Here are my experiences as a reporter in the city that truly instilled in me an even deeper passion for journalism and storytelling.
Day 1: Saturday
After a night of traveling in a van from State College to Newark Airport with no sleep and an almost 6-hour flight, my 16 classmates and I finally arrived to Mexico City, better known as D.F. – El Distrito Federal. As soon as we arrived, my exhaustion and weariness wore off as I was in awe of everything I saw. Driving through the city, it looked like nothing I had seen before – an urban city with overgrown palm trees and little purple flowers I would later learn are called Jacaranda flowers. The closer we got to the hotel, the more I felt like a little kid on their way to Disney World.
The Maria Cristina Hotel is a Spanish, colonial style hotel that somehow manifested a feeling of being at home. We began our evening with a reception with another group of communications students that were staying at the hotel from the University of North Carolina.
The Maria Cristina Hotel, where we stayed while in Mexico City
That night, we all went out to a club called Touché in the city. I was expecting Mexican nightlife to be a lot different from American nightlife, so I was surprised when we arrived to the club and they were playing a lot of American music – everything from Kanye West to Christina Aguilera. To my dismay, that changed after about an hour when they started playing Techno music for the rest of the night. Regardless, we had a great time dancing coupled with a few drinks called "Palomas," and finished our night by stopping at a taco stand by our hotel and eating one of the most delicious tacos I’ve ever had.
Day 2: Sunday
Sunday was mostly devoted to working on my religion story.
I spent a large part of the day at La Basilica de Guadalupe, the oldest church in Mexico. The Roman Catholic church was built at that location because in the 1500’s, Juan Diego, now a Saint, was said to have seen the Virgin of Guadalupe appear there. The church is beautiful, and has two establishments – the original church, built in the 1700’s, and the new church, built in 1970.
La Basilica de Guadalupe, the oldest church in Mexico. The church appears to be on a slant because the city is actually sinking due to underground water pumping
I felt like a true reporter that day as I walked around studying people in prayer, watching churchgoers walk on their bare knees toward the church to ask for protection from the Virgin, and talking to citizens about their feelings about the state of religion in Mexico City. It was a struggle at first because my Spanish isn’t the greatest, but after awhile I got into the swing of things and conversation came easy.
After the Basilica, I visited a park on the other side of the city where an Evangelical church youth group was meeting. At the park I spoke to the Youth Pastor and some of the children about why they were there and what their thoughts on Evangelism versus Catholicism were. The park had a feeling of family and community, and the people there were a lot more willing to talk to me about their opinions openly. One thing was definitely becoming apparent by my research so far: Evangelism seemed to be a lot more popular amongst the young and the poor.
Day 4: Tuesday
One of our translators that was working with us on the trip was an editorial assistant for the Associated Press who covers entertainment. He mentioned how he was going to be covering an event downtown in honor of Barbie’s 50th Birthday Anniversary that would be complete with Mexican celebrities and outfits designed by fashion designers for the doll. Being that not only am I obsessed with both Barbie and fashion but one of my future goals is being an entertainment reporter, I bugged our guide all day long to get me access to the event, which he finally did.
That night, dressed in my pink outfit which was a requirement to attend the event, I was an entertainment reporter. I got to talk to celebrities, designers, and take lots of photos of the exhibit they had in honor of Barbie’s anniversary. I was intrigued by the outfits the 10 Mexican designers, who were selected out of designers all over the world, had designed for Barbie: from intricate gowns to stylish bathing suits.
Some of the outfits designed by Mexican designers at Barbie’s 50th Anniversary Exhibit in Mexico City
The biggest challenge was the fact that I didn’t know a lot of the celebrities because I'm not as familiar with Mexican pop culture, and I didn’t want to offend anyone when I interviewed them because I didn’t know who they were. So, after some strategic thinking, I figured out that throughout the night I had to make friends with other journalists who helped me figure out who they were.Day 5: Wednesday
Wednesday we took a trip to the New York Times’ Mexico City Bureau. The Bureau was actually located in a quaint, storybook house that had balconies and extra rooms with large windows and the sun shining through that were perfect for writing. It seemed like something out of a movie. We got to talk to some of the correspondents who told us about their experiences covering everything from the drug wars to profiling interesting people and places. After visiting there, I kept talking about how inspired I was to some day work as a foreign correspondent. Writing about a different culture and place was becoming increasingly attractive the longer I was in Mexico.
Me looking like a true journalist at the NY Times Mexico City Bureau
Day 6: Thursday
I spent Thursday with two of my classmates helping them with their stories. The few Spanish speakers on our trip spent a lot of time helping other students translate and going on interviews with them to help them get around. My classmate’s story was on Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, a controversial religious phenomenon in the city. One of the experts on the subject worked in a witchcraft market, conveniently located next to the “black” market of the city.
While I was at the market with my classmate, I was helping her translate while she did a stand-up video. Before we knew it, the managers of the market had come to me to tell me that we weren’t allowed to videotape there, especially not about Santa Muerte: it was too controversial and could cause too many problems. After getting kicked out, I reflected on the fact that it was probably the fact that not far from where we were, there were supposed to be all sorts of illegal things being sold (nothing big, just a few Tigers and snakes, that's all) and they were afraid of being exposed on video.
Day 8: Saturday
On our last day in Mexico, we took a trip as a class to the Teotihuacán Pyramids, the ancient Aztec pyramids outside of the city. My experience there was nothing short of incredible: I never thought I would be climbing Aztec pyramids. As I looked at the pyramids, I got flashbacks to one of my favorite movies, Apocalypto, and the way indigenous people used to live. I could just picture families living in this town of pyramids and a king ruling the land.
We climbed all of the pyramids on the built-in stairs with all of the other tourists, but at the top of the tallest pyramid, there were no more stairs. Most people just stay put at the top of the stairs and enjoy the view. But my good friend Stephanie, always the risk-taker, decided to climb to the top. As she climbed I look at her like she was crazy. But after I saw how happy she was that she had done it, I thought about it and spontaneously I decided to climb to the very top. After all, how many times in your life can you say you climbed to the very top of one of the tallest Aztec pyramids?
Although I was so scared my heart was about to leap out of my chest, once I reached the top, I felt liberated and accomplished. As I looked out over all of the smaller pyramids, the hundreds of people below me and the city far away in front of me, I felt so grateful and happy to have gone on the trip and had such an opportunity. And it was in that moment that I made the decision that no matter what obstacles I face, no matter what words of discouragement or what the economy presents, journalism, reporting and writing are for me. I felt sure, I felt liberated, I felt passionate, and most of all, I felt...free.
At the top of the tallest Teotihuacán pyramid
