  {"id":53772,"date":"2026-03-23T20:20:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T20:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/?p=53772"},"modified":"2026-03-23T20:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T20:20:30","slug":"augsburg-cgee-in-mexico-the-lived-experience-student-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/2026\/03\/23\/augsburg-cgee-in-mexico-the-lived-experience-student-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Augsburg CGEE in Mexico: The Lived Experience [Student Reflection]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is a guest blog post from our student social media ambassador, Anthony. Currently studying abroad on the semester program,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/go.augsburg.edu\/migration\">\u201cLiberal Arts, Migration and Social Change in Mexico.\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our semester in Cuernavaca is about halfway done and I feel so grateful to be here. Whether it was witnessing the traditional Brincon at the annual Carnaval in Topostlan, hearing from traditional healers and community leaders of Amatlan, or sharing a meal with residents at the Casa Tochan migrant shelter in Mexico City, everywhere we\u2019ve gone shown us another example of dedication, community, and joy as a form of shared resistance.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This program has been comprehensive, to say the least. Not only in the range of topics we\u2019ve covered, but also the range of ways we explored them: We\u2019ve studied migration both through hearing from experts on the immigration system, as well as the lived migration experiences of community members who were willing to share them. We\u2019ve learned about women\u2019s issues, LGBTQ+ issues, and the place of religion in Mexico from public officials, activists, and local progressive churches; we\u2019ve also learned by talking to our host families about their lives as we get to know them.<\/p>\n<p>The more traditional avenues of learning we\u2019re given are also important, don\u2019t get me wrong. Texts, research, and empirical data are all great ways to get a really in-depth, technical understanding of the issues that impact us. But people\u2019s stories, their dreams, struggles and emotions are why we learn about these issues in the first place. Reflecting on this has helped me better understand what I want to do with these stories, and what I want to contribute to my community back home in and outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-53772 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos-195x300.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A mural of a yellow crescent moon on a blue background with text in English and Spanish that reads &quot;dreams are not illegal \/ desde aqui no se ven fronteras&quot;\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-53774\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos-195x300.png 195w, https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos.png 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-53774'>\n\t\t\t\tMurals at Casa Tochan, a shelter for migrants.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos-1-195x300.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A mural with butterflies, flowers, and vines that reads in Spanish &quot;Bienvenidos a casa Tochan&quot;\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-53775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos-1-195x300.png 195w, https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/blog-photos-1.png 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-53775'>\n\t\t\t\tMurals at Casa Tochan, a shelter for migrants.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/Casa-Tochan-Photos-for-Blog-Post-300x195.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group of over 20 college students pose in front of a colorful mural in Mexico City\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-53773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/Casa-Tochan-Photos-for-Blog-Post-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/Casa-Tochan-Photos-for-Blog-Post-768x499.png 768w, https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/Casa-Tochan-Photos-for-Blog-Post.png 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-53773'>\n\t\t\t\tSpring 2026 student group visiting Casa Tochan to hear stories from migrants.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a guest blog post from our student social media ambassador, Anthony. Currently studying abroad on the semester program,\u00a0\u201cLiberal &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":53773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53776,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53772\/revisions\/53776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}