¡Estamos en Oaxaca!

As part of our trip, we are required to keep a journal, so I've decided to do that here in hopes that what I share will be very authentic. I know there's a lot here, but even if you don't read everything, please watch the videos because they are so funny.

To read ahead:

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

7/15/23

First night was a little rough, and I feel like sometimes this side of going abroad is not shared too often, so let's dive into what happened, shall we?

I know I said I was excited about Guelaguetza, but I was not prepared for how excited Oaxacans are for Guelagetza. We were stuck in so much traffic after a hectic flight that didn't give us enough time to use the bathroom....let's just say my stomach wasn't feeling it. One bite of a tlayuda after we got settled in the homestay and I barfed on my host mom's floor after knowing her for probably 20 minutes. I really wish I could have enjoyed the tlayuda more because it's a staple of Oaxaca, and the lady that was selling them was so sweet to us, but I just couldn't keep anything down. But I have hope there will be plenty more chances to get tlayuda in these next 3 weeks!

7/16/23

My Spanish skills have surprised me! I didn't use it too much in the airport because I was overwhelmed, but there are a lot of things I can do with my skillset I have! Today, we met the directors of the language school we will be attending, and we took a tour of the city. I also tried some chapulines (you should look it up ;0). Downtown Oaxaca is BEAUTIFUL. Oaxacans are very passionate about their state. They have such an honorable sense of unity rooted in their history, and I think it's awesome how active they are in maintaining their cultural roots.

7/17/23

Wow, what a busy day today. We were supposed to have clinic, but rotations were cancelled because of the big Guelaguetza celebration. This morning, we toured a garden with plants exclusive to Oaxaca. Again, my Spanish skills surprised me today! The English tours were double the price, so we decided to do it in Spanish. We then went to Mayordomo, a famous place here that sells chocolate products, where I drank some chocolate de leche and ate pan de yema. Fue muy delicioso. We then headed out to exchange some money and explore the city markets. For la comida today (lunch), our host mom made little potato pancakes, which we ate with rice, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, and crispy tortillas. By 4:00, we were back at the language school, where we had a Spanish lesson, followed by a class on the Mexican healthcare system. There's a lot of words that are unique to Mexico, which is a little hard because I've learned a lot of terms from teachers who do not speak Mexican spanish. For example, chaqueta here is NOT jacket, so if you ever go to Mexico, don't say it because it's something muy inapropriado. We also learned that while Oaxaca is very rich in culture, it is one of the poorest states in Mexico. I'm interested to see how that plays out in our first rotation tomorrow.

7/18/23

Feeling a little tired today! This morning, we woke up at about 6:15, ate some banana pancakes that our host mom made, and then we were out the door for our first rotation. This week I'm in a level 1 clinic that particularly focuses on a lot of maternal health. We didn't do too much shadowing today; we just followed along with a training all the staff was doing on maternal lactation. It is very interesting how the clinic is set up. They make it very convenient for patients in that the pharmacy, dentist, doctor, delivery room, etc. are all in 1 facility. In the case of any type of situation, you'd be able to find someone with the particular specialty you need. Night life here is something very special. The city is so alive, with performers on the street, vendors left and right, and cathedrals lit up with the mountains in the background. Feels like a movie and I'm not exaggerating that at all.

7/19/23

Today was actually a fever dream. We went back to CESSA, which is the level 1 clinic that sees moms and babies, and WOW we were in for a surprise. How many people can say they've seen their first live birth in Mexico? The nurses told us we are very lucky to be able to see one. It was actually the coolest thing. Saw the placenta come out and everything. Maybe it was the fact that there were 3 of us in that OR, but that room was HOT. No air conditioning and 10 people in 1 room moving around=hace mucho calor. Today, I also had the chance to take over Clemson's College of Science Instagram, and I saved all of the videos that I took so you can see a little more stuff in action! I will probably upload them to the home page if you're interested.

Closing

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for following along. I hope you can at least get a little snippet of what it's like over here, and please let me know if you have any questions or if there is something specific you'd like to see. Until my next update.