Mexico 2023 – blog day 1 –
Today started Wetskills Mexico 2023 at Universidad Panamericana, the host of the Wetskills challenges for the next two weeks.
From the start the cultural differences became clear: the five Dutch participants were precisely on time at 09.00 o’clock, whereas the eighteen Mexican students started joining us on different moments during the morning. As we were talking with the Mexican participants we learned that this is not only due to planning but the biggest reason for being late is Mexico city traffic.
We were welcomed by Alejandro Ordoñez Torres, the director of the Faculty of Engineering, just like in 2019 when he was already the director of the department. After that, Wetskills coordinators (Rosanne and Quirine) introduced the programme for the upcoming 2 weeks and the goals of the event. To learn more about the place where we are going to work for the next weeks, the university organized a tour around the campus performed by Norma from the International Office at University Panamericana. It was very interesting because the old part of the university (Hacienda) used to be a manufactory of fabrics. A lovely campus that combines old and new buildings, with a focus on building a sustainable campus with many green spaces.
After getting to know the university and the programme, there was some time for the Dutchies to go for their much deserved coffee and for the Mexicans to get breakfast. After the break, it was time to get to know each other. The icebreaker – speed dating – led to interesting conversations and as a results the participants were able to introduce each other successfully afterwards. They were ready for their afternoon activity: the Crazy88. The winning team became the happy owner of a bag of Dutch stroopwafels, a promising start of the week.
