International perspective: an American student in Mexico

My name is Adrian Ogunbunmi, from McKinney, Texas, and I studied abroad in Mexico City from January to June 2023. I can confidently say that my time in Mexico had a great impact on me and I’m not the same now that I’ve returned. 

I made friends with many Mexican students while in Mexico and improved my Spanish greatly.  

I forced myself to interact with strangers and converse with them to eliminate my fear of speaking.  My fluency has progressed and I no longer have to think “how do I say this in Spanish?”  

These interactions made my brain so accustomed to the language in just two months that my brain no longer thinks in English when I’m speaking Spanish. In fact, I even had to look up what a certain Spanish word meant in English for this blog post because I had forgotten what it was.  

One of my goals of this study abroad experience was to develop my personal discipline. I studied at home for my first year of college because of the pandemic so I didn’t have the usual transition to university life on campus until my second year.

In my second year I had to juggle apartment issues and challenging courses at my university (University of Texas, Austin). I suffered both academically and mentally when I wasn’t getting the grades I normally received. I was struggling with simple tasks like maintaining a sleep schedule. I wanted to use my third year to establish boundaries and create discipline in my life, something that would help me with my future endeavours.  

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Last semester was a step forward. I saw the opportunity to study abroad not only as a way to experience a new culture and strengthen my skill set but to cultivate this discipline I desperately needed. If I could do that in a different country, then there was no way I’d have issues once I returned to Austin.

I had fun for the first two months but I hadn’t reached my goal of building discipline; I was sleeping irregularly, procrastinating on completing tasks, etc. Towards the end of my exchange, I focused more on my personal health rather than thinking of only having fun in a new country and my mind was much clearer.  

Not everybody will struggle with the adjustment of studying abroad but I know that some do. They may think about returning to their home country too early.  

My advice to anyone who is currently studying abroad and struggling with their mental health is to define your boundaries.  

What are the things you need to do to be mentally happy? How much sleep do you need on average? If you’re more introverted, you don’t need to go out every day or weekend and make sure you take time for yourself each week.

Perhaps you can even combine the two by going out to a new place in the city and then sitting in a cafe and journalling about your experiences and thoughts. You don’t have to copy everyone else to have the best study abroad experience – figure out what’s best for you to make the most of your time.