Thoughts on Mexico

I am so incredibly happy to have had the opportunity to spend IAP 2009 in Tuxtla working at Casa Telmex. I had always been excited to go to Mexico but I never imagined I would have fallen in love so much with everything there. Growing up in Texas, the culture of Mexico was always a huge part of my life. This was the first time I had been to Mexico and I think I identified so much with the culture and the people I met there. It was really nice to be surrounded by a similar version of my home, except everything was in Spanish this time. I really loved all the food and the trips that we were able to take. Everything was amazing. I feel like I really immursed myself in the culture and that it was the perfect way to truly experience Mexico.

As for the program at Casa Telmex, I feel that exceeded my expectations. I had hoped that we could give these people a greater understanding of leadership and how they were leaders, which I feel that we did do. However, we also got to really know the people we met at Casa Telmex which I think really enriched the program. I was worried that our spanish would not be sufficient and that we would have trouble communicating, but everything ended up working out. I am very proud of our team from MIT because I feel like we all worked really hard on improving our spanish and that we all have gained a greater understanding of communication. Personally, I think my spanish has improved much more that it did over my time in Spain this summer. I feel like I was able to immerse myself in the language more on this trip and that it has really paid off. I am also very thankful that the people at Casa Telmex were all so warm and friendly because I felt comfortable speaking with everyone and practicing the language. They were also all very helpful when we had language questions, thanks everyone!

I was really happy to hear at the end of the course that the students and facilitators felt that the course was useful and that they enjoyed it. We received e-mails from a few of our students saying thank you for the course. I think that this shows that this program actually does work and that it can only improve in the future. LTI is a great way show young adults how they can be leaders and I feel that it is very important that these young adults have the opportunity to equip themselves with essentials skills for their futures. I truly hope that LTI can become a permanant part of the future of Casa Telmex because I think it has touched the lives of many of the students and given them a greater understanding of what it means to be a leader. I also think that the program opened the eyes of the facilitators and showed them that there are many things they can work on as well to improve el "Equipo Azul" at Casa Telmex. I hope that they will continue to build the team of facilitators and that the activities we left with them will be useful and helpful.

I think that LTI chose a great team of students from MIT to represent the orgranization in Tuxtla. It great working with Taylor, Dave, and Kyle. We all listened to each other and worked together to make the best program possible for the people who participated in our sessions. I think we each learned so much about ourselves, how we work, and how we are capable of being successful in another language. We all really care about the program and how it would affect the participants. Although we didn't always see eye-to-eye on everything, I think we worked well together to present the best program we could during our time at Casa Telmex. I would love to see this program continue in Casa Telmexes all over Mexico. It would be great to have the opportunity to return and work at Casa Telmex with this program.

Finally, I would like to send a special thanks to the people of Casa Telmex, MISTI Mexico, and LTI. This trip would not have been possible withour your contributions and support. Thank you so much for this opportunity!