Beautiful Xalapa!

I fell in LOVE with Xalapa, the city where I spent most of my time. For those of you who don't know the reason for this trip...I went with a friend of mine from the School of Public Health on an immersion trip with a group of USC Honors Students. My objective was to participate in their experience and make plans to lead an immersion trip of my own next Spring, but this time with perinatal health providers (nurses, doctors, midwives, educators) who want to know more Spanish and Mexican culture, and exchange knowledge with perinatal providers from Mexico. Wow- what a trip! I met fantastic experience and everyone from the Director of the public Obstetrics Hospital to a community midwife with decades of experience opened their doors and hearts to us.
Xalapa is a great mix of traditional Mexican culture and university life, which brings with it a different type of culture, including ballets, concerts, art displays, different types of cuisine, and lots of really smart, energetic people. I loved Xalapa for this mix, and for the wonderful, generous people I met and befriended there. I was totally meant to end up in Xalapa, which was evident by how things just kept falling into place. I can't wait to go back again next year, and hope to facilitate more exchanges of people, and especially of ideas. There's a lot we can learn by talking, but also by listening...