Universidad de las Americas - Puebla

Living outside the somewhat sheltered university campus enabled me to experience the Mexican way of life to a much fuller extent.

The cost of living in Mexico is obviously much lower than in the UK, so food, accomodation and nightlife were significantly cheaper. I spent very little on the telephone as I stayed in contact with people at home by free email at the university. My major expense was travel, as I went away most weekends and travelled for a few months after my classes had finished. Overall, I think I probably spent more or less the same as I would in a semester at Nottingham.

That it isn't always hot in Mexico!

It's a fantastic campus with amazing facilities. The catering is excellent and the landscaped gardens are very impressive. However, it is definitely a uni for Mexican rich kids, and doesn't really show the true Mexico. I think living off-campus is a much better idea as you experience Mexco much more and can also have more fun, as the rules on campus are very strict!

The Mexican Civilisation course is very interesting, covering everything from the Aztec beginnings to the contradictions of contemporary Mexican society. It's not too taxing, but you learn a lot and I'd even go so far as to say it was fun! The language classes were largely grammar-based and could be a bit dry.

Registering for courses was extremely confusing. Trying to work out what we were entitled to do as international students was a nightmare, and the sheafs of paper listing the courses were littered with indecipherable codes. International students should be given more guidance with this process!