Culture Study Abroad Programs in Mexico

This experience changed my life. I feel like I grew in ways here I didn’t know was possible. I learned so much both inside and outside the classroom. I met the nicest most amazing people and made memories to last a lifetime. I will be forever grateful for this experience.

I just loved the art community and vibe in Oaxaca!!! The students loved it too The family we stayed with was extremely warm and were interested in our lives and how we were enjoying our stay. The cultural trips were fantastic. I especially loved working on the "grabados" and the visit to the Hierve del agua.

CIEE develops a person in many areas of life, not only specific to their academic advancement. I've learned to represent myself in a professional setting better as well as observe the importance of intercultural AND intracultural communication alongside my peers.

We had a great trip and time in Oaxaca! Our program was super fun with great activities and our directors, Paulina and Marina, were awesome! Highly recommend, and the Spanish classes were amazing as well.

An impressive team creates well-structured experiences for high school students, helping them explore language and culture through the Oaxaca Arcos program. Students enjoyed valuable experiences throughout workshops and Spanish classes at the local university.

I would highly recommend CIEE Study Abroad to a friend or peer because of the incredible opportunities it provides for cultural immersion, personal growth, and academic enrichment. My experience with CIEE allowed me to develop global competence by stepping outside my comfort zone and fully integrating into a new culture. The program offers strong academic support, exciting excursions, and scholarship opportunities that make studying abroad more accessible. It's an unforgettable experience that broadens perspectives, builds independence, and opens doors to international opportunities.

I learned SO much. The Spanish classes were great, very flexible, I had a really good experience with my teacher. I even skipped a level of Spanish at my high school. There was so much opportunity for practicing Spanish in day to day situations, and I really got to experience an entirely different culture and lifestyle from my own. Oaxaca is a beautiful city with so much to explore, and everyone I met was incredibly kind. Made some amazing friends there as well, I 100% recommend!

My time in Oaxaca was great! I went into the trip knowing no one and I now have a ton of new friends coming home!! The cultural experience was something I will never forget and I will always be grateful for my homestay! I loved learning abroad!

Throughout my entire study abroad program from before departure and after I had a amazing time.The culture in Oaxaca and the food was all amazing and having a host family made it so we were more enriched into there lives which I really liked. Overall I had an amazing time during my study abroad in Oaxaca Mexico.

Really fun trip! Overall enjoyable and well worth itF!un trip! Overall enjoyable and well worth it!Fun trip! Overall enjoyable and well worth it!un trip! Overall enjoyable and well worth it! Fun trip! Overall enjoyable and well worth it!

I had a great time spending time with friends and expieriencing the culture we watched the super bowl together and that was very fun I enjoyed being part of the culture that I got put into and expirecing the most that i could.

I think the program with CIEE is a good experience to meet people from around the country. It’s nice to meet people who you would have never met before, and all have similar academic and career goals as yourself.

It was a very fun experience and my host family was wonderful. I got a lot more confident speaking Spanish due to this experience. I felt safe exploring the city and would do it again in a heartbeat. Thanks for an outstanding visit to Mexico.

My son had a great time on his Arcos adventure to Oaxaca. It was fun for him to meet kids from all over who have the same interest in learning Spanish. Plus, they went on some great local adventures. Highly recommend!

The greatest benefits were greater Spanish fluency, interacting with the local family, and learning more about Mexican culture. Read all of the information provided by the program. It is so clear and helpful. We were impressed by the timeliness and professionalism of the Arcos staff. They are so easy to work with, so timely, and so thorough. Our boys had their flight delayed but Arcos was completely aware of any developments and provided updates along the way.

She gained confidence in her language skills and appreciation for Mexican culture. Her host family/mother was wonderful - that was a terrific part of the experience. It sounded from my daughter's account like the staff and teachers were wonderful, too.

I experienced a huge culture shock by living in Oaxaca for a month. I tried interesting foods, experienced different customs, and interacted with new customs. While it was difficult to adjust to the new place, it really made me grow as a person. I learned how to navigate foreign places on my own and to rely on myself to communicate with others. I really believe that being exposed to a different kind of household and economic situation from my own was incredibly beneficial and opened my eyes to the privileges I have. Besides this character development, I learned a ton about the Spanish language and Mexican culture. Overall, the trip was incredible in both the ways it changed my character and in the valuable knowledge I attained.

I had a fantastic time- learned so much about the culture and my Spanish improved a lot. I enjoyed exploring the city and my host family was friendly and included me in tons of activities. The excursion were fun and I would do this program again in a heartbeat.

This was an outstanding experience in community and tropical medicine! I was a global health major in undergrad but had still not explored global health abroad by the time I was a 4th year medical student. One reason for this was because I was hesitant about how ethical a lot of medically focused opportunities abroad were. CFHI was the perfect answer to my questions and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have learned global health first hand from the physicians and community health workers who lived and served in the area I studied. The clinical experiences were varied and informative and I really enjoyed the opportunity to practice the Spanish I was learning in my afternoon classes with the doctors and nurses I was working with as well as patients. One of my favorite clinical experiences was getting to take part in vector control with one of the community health workers who taught us as we went door to door interviewing and educating community members. Both teams in the US and in Mexico were super helpful and responsive with everything from the beginning to the end and the pre departure information and trainings prepared me well for the experience. I felt super safe while traveling alone as a woman in Puerto Escondido and thoroughly enjoyed leisure time on the gorgeous beaches, strolling the markets, and taking weekend trips to nearby cities. My experience in Puerto Escondido was overwhelmingly positive and will definitely influence the way I practice medicine as a physician. I am most grateful for the cultural insight I gained through this immersive experience and the huge improvement in my Spanish language skills, and I look forward to continuing my language study.

I would be likely to recommend CIEE Study Abroad to any student who does not have much abroad experience and or an beginner/low intermediate knowledge of the country's language. I feel the staff do an exceptional job with supporting students and helping with many of the logistical aspects of study abroad. However, I do feel that by taking the initiative to figure out and complete logistical tasks while abroad is an amazing learning opportunity for any student who has a strong command for the language and in this case I would recommend directly enrolling in a university instead of going through a study abroad non/for profit.