Adventures in Yucatan, Mexico

¡Éxito con el primer foro internacional universitario! “Compartiendo experiencias, despertando intereses” Success with the first international academic forum! “Sharing experiences, awakening interests”      This past Friday evening was our last event as part of this year's winter Total Immersion program. We closed things off with our First International Academic Forum wherein the students presented five short minutes of their experiences and independent projects with PICY to the public. It was a success!       Here are two write-ups of the event that were published in the local newspapers here in Merida.  Diario Yucatan Por Esto Galen Hecht "Las travesuras del Arux y Chan Gringo" Galen spoke about his adventures with cultural promoter Bernardo Caamal Itza, focusing on the impacts in the culture of modern Mayans with changes such as increased migration from small pueblos and the risk of young folks forgetting their cul...

     They're back! And sharing all the amazing experiences that they've had in their three week independent projects all around the Yucatan peninsula. Today we had a marathon day of final presentations, where our students shared 40 minutes of their projects with us, a small amount of time considering what they have lived and learned these past few weeks!      Only two days are left in this winter's total immersion program, it's been a pleasure, stay tuned for updates from our closing festival tomorrow and our public forum on Friday!       Rosa starting us off with her findings about the Caste War Settling in for a full day of presentations Kendall telling us about her amazing experience of receiving a child while working with a midwife in a rural pueblo Drawing a child in the womb Galen telling us about his travels with Arux Emmanuel showing us his notes for his Mayan dictionary Haleigh describing her ...

     Today, the final student takes off for the final step of the total immersion program: the independent project. Here at PICY, we put a lot of emphasis on this final stage. The independent project it is when the student is able to take all that they have learned during the time that they have been with us, and focus that knowledge and those strategies toward a specific topic that interests them. We have students setting off to fishing villages, to cities, to tiny pueblos, and headed to the farthest reaches of the state of Yucatan to study topics from the Mayan language, to midwifery, to wood carving. Each year we see a unique set of independent projects from a unique group of students. For an idea of what students have done in the past, here is an  interactive map  of student projects during the final stage of our total immersion program.      Before heading out on their independent journeys, each student completed and presented an ethnograph...

     Our students from COA right now are nearing the end of their stay in a rural community. They have been there together since Monday and will return tomorrow evening. They've had quite a few adventures, here's a taste of what they've been up to! enjoying the village green Lilyana Kendall Waiting to meet families Emanuel Haleigh Rosa Emma Galo Emily Jay fitting right in! Guillermo Nina Heading out early for a bird-watching expedition Preparing vines for basket-weaving  Everyone hard at work! The students with their mentors and final products!