Mayra Fortes will return home to Mexico with a small group of students next summer to show them her country’s culture and language.

Fortes, a Spanish professor at Grand Valley State University, will lead her first study abroad group to Mexico for a little more than a month. She will teach a Mexican culture course, and students will take Spanish language courses from Mexican professors at the Universidad de Guadalajara.

Guadalajara is on the western end of Mexico near the Pacific Ocean and is one of the largest cities in the country. The city has an old-world colonial ambiance, Fortes said.

“You get this mix of colonial and modern,” she said.

Students are required to sign a waiver acknowledging the U.S. travel warning for Mexico, but Fortes said the warning should not deter students from studying in the country.

She said the dangerous areas are in the northern areas of Mexico near the U.S. border, and her group will be in a much safer area where many GVSU students have studied in the past. She added GVSU would not allow its students and faculty to go somewhere unsafe.

Katy Bode, a Spanish major, went on last summer’s faculty-led trip to Guadalajara and echoed Fortes’ sentiments that the GVSU students will be in a secure area.

“I felt safe at all times,” Bode said. She took ordinary precautions that she also takes here in Allendale, such as not walking alone at night. “It’s very far away from any of the problems in Mexico.”

Bode said she sees one of the most lasting remnants of her time in Guadalajara each week in her Spanish classes, when she can put what she learned to use.

“I noticed I volunteered a lot more in class, and I feel a lot more comfortable speaking in Spanish,” she said.

Fortes said a main attraction to studying abroad is the ability to be immersed in the language and culture, which will vastly improve speaking and listening skills.

“They will have to communicate in Spanish because their families are not going to speak English,” she said.

The students will not only live with a Guadalajaran host family but will also eat real Mexican cuisine provided daily for a total immersion experience.

Bode said she was scared the food would be too spicy, but she ended up really enjoying it.

As for the stories about drinking Mexican water, she said she was told if a restaurant had tablecloths on the tables, she could drink the water. The rule worked for her, and she also got to drink from the Culligan water her host family kept in their house.

Total culture immersion is what sparked the interest of Spanish minor Samantha Kraak in Fortes’ upcoming program.

“I love the Latino and Hispanic cultures, but I’ve never had a firsthand experience with it,” she said.

Kraak plans to apply for the program soon so she can add to not only her Spanish skills but also her knowledge as an advertising major. She hopes to learn what appeals to Mexican and Latino consumers.

The trip will take place from May 8 to June 13, and applications are due on Feb. 1. The program fee of $2,397 includes round-trip airfare, staying with a host family, meals, textbooks and field trips. A notable expense not included is six credits of tuition to GVSU for the two classes students will take.

To learn more, visit gvsu.edu/studyabroad.

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