After a night out in Puebla, I realized that I have a long task ahead of me for the next four months. This task is not exclusive to me, nor to Puebla, but I am sure that I will get my fair share of being questioned and/or attacked on US foreign policy, US Politics, racism in the U.S.A., school shootings, the constitution, why we shouldn’t use the word Americans in reference to ourselves only, and everything in between. Of course, U.S. and international media doesn’t make this task any easier, as misinformation is as abundant as stray dogs here in Mexico. When discussing the Virginia Tech shooting with a friend of my host-brother, a medical school student who has a better English vocabulary than I do, I was asked if I owned a gun. With a confused tone I replied “no, why would I”?

“Wow, an American who doesn’t own a gun!” he replied in a deep voice and atypical English pronunciation for a Mexican.

After this comment, I felt the need to explain the 2^nd amendment, the ongoing gun control debate, the NRA, state’s rights and the constitution, and the fact that occurrences such as what happened at Virginia Tech aren’t as common as they are perceived to be. Of course, this isn’t an isolated incident, as earlier in the night a group consisting of myself, two Mexicans and two English girls discussed foreign policy over a couple of chequileros, a drink consisting of tequila, beer, tomato juice and chili powder (which I do not recommend to anyone). Fortunately, the Brits were there to take some of the heat which allowed me to sneak off and poor it out without any grief.

The point is that studying/being abroad automatically makes you a quasi-diplomat. No matter if you want to talk about these topics or not, they are going to be there, and you better be sharp and thick skinned or else you’re going to be frustrated. Of course, I don’t mind talking about any of these things since I study them anyway. However, it is a daunting task to inform all of those who are misinformed, and I don’t believe it’s a task that I nor anyone else studying abroad is obligated to do, but it doesn’t hurt to tell the other side of the story to those who are already listening.

P.S - You can click on the pictures in the slide show to make them bigger