I have been lucky enough to meet many wonderful, kind and open people in México who are excited to share their perspectives with me as I get to know them. Many of the different perspectives I have learned about have been related to culture, traditions, history or relationships, but the one I have been most interested in, and the one that is the most different from my own perspective, relates to family and school.
Although you still have a little more time before you all start thinking about the next educational step in your life, when I went to college, I applied to many places far away from home. My family lives in all different parts of the U.S., and growing up I was used to traveling around to visit them and getting to know new places, so when it came to college, I went to a new place, too! I moved from Chicago to South Carolina, where I lived alone, met new friends and had a wonderful time. I met many people at school who were from South Carolina and living with or near their families, and many students who had traveled far from their family just as I had. Both of these scenarios were very normal. When I came to México, I realized that this was not necessarily the same case.
In México, the close-knit family is a very strong part of the culture. Many families I have met in Chetumal have been living in the same home for many years, and families often live together with more than one generation in the house at a time. Many of the students and friends I have met at the university in Chetumal live with their families now and will continue living with their families after they graduate and begin working.
