Highlights

Mexico students find warmth in our city — Spring 2008

It may be warming up here in Calgary, but springtime was still too chilly for a recent group of visitors from Mexico.

However, Martín Islas – a student who traveled to study at Mount Royal from Cozumel, Mexico this April — says the bitter northern weather wasn’t enough to damper his spirits during his stay.

"It's freezing here, but people are so warm," he said during a presentation held at the Mount Royal to showcase projects he and his classmates worked on over the week they visited our campus.

In all, six students and one faculty member made the long voyage from the Universidad de Quintana Roo, Cozumel to work on course material for one of their classes, Life and Culture in English Speaking Cultures. While here, the students also sat in on lectures in Journalism, Business, and Outdoor Leadership to get a feel for what it's like to study in Canada.

"Students (at Mount Royal) are very responsible and concerned about their work. The library was full of students," said an impressed Islas.

"This campus offers many facilities to their students. Our students sometimes don't get those benefits," he said, adding how excited he was to return home to tell his fellow classmates about Mount Royal.

Group leader, Maria-Elena Llaven Nucamendi, was also pleased, as she saw this visit as the beginning of a long relationship with Mount Royal.

"We are very interested to continue to intensify exchanges with this college. This could be a very important opportunity to help our students develop their English."

Some of the other group members said they would even like to return to Mount Royal and Calgary one day.

"You live in a beautiful city. There are big smiles everywhere! One week was not enough so I have to come back," said Enrique Romero. "This experience has been more than I expected and I'm really impressed and grateful because of all the knowledge (the trip) has given us."

While here, the students spent their spare time going shopping, to the movies, visiting the International Office and even highlighted "getting lost downtown" as a memory they will take home to Cozumel.

While the group soaked up as much Canadian culture as possible, they still took the time to teach some Mount Royal students and faculty members about their own culture too.

In English, each of the six students presented their own topics, which ranged from Mexican Cuisine to Coral Reef Conservation to Mexican Mythological Creatures. The presentations were a perfect way to cap off a very successful trip for both the Quintana Roo visitors and the Mount Royal International Community.

Photo: Quintana Roo Group in the International Office (Left to Right: Enrique Romero, Manuel Carrillo, Martin Islas, Nadia Dzul, Maria-Elena Llaven Nucamendi; Front: Maryra Hoil; Missing: Julia Espinoza.)

More Mount Royal News and Events.