Off-Campus Immersion Reflection
CGST 205-02
Professor Deeg-Carlin
November 2023
We didn’t have cable so all I would watch was PBS and Univision programs. Television acted as a window that allowed me to see so much of the world that was out of reach and I was in awe of what I saw – far away places rich in history and beauty. The library down the street from the house my family and I were living in at the time had a huge globe that slowly rotated, I wanted to run my hand on its surface and feel its topography. The globe scaled down the world for me and had me contemplate how it captures everything that exists – everything that I had seen on TV, and I found it all so alluring.
For much of my life my interest was focused on what was not familiar to me and as I have gotten older I am more introspective and want to know more about my heritage and connect to it in a way I hadn’t previously. That is why I feel guilty to some degree for wanting to study abroad in Spain. In my head I feel that by going to Spain and not Mexico or somewhere else in Central or South America means to say that Europe is “better” – almost like I am betraying my roots.
I am still unsure if I will go to Spain but Mexico is more accessible to me than Europe which is so much more costly and farther away so why not take the opportunity to go while I am in school and have it be paid for?
