Hi my name is Marissa Gowen and I am so excited to leave for Queretaro, Mexico next week!  I have been looking forward to this trip all year!

I chose Queretaro Mexico because I want to become more fluent in Spanish and I want to learn more about Mexican culture.  I look forward to getting to know more about the Mexican way of life and skills that will prepare me for my future.  I also am excited to meet my host family and I can’t wait to get there.  I chose Queretaro also because I a taking a ESOL/Bilingual class for my teaching major and I look forward to learning more about the struggles that Mexicans have when they come to the United States.  Lastly, I am excited to go because I believe that I will become a more worldly knowledgeable person and I look forward to telling everyone about my experiences and fun times in Mexico.

I think my host culture will be like what I have heard about what Mexico is like.  I believe that it will be hot and dry as I have been told.  I also believe that there will be a lot of colorful buildings and a lot of good smells and foods as well as that women wear more conservative clothing. Lastly, I think that my host culture will have a lot of extended families and small houses.  I see myself interacting with my host culture as a representative of Western Oregon and I will be kind and respectful towards everyone.  I am excited because I look forward to trying new things and being abroad in the first place.  I have been abroad before but I know that Mexico will be very different than Europe in many ways.  I am also nervous because I have never traveled out of the country alone before and I have never lived with people that I have never met before.  Lastly, I am so excited to live in another country.