Moore researched programs on the Internet in order to find one that would be the best fit for her. She chose GE3, she said, “because of scholarship opportunities and its affiliation with RPI.” The affiliation meant that RPI would handle correspondence with the program, and allowed for Moore’s grades to be transferred to RPI along with her credits—an advantage, no doubt, of studying abroad with a program affiliated with the university.

Learning and practicing Spanish in Mexico was oftentimes tedious, but could also be very rewarding, Moore noted. She prepared for the experience by building on her high school Spanish in classes at RPI, and even took an advanced Spanish class at Russell Sage through the Hudson-Mohawk Consortium last fall. “There is an amazing feeling when you can manage to travel around all parts of a country (and manage to survive) with just your knowledge of another language,” Moore said.

Moore did more than survive. Three out of the four classes she took at Tec were taught in Spanish. Though Moore did try to take an engineering course taught in Spanish, she found that the use of technical terminology in a foreign language was biting off more than she could chew, and stuck with classes on Mexican history and culture instead. This means that Moore will have a heavy load this spring in order to graduate on time, but she does not regret taking a semester “off” from her engineering classes. Instead, she feels that her time spent studying abroad enhanced her academic experience, allowing her to take classes that she could not have taken at RPI.

Since Tec boasts a student population of roughly 40,000, including over 400 participating in study abroad programs, Moore was able to make friends who hailed from, literally, all over the globe. She now has friends from not only Mexico, but also Sweden, Germany, Japan, Australia, Finland, and New Zealand. Described as “not a typical American” by her Mexican roommate, Moore had an open mind about her experience, which allowed her to learn a lot about the Mexican culture. She also found it interesting to see and hear her classmates, teammates, and others express their views of Americans.

The academic environment at Tec was not as different as expected. “Classes were run using PowerPoint and there was wireless in all the classrooms as well as outside in the nice warm sun, and even by the pool,” Moore said. One thing that was different, however, were the “rules” associated with Tec university housing. Males and females had separate dormitories, and they were not allowed to enter each other’s dorms. Furthermore, female residents had to sign in at their dorm between 10 pm and 6 am, otherwise they got a written warning, and their parents were notified. “This is a strict rule which reflects the conservative nature of the Mexican culture,” Moore said. The rule is in place to appease the parents of female residents by assuring them that their daughter is “being a good girl.”

An avid volleyball player, Moore decided to try out for the university’s varsity volleyball team, which she made. “Playing volleyball was frustrating at times since my coach knew about three words of English, but it was a rewarding experience and forced me to be in a situation where I had to use Spanish,” Moore said. She spent a lot of time with her teammates, who would joke about her “funny accent,” but they became some of her closest friends.

When not traveling with the volleyball team, Moore traveled on her own and with friends around Mexico. “I got to see ancient ruins that I had always heard about in high school history classes; I climbed the sun and moon pyramids of Teotihuacan outside Mexico City, saw the ancient city of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, and walked through the Mayan ruins and jungle in Palenque.” Moore found that traveling was convenient and cheap—though she traveled mostly by bus, she did find a flight across Mexico for only $40!