The Experiment in International Living's Mexico cooking program was amazing! It exceeded every one of my expectations and the trip was truly a life changing experience. The best parts of my Mexico cooking experience were my group members, group leader and the intense schedule.
My Mexico cooking experience was great. I took a one week cooking course at the University of Puebla. My cooking Instructor was Chef Genarado. He did not take us step-by-step through cooking any meals; he simply handed us a packet of recipes and explained to us in Spanish and English what we were going to be cooking that day.
Me and my group really relied on each other and our cooking skills grew as group. After I graduated my cooking class in Puebla, we went to Hidalgo where we stayed on a ranch and prepared our own lunch and dinner. On our last day on the ranch, we had an intense Iron Chef competition where we were split into two groups. Of course my group won! Overall the food was great but I also had to be open-minded to some things that didn't look or sound too appetizing - like fried worms and fried crickets. I still have recipe books and plan to continue preparing Mexican dishes at home.
One of the best parts of my Mexico cooking experience was my group. My group was the best! We were all optimists except one person but eventually, he came around. All of us put forth our best effort to get to know one another. Most of us were way out of our comfort zone, including one girl who came from a predominately white town in Vermont and was the only Caucasian in our group. I could tell that she was a great person but was still adjusting to being out of her comfort zone. I made a point to talk with her and by the end of the program, we ended up being very close. In fact, I grew very close to every one of my group members and by the end of the program, we were a family.
Another part of my Mexico cooking experience that I really enjoyed was my group leader. I believe that we had the best group leader in the world. Matt Gordon made every boring church visit manageable, at least for me. I know religion is a big part of the Mexican culture but once I saw ten churches I grew bored of the church visits. Matt was not too strict on us and once we gained his trust he gave us even more freedom. Matt also kept the group together.
After the home stay, we stayed at Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP) and the boys stayed in one dorm and the girls stayed in another dorm. The girls grew very close and the boys grew very close. After a while the boys got annoyed with the girls and vice versa. Just when we were ready to snap each others necks, Matt reminded us of how close we were with each other and that we were beginning to pick each other apart. He told us whenever we get irritated with one another to just look at the good in each other. This is when we truly became a family.
The intense schedule was another one of my favorite parts of the Mexico cooking experience. Since I don’t know when I will go back to Mexico, I’m glad that we productively used every minute of every day of the experiment. We started in Mexico City and went south to Oaxaca, to Puebla, to Hidalgo, to Veracruz and then back to Mexico City. I was mad and glad that the home stay was only one week. I was mad because I loved my host family and the town of Oaxaca but I was glad because we got to visit so many other places in Mexico.
I really think that the Mexico cooking experiment should be a five week program and the extra week should go towards the home stay. Every day of my Mexico experiment was worth remembering and that is why I wrote in a journal. I encourage all future experimenters to also write in a journal during their experience.
The best parts of my Mexico cooking experience were definitely my group members, group leader and the intense schedule. What started as a group of kids thrown together grew into a family. The person responsible for my amazing, life-changing experience in Mexico is my group leader, Matt. The Mexico Cooking program exceeded all of my expectations in every way. While Mexico was not one of my top selections, my group members and I had a wonderful time!
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