This winter, students will be able to attend a study abroad program in Guadalajara, Mexico for the first time ever where they will be able to learn about the rich culture of Guadalajara and take new classes simultaneously.
Guadalajara is known as “the City of Roses”, and is a center for traditional Mexican culture that is most representative of the country.
The program will run from January 13-January 29, and students will be learning and playing at such sites as Michoacan, Guanajuato, Guachimontones and Tequila Town.
“Dr. Mercedes Thompson was given a Fulbright Grant recently, and she and I along with other Los Angeles teachers visited Guadalajara and we absolutely fell in love with the city,” Program leader Dr. Nitza Llado said.
This grant ultimately led to the creation of the study abroad program in Guadalajara by El Camino.
“As a result of receiving the grant, I became more highly interested in revisiting Guadalajara and I had that opportunity with the study abroad program,” Llado said
Students who attend the program will be taking five-week classes at the prestigious Centro de Estudios para Extranjeros CEPE, (Foreign Student Study Center.)
The classes being offered during the study abroad program are Art 7, Spanish 1 and Spanish 24 and in order to go on the trip, students must enroll in one class.
“I was very fascinated by the city and impressed with the organization of the Foreign Student Study Center,” Llado said.
The Foreign Student Study Center was established in 1948 and has the reputation of having the finest accredited university programs of Spanish language and Latin American culture in the world.
The Study Center also provides recreational activities, weekend excursions and cultural workshops to learn more about Guadalajara, Mexico.
Most of the students who have already signed up for the program say they are going for two main reasons.
Half of the students attending are native speakers of Spanish, but have never been to Mexico, so they go to learn about their heritage and learn how to speak and write formal Spanish grammar.
The other half of students are going to Guadalajara to learn how to speak the language of Spanish because it will benefit them later in life socially or in their future line of work.
“In California especially, it is very beneficial to speak Spanish because it makes it easier to communicate with people we work alongside,” EC student Brett Ulyate said.
The program has a total cost of $2,050 with an initial payment of $200 an includes 16 days in Guadalajara, Mexico with roundtrip air transportation, hotel accommodations and admission fees to various attractions.
“The study abroad program is a lot of fun for the students that went with me to Australia and everybody came back happy having had a great experience,” Australia program leader Arthur Verge said.
For more information on attending the study abroad program, students can contact program leader, Nitza Llado, or go to www.elcamino.edu/studyabroad.
Financial aid is also available for students that are interested in attending the program.