Due to a relentless workload and responsibilities that accumulated during the final weeks of the fall semester, I did not allow myself to anticipate much about the Alternative Break Trip to Mexico. Early in the morning of December 14, I boarded my flight; it was there, as the engine of the airplane swelled, that it suddenly hit me.  “Whoa, I am going to Mexico!”

I was excited to embark on such an incredible experience with classmates and friends who share interests not far from my own. As globalization has become increasingly unavoidable, the field of engineering has come to rely upon international collaboration more than ever before. Global competence is no longer a supplementary skill; it is a requirement. As I sat on the plane, I was reminded of those aspects, which had originally motivated me to embark on a college-sponsored trip, instead of the various other global experiences offered on campus.

On the evening of our arrival, we toured the historic center of Mexico City and ate an authentic Mexican meal called chilaquiles. Being a long-time lover of Mexican food, the country had already stolen my heart. The next morning, we embarked on a trip to Teotihuacán, where we (and by we, I mean the girls) were thrilled to find a market, full of traditional Mexican crafts. After shopping, we climbed the Teotihuacán pyramids. The Pyramid of the Sun, built in 100 CE, is one of the largest structures of its type in the Western Hemisphere—an engineering phenomenon, to say the least.

After visiting various tourist attractions, we traveled to an eco-sustainable farm outside of Cuetzalan. Upon arriving, we were all quite shocked with the accommodations in which we would be spending our next three nights. I had been lucky enough to have previous travel experience, in which I learned the significance of being vulnerable.

Complete appreciation of cultural differences, in my opinion, requires the release of preconceptions and hesitations. Together, we embraced the challenge of our environment and spent the next few days building an eco-friendly latrina from locally grown bamboo. Upon completion of our project, I felt great pride in the work we had accomplished and the obstacles we had overcome.

As a participant in this experience, I was able to not only accomplish the main objective – to employ my engineering skills – but also to experience and appreciate a small slice of Mexican culture. While there are things I loved about the places we visited and the people we met, I could not help but feel privileged to be an American citizen in spite of it. Just the sheer ability to travel and experience another culture, broadening one’s perspective of the world, is an immense blessing.