Hi, name is Hannah Alberts and I’m from Austin Minnesota and now go to Luther. I’m a Psychology major with a Spanish minor. I love hanging out with my friends and trying new things. A fun tidbit about me is I think the food made in the oven is a hot dish, not a casserole.

After completing our first full day in Oaxaca, we can all take a well-deserved siesta. From the moment our plane touched down on Mexian soil, our lives have been non-stop. After quickly turning in my custom forms, I moved to a final scan of my luggage. I was feeling all sorts of excitement and nervousness to meet my family for the first time. I walked through the sliding doors to a small airport filled with families patiently awaiting their temporary American children. Once we found our families we quickly departed from the airport. By the time I was seated and buckled in my family’s vehicle, it was 10:00pm. The trip to my home for the next three weeks, was long and full of shaky spanish words and me tripping over my own tongue with my not-so-perfect spanish. Once I arrived at my home, I was immediately offered “chocolate caliente” or hot chocolate and talked with the family until I noticed it was 11:30 pm. I quickly said my thank yous, wished them a good night, and went to bed.

My next day started at 6:30 to a not so warm shower, but some of the best breakfast foods imaginable. Fresh fruit and juice lined the table along with yogurt, granola, and a mix of eggs and vegetables. Because it was my first day, my “mother” drove me to school to show me the way. Once at our school, we attended a class from 8-12 which consisted of basic review and some research. From 12-3 we all walked back to our houses where our families fed us lunch. For me, lunch consisted of a potato-based soup and the best “tortillas mexicanas” I have ever had. At 2:30 I began my walk back to school for a one hour conversation with a high schooler from Oaxaca. Half of the conversation was spent talking in Spanish and the other half in English. The conversation ended at 4, which began our cooking class. As a whole class we made “Guias de calabaza”, a vegetable and corn based soup, until 6. We ended the night as we started this journey, together. We found a nice, quaint restaurant and sat around a table together to talk and joke about our days. These are the days remembered forever.

-Hannah