Visitamos Univseridad de Oriente
Today we visited a local public university, Universidad de Oriente, and were able to go on a campus tour led by students, eat kibis prepared by culinary students, and meet with the president of the university.
During our tour, the guides Joel and Alejandro walked us through the University’s campus and showed us the library, classrooms, computer labs, and a botanical garden. La Universidad offers courses of study in Public Administration, Library Sciences, Tourist Development, Marketing, Gastronomy (Culinary Practice), and Ethnography and Intercultural Education (which focuses on linguistics and Mayan culture). It is the only school in the Yucantán that offers a course of study in Gastronomy or Mayan language and culture. To accommodate the Gastronomy students, the school has a very large kitchen space where the students are able to practice and learn how to prepare foods. The school also has a specialized computer lab with programs similar to Rosetta Stone where the students are able to study and practice linguistics.
Inside the library 
Inside the library 
Classroom 
Campus kitchen 
Computer with language program (French)
During the tour, Joel and Alejandro showed us the campus Botanical Garden, which each class of students is required to work on. The garden has over 600 identified native plant species, multiple microenvironments, and a sacred area with ceiba trees depicting a Mayan ritual area. On campus there is a sign with both the Spanish and Mayan translations of the quote, “Vivimos en la tierra como si tuvievamos otra a la que ir” (We live on earth as if we have another one to go to -Terri Swearingen). This sign was a project made by students to raise awareness to certain lifestyle choices and conservation of the environment.
Plants in botanical garden 
After our tour was completed, we were able to watch the culinary students prepare a dish called kibi. Kibi is made with ground meat, trigo (wheat), sour oranges, and herbs, and is fried in oil. They are rolled into nugget-sized balls and topped with purple onions and pimiento and tasted spectacular. While we ate, we were able to talk to two other students Larissa and Marcelino. It was nice to socialize with students our age and ask them questions about the University. Once we finished eating, we met with the president of the University and other members of the administration. They were incredibly welcoming to us and presented us each with a certificate. We were the first group of international students that they have hosted, and they told us multiple times that their doors are always open to us if we would like to come back and spend time studying at their University. In addition, we hope to establish some sort of exchange program where students from Universidad de Oriente are able to come to Virginia and study.
Compared to Virginia Wesleyan, Universidad de Oriente is similar in the aspect that they are both small universities with a close-knit student population. They also seemed to be involved in environmental conservation, especially with maintaining the botanical garden to preserve biodiversity. We also share this desire at VWU with the introduction of the sustainable Greer Environmental Science Center. Universidad de Oriente has three sports teams, voleibol, fútbol, y softbol and offers very different majors than we have that are a lot more specialized to what is relevant to them. For example, since they live in an area that is highly dominated by tourists, a major in Touristic Development is beneficial to a future career in places like Cancún. The students that go here live off campus, as there are no options for on-campus housing. Most of them live nearby or rent apartments close to the campus. It was very interesting to see the differences between what I am used to at Virginia Wesleyan and what student life is like in Valladolid, and I hope to be able to see the students again (either in Valladolid or in Virginia Beach).
Jan. 14, 2019
Explorando en Yucatán 