It was May this year when the Global Immersion Program was open for application, dreaming and talking about traveling around the vast world became the hottest issue among the students. However, the reality was so skinny, handing out a resignation letter for a no destined trip might just exists in our romantic dream for office employees.
Fortunately, Fudan MBA program provided the chance to the students to feel Latin-America through a study trip. Except Guadalajara (where the university of Tec de Monterrey laid in), the students also spent 8 days to travel around Cancun, Guanajuato and Mexico City. Although the 20 days trip was really a short time in the life, the students’ hearts were full of joy and gratitude; the life became more colorful and interesting. This meaningful adventure in Mexico will be absolutely an unforgettable experience.
On 14th, August, five days after the study trip ended up, a student came up with a topic which they talked about in Tec de Monterrey and he believed it would be very useful in the work. He sent an e-mail to Lulu, who is the main professor of the leadership lecture, to ask for her help. The student was surprised to receive the reply next day, along with a warm message from the professor: I am so happy to know you found our class materials useful. This reminded him of the days in Mexico, the people, the sky and the scenery. In his memory, Prof. Lulu was always smiling, patient and friendly. She has a typical character of Mexico people.
Every little piece of memories in Mexico made up a whole picture of the beautiful country, which is so fresh and lovely.
Yo amoa México！
The Weather
Tec de Monterrey locates in the city of Guadalajara, where the weather is very comfortable throughout the whole year. The students spent their time in Mexico during the end of July and the beginning of August. It was sunny in Guadalajara during the stay, without the shadow of high-rises, the sky was always blue and boundless. When the night came, a heavy "smart rain" would visit almost every day to take the heat away.
If you are lucky enough, you may also witness a rainbow in the sky when waking up in the morning. It didn't take too much time for the students to get used to the unique weather in Mexico.
Campus Life
Before the students went to Mexico, they had already heard that the education facilities in Tec de Monterrey were very advanced. Though the campus was not too big, it was perfectly formed with library, professional football field, basketball court, sports gym and swimming pool. All the design and the facilities showed the taste and the cultural atmosphere of the university. Tec de Monterrey also provided the students with well-equipped dormitories where they can enjoy the cooking.
At the moment of the study tour finished, the students would like to express their deep appreciation to the guide, Mr. Omar from the university, for his warm hospitality and thoughtful arrangement. His smile and his word: “Don't worry, be happy” had already became an indelible memory for the students.
Walking at the campus, the sunshine, the wind, the people and the silent atmosphere before the sunset became a picture that the students would cherish forever.
Study
The biggest difference between study trip and travel is that study trip requires learning and thinking while walking and sightseeing. The professors who gave the lectures to the group were all very popular in Tec de Monterrey, the students definitely gained a lot of knowledge and information from them. Through the lectures, company visits and the 10-days life in Guadalajara, the remote and mysterious veil of Latin America world began to be lifted gradually.
The following five points impressed the students most during the study trip:
First, Mexico has abundant natural resources and excellent weather, including vast land, abundant mineral resources and various kinds of crops; second, Mexicans are always optimistic and they enjoy very slow pace of lifestyle. They do not like to compete with each other or make long-term plans. However, they are very sincere, friendly and creative; third, the gap between the rich and the poor is so big that it becomes the largest social problem as other Latin American countries. Over-speed urbanization results in the excessive accretion of population, unemployment rate and security problems; four, Latin Americans cherish their families a lot. Family members help and rely on each other. This is very similar to the Chinese traditional culture; the last point is that after many years of high speed development, the industrial structure of Mexico had changed a lot. Nowadays, service industry accounts for 70% of the total Mexican GDP which is quite different with the current situation in China. Mexicans rely so much on service and agriculture industries, but they don’t pay much attention to heavy industry.
"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States", said Mr. Diaz, former president of Mexico. In fact, US bought almost half of the territory of Mexico for only 15 million US dollars. Nowadays, Mexican relies a lot on the US in politics and economy, the situation seems to be unchangeable in the near future. The students sincerely wish Mexico a bright future and a long-live friendship with China.
Company Visits
Besides many inspirational lectures, Tec de Monterrey also arranged several company visits for the group. It was interesting to find that among the 4 companies they have visited, 3 of them are running wine or beer business while the left one involves in candy-making business.
The students visited both tequila testing center and a tequila chateau, where they learned much about tequila. Tequila is the most popular wine throughout the country and a symbol of Mexico culture. The long history and the humanistic cultural behind it attracted all of the students.
In order to learn more about this country and the culture, the study group chose to visit other cities in Mexico. Mexico City is a place you cannot miss if you want to know the country deeply, although the students had a little concern of the safety problem, but they found most of the people there were very nice. The city was a perfect integration of traditional culture and humanism. The students visited many museums including the famous Aziz Turk Temple site and the Pyramids of Moon and Sun, three days of stay was far from enough for this city.
Although there were so many unexpected happenings in the trip, the students came across many lovely people and amazing sceneries every day, they fell in love with this country and people very soon.
Gourmet
Local gourmets are always attractive to visitors. Mexican traditional food is much different from Chinese food. The main ingredients of Taco - the most famous traditional food, are corn cake, meat, sugar, cheese and avocado.
The university was very enthusiastic to provide the group with fancy breakfast and lunch which moved the students a lot. According to the professor, Mexicans love food and put many efforts on three meals a day. It is very common for them to spend 2 hours to enjoy dinner with their family members, which is the most important thing in their life.
Besides Mexican food, Spanish food is also very popular here because of some historical reasons, the official language in Mexico is also Spanish. It will be a very good choice to try some seafood and steak in restaurants to experience the local gourmet at a reasonable price. Furthermore, ice-cream in Mexico is the most amazing and attractive food for many students, it is very cheap and creamy.
The study group visited Cancun as the last stop in Mexico, it is famous for the resorts along the seaside, and most of the people there are Americans. Although the city is very beautiful, but to most of the students, Cancun city doesn’t reflect the soul of Mexico.
After the students return from the study trip, they couldn’t stop feeling yearning of the traditional Mexican cities like Guadalajara, the language, the sky, the streets, the music, the romantic love stories and of course the most lovely people in Mexico.
(by 2013/2014 MBA/IMBA ZHANG Jieyi, CHEN Zhuo, SHI Yu, SONG Xuebin, FENG Dalei, XIONG Wei)
