This week was the beginning of many transitions for the students and I. It marked the first full week that my fellow students and I have lived with our host families in Cuernavaca. Much like my rural host family, I felt immediately welcomed and a part of the family. On my first full day, my family took me to Parque Ecologico Chapultepec, a famous state park just outside of Cuernavaca known for its environmentally-friendly structure. My family has also taken me to various restaurants and locations throughout Cuernavaca to give me more opportunities to explore and learn the city. Additionally, on Sunday, the students and I were given the opportunity to visit Teotihuacán, a vast archaeological site located outside of Mexico City. We were able to bring our families along and I was glad that my sister was able to come along with me, so we could share the experience together. She had been to Teotihuacán several times before and knew a lot about each pyramid. Hearing about the rich history and culture of this site from someone who shares the culture made the experience that much more valuable for me.

My host sister and I in front of the Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan

This week also marked my first official week at my internship, Las Palomas. Located in the middle of Cuernavaca, Las Palomas is a group home for older adults whose health problems prevent them from living alone. Since there are very few staff members, it is necessary for each one to balance many different roles. As a result, there is almost no structure or formal engagement with the residents of Las Palomas. My responsibility is to help create a stronger community and to engage the residents in activities. Since this internship has very little structure, the focus is less on the tasks I need to complete and more on learning from my environment and experiences with the residents. The benefit of an internship like this one is that I get to personally decide what I want to learn and get out of my experience instead of having to meet expectations and objectives asked of the organization of me. I know that this kind of experience is hard to come across in internships in the United States, so I am grateful that I have been given this opportunity in Cuernavaca.

My internship placement with Las Palomas

This internship has also really challenged my way of viewing the structure around care since Las Palomas is so different than the tightly structured group homes I have learned about back in the United States. I am interested in learning more about the impacts of different structures on the resident’s experience in group homes. Does the amount of structure have any impact on the care that the residents receive? Most of the organizations I have worked for in the past had extremely formal structures, so this new opportunity will help me answer the question: How can a social worker be effective in an unstructured environment such as Las Palomas? In addition, when I am back in Minnesota, next fall, I will have an internship. I will carry these experiences with me and they will provide a new lens with which I can see and critically analyze my internship.