Study Abroad in Mexico

Kaya Mallick, an Honors Tutorial College student studying theater with a concentration in playwrighting, put her Undergraduate Experiential Learning Award to use studying abroad in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.   

Kaya had visited Mexico a few times before her visit to the Yucatan, but she had not studied Spanish in well over seven years. However, once she started attending classes, her anxieties about Spanish began to ease, and with the help of her professor, her language development skills improved quickly.  Nevertheless, a complication she faced on her trip was the language barrier between she and her host mom.  Fortunately, she shared her host family’s home with another American scholar, and they helped each other with translations.  

Of her experience, Kaya said, “Food, of course, was a main attraction in Merida and all the other places I visited in the Yucatan Peninsula. I had the opportunity to try many different traditional Yucatecan dishes, my favorite of which was salbutes: crisp-fried tortillas topped with shredded, seasoned chicken, avocado, and a variety of salads and salsas. Every meal was exciting and fresh as every restaurant offered a different selection of veggies and salsas for toppings.”  

Kaya was attracted to a variety of aspects of the Mexican culture. She described Merida as a vibrant arts and cultural scene. She saw numerous performances, including a rehearsal of Las Fanfarres del Aire, an acrobatic musical performance based on Turkish dance styles. Kaya also visited many of the free museums, her favorites being El Museo de Fernando Garcia Ponce Macay, a contemporary art museum, and El Museo del Mundo Maya, a world-renowned museum of Mayan art and artifacts.  

Her favorite part of her trip was traveling to the city of Tulum. In Tulum, Kaya ate new dishes and visited different tourist attractions. Kaya plans to return to Mexico to visit the cities of Tulum and Merida in hopes of seeing her host family again and learning more about the culture and people.  

For information about the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Award, visit the Undergraduate Experiential Learning office’s funding page or contact the office at experiential.learning@ohio.edu.