I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study Spanish for five weeks this summer in Guanajuato, Mexico. Before leaving, I had many apprehensions about going to study Spanish and not stay and take summer business classes to stay ahead of my classmates in my major. Little did I know that being in another country studying another language and culture would actually help me and give me different skills that hopefully I can apply in my business classes.

Guanajuato, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a city full of people, life, and history. While abroad, I learned so much about the culture and the people in Mexico. This gave me the skill to be able to examine all people differently and see things from a different perspective. I believe that this will help me in my career in business because I will have the ability to see the different markets of people in a different way. I had the opportunity over the last five weeks to be able to learn about the lifestyle of the people in Guanajuato. The relationships formed between people, whether it be family members, friends, or business transactions is different than what I have observed here in the United States. The interactions seem much more personable. There is a mutual common interest between the two or more people having the interaction. I believe that this is key to keeping clients, or making a new potential client want to use/stay with your company. Simple gestures such as asking someone how their day was, or remembering things that people tell you about themselves or their family and asking about it makes a person feel good. I believe that having a more personable relationship with people would make them stay with you and become loyal to you and/or your company (it’s also just nice to form more personal connections with people).

While living with a host family, I had to opportunity to truly live like a local. Being able to see what was considered “expensive” or a “necessity” really changed my view on what people were buying or willing to spend large amounts of money on. I believe this will help me in my career in marketing because when marketing large ticket items to people in other countries, it is important to understand the amount of money they have to spend and what they believe a reasonable price is for a larger item.

I learned that a large part of the culture in Mexico is not based on the quantity that you have, but the quality. Americans, from what I observed, seem to be much more materialistic. They might have the latest version of Apple’s iPhone, an iPad and a laptop. The families that I met and interacted with during my stay in Mexico did not have all of those things, but at the same time, they did not want all of those things. There are people that want those things, but the price limits the accessibility of obtaining those items. They were happy to have a phone that was not the most expensive/new phone on the market (maybe a phone that was used by another family member first), a laptop that was fifteen years old (or more) and no iPad because they have a laptop. Items like iPads and iPhones are considered expensive items in America, and for some of the people that I interacted with during my stay, the price was not reasonable for their budget. Recognizing this and having other people recognize this would be helpful to looking at products from a value perspective. For example, iPhones that last more than two years without having to replace the battery, or iPads that are less expensive so that they are more accessible to the people that want or need them.

I received more from this trip than I could have imagined. I hope that I am able to use the skills that I learned while abroad to help me in my career as a marketer.