By Paula Mendoza
All my life, I’ve been aware of my Mexican culture and how deeply it has shaped who I am today. Growing up, I always felt proud to be Mexican American, and I made sure others saw that pride in how I carried myself. As I mentioned in my class post, I never imagined that I, Paula Mendoza, would travel to Europe, let alone to a place like Ireland. As the child of immigrants, dreaming of going abroad to explore other cultures and histories didn’t seem realistic. Our focus was always on working hard, getting an education, and building a better future. But studying abroad changed my perspective it opened my mind in ways I never expected
I expected to be homesick during this trip, to the point that I refused to have fun and became too concerned about matters over which I had no influence. But something inside me resolved to stop worrying and focus on the present moment. At the start of the journey, I wanted to compare Irish and Hispanic cultures. Throughout the two and a half weeks, I observed some similarities and differences. I was used to the city life and Ireland was no difference. I mean, there were numerous pubs, international cuisines, and a general hub and able to learn about Irish culture while enjoying a nice pint of Guinness or Bulmers Irish cider or whatever, as well as exploring the city.
The social culture of Hispanic and Irish people is so similar that going to the pub is where everyone goes to socialize and debrief after a long day of work, which made me feel very included because this is what I’m used to, and it felt like I could enjoy myself in that moment with my friends around. Even while I was in Ireland, I looked forward to late nights because it seemed like I was living in the moment while also experiencing new things with classmates, which I thought was great.
The scenery outside of Ireland was the one thing that reminded me of being back home in Guerrero, MX, particularly in San Marcos. I grew up in the city for most of my life, but when I visit Mexico, I stay one hour away in a small town called San Marcos, where my grandmother lives, and being away from the city was so liberating and breathtaking that when I got to travel outside of Ireland, such as to Clare County, where my mentor lives.
It reminded me so much of home, being able to breathe in fresh air, being away from the chaos, doing something I was looking forward to, and simply enjoying the moment. Don’t get me wrong. I love Pittsburgh and everything, but sometimes I just need to go away. Traveling to different countries and being away from the city is one of my favorite things, and this vacation confirmed for me that I truly appreciated going to the suburbs or the country.
Now I’m going to talk about the differences, and one of them is food. Food is an important stable in Mexican culture, and to be honest, the food in Ireland was not my cup of tea, but I did enjoy some food in order to get the Irish experience, but I felt that my whole life, you know, revolved around Mexican food, and so days of being there, I was just so desperate to find a local Hispanic restaurant that I had to ask the CEA professors or directors to recommend me some Mexican food, which I did, and it was by far the best.
Another difference is of course the music. Irish music contains of using instruments that are local in Ireland and sometimes it has a meaningful lyric, which could be nice in bar settings like in Ireland when we were in pubs, but the difference in Hispanic music or Mexican music is similar but different as we also have our local instruments, but the sounding are different as we are more upbeat and cheering, and Irish music features traditional instruments like the fiddle and tin whistle, with styles like jig. Ranchera, mariachi, and corrido are among the many styles of Mexican music, each having its own regional variant
Even though both Irish and Mexican cultures have similarities and differences, being able to experience both cultures while studying abroad taught me that no matter where we are in life or who we are, taking the time to travel to see how unique we are as a whole while learning from each other can help us understand each other. So, this trip and class taught me the importance of spending time to study the history of the area where one is traveling.
P.s – Thank you to my amazing classmates for making this trip unforgettable, I’m so grateful for the laughters, lessons, and memories we shared on this incredible study abroad journey. – Paula Mendoza <3