Study Abroad - Mexico City (Day 1)

Day 1 of the study abroad program in Mexico City was wonderful. It provided for education, travel, and most importantly, the opportunity to meet and associate with the wonderful students from IPADE.

The IPADE business school is located on a secured, grand complex that, as one IPADE student told me, used to be the home of a famous Mexican dignitary. Though older in style, the school is as maintained and as beautiful a campus as I have seen. The amount of greenery and open spaces takes you away and creates a sanctuary like experience. In addition, it has all the state-of-the-art technologies one would expect from a premier university. It truly is an impressive campus and a wonderful locale to participate in the program.

The theme of this year’s study abroad program is “Mexican Tourism: A Worldwide Concept.” As I understand it, the theme serves as a subject matter through which we are able to enjoy and understand Mexico, as well as serves as a mechanism to carry out financial, operational, marketing, and management analysis. On day 1, we attended presentations and lectures that provided an overview of Mexican Tourism industry, the ongoing financial crisis in the United States and its impact on tourism in Mexico, Club Med and the issues that pervade this particular tourism locale, as well as a short lecture discussing our final class presentation.

The final class presentation requires students to consider and develop a worldwide strategy to encourage tourism for 10 specific locations within Mexico City. In that regard, the IPADE students and University of Illinois students have been placed into 10 teams for the purposes of making the presentation. Each team consists of approximately 8 IPADE students and 3 University of Illinois students. I was introduced to our teammates over breakfast and quickly developed a very nice relationship with them. The IPADE students’ warmth and kindness came “shining through” immediately. They embraced me and my fellow classmates and made us feel at home. Of all the things that I have experienced in Mexico so far, it is this warmth and kindness of the IPADE students, as well as faculty and staff, that has impressed me the most. They are truly wonderful people.

With regard to the presentation, my team was assigned to the Tacuba area. The Tacuba area is located in the center of the city and is in close proximity to the Archbishop of Mexico’s home, as well the Presidential quarters. It is primarily a retail area that has some wonderful restaurants. To conduct a thorough presentation, my team made a trip to Tacuba to investigate the area. The trip provided us an opportunity to associate with the IPADE students, as well as experience the city atmosphere first hand. It was very enjoyable and very interesting to see the city from the eyes’ of its residents. It was abundantly clear that they were very proud of their home. We also shared a wonderful meal at the famous Café de Tacuba and had a lot of laughs. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

I will be sure to provide the pictures of the afternoon visit to Tacuba in a future posting.