerging Leaders (IEL) Americas Senior Capstone class. Our group was prepared to debate on behalf of the countries assigned to us, but what we were not prepared for was the cultural immersion we would experience that week.
A Cougar and her host before BIMUN.
During senior year at Collegiate, each student must participate in a Senior Capstone course. Erica Coffey, the former Director of Inclusion and Global Engagement and current IEL Americas teacher, says the Senior Capstone classes “are meant to put together a variety of skill sets to use in the real world.” Some other Senior Capstones include Future of Food, Global Public Health, Ethics & The Engaged Citizen, and The River City. IEL Americas focuses on creating relationships with the LatinX communities through conversation and understanding. This class includes a trip to Mexico, where each student stays with two different host families. The students we stayed with attend Colegio Carol Baur, Collegiate’s partner school, and they also participated in the conference.
The trip included a three-day conference, one service day, and two days to explore, which meant five nights in the small town of Querétaro and two nights in the largest city in North America, Mexico City. While staying with our host families, we did everything our hosts did. As we followed them around, we immersed ourselves in their culture and daily routines.
Every time the Collegiate students grouped back together each morning, we all shared our personal experiences with our host from the previous day.
A Collegiate senior and his host family.
On the first day, Lucy Ottley (‘23) shared that the previous night she had gone out to dinner with her host, Camila, and a few of her host’s friends. The girls offered but basically forced her to try the popular beverages Horchata and Agua de Jamaica. Horchata is composed of rice soaked in water and cinnamon. Ottley said, “Horchata reminds me of the milk after you eat all the Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” but her host, Camilla, informed her that in Mexico Cinnamon Toast Crunch is actually called Cini Minis. Agua de Jamaica is an iced tea made of hibiscus flowers. Ottley learned that, in Mexico, you’re either on team Horchata or team Jamaica, and she is definitely on team Jamaica, as she says, “it’s more refreshing.”
In front of La Parroquía de San Miguel Arcángel.
While in Querétaro, Rohan Agarwal’s (‘23) host, Andres, celebrated his uncle’s birthday. Agarwal thought the occasion might call for some cake, maybe a few presents, and possibly some friends. What he didn’t expect was to see the entire family tree in the living room when he walked out of his room that night. Agarwal met aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Although very few of the relatives spoke English, Agarwal practiced his Spanish as family members fired off questions at him, which Señora Esperanza Soria-Nieto, Agarwal’s AP Spanish teacher at Collegiate, was happy to hear about upon his return.
After a long day of debate, Sam Smith (‘23) and his host, Luis, headed off to San Miguel de Allende, a colonial-style charming city, just a few hours away from Queretaro. The pueblito, a small village, is known for its art expositions, live music performances, and beautiful scenes. La Parroquía de San Miguel Arcángel, a parish neo-Gothic church, can be seen from anywhere in the entire town, as its illuminated, pink pinnacles pierce through the clouds. While walking around, Smith was interrupted by a mariachi band, and he and his friends danced along with them for a few minutes. After a long day, Smith watched the sun dive under the church as they started back to Querétaro.
Collegiate soccer player with his host’s dad (middle) and the fútbol coach (right) after the game.
Porter Vaughan (‘23) shared with his host, Santi, that he enjoyed playing soccer at home, but he did not think this exchange of information would lead to him playing in an intense fútbol game with 30-year-old men. One night after a long day of negotiations at BIMUN, Vaughan’s host’s dad told him he would be joining him in his adult league fútbol game. The family gave Vaughan a uniform, drove out to the field, and told him who was on his team. Although the father did not speak much English, he said, “Porter, play up,” so Vaughan assumed he would be playing forward and took his position on the field. Immediately, everyone started yelling in Spanish, but Vaughan was able to connect with the players through their actions rather than through speaking. Although Vaughan’s team lost, he did score a few goals while picking up the style of play of older men in a whole different country. Vaughan walked away from the game with a new jersey to take home and some new 30-year-old friends he could call up if he is ever in Querétaro again.
After each long day of the conference, my host, Sofi, would pick me up and promptly start blasting the popular reggaeton artist Bad Bunny. She told me that, in Mexico, it’s basically common courtesy to play Bad Bunny when you don’t know the other person’s music taste, because everyone likes Bad Bunny. Over the course of the week, I learned more and more of his songs and could even kind of sing along by the end. Sofi always laughed at me when I tried to sing, and she also made fun of me when I tried to play American country music. Our friendship grew through Bad Bunny and sharing our similar and different norms.
My host Sofi on the last day in Querétaro.
I know everyone took away different things from this experience, but, for me, I learned the most by observing and just being present in the simple moments with my two hosts, Sofi and Paula. The moments listening to Bad Bunny with the windows down and arguing over the superior beverage, Horchata or Agua de Jamaica, were the moments I will never forget.
All photos by Malone Morchower.
Recent Comments