By Iona Mortimer

Kia Ora, hola, and hello!

My name is Iona Mortimer, I’m 20 years old, and in my third year at the University of Waikato. I am studying a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and minoring in International Relations and Security Studies. I am heading off to Universidad Las Americas Puebla (UDLAP) In Mexico at the beginning of August. 

There are a lot of reasons why I have chosen to go on an exchange. Firstly, I am really keen to learn a second language for my future career. I know that I want to work in the international sphere and learning a second language will be helpful for both communication and displaying my commitment to this work. Secondly, I love to travel, and am very excited to do some solo travelling, and to travel with friends. I have a few days stopover in San Francisco on my way to Mexico City, which will be my first go at travelling solo. And thirdly, I grew up in a small town about 45 minutes from the University of Waikato, and I haven’t lived outside of the Waikato since I moved here when I was four. I am excited to live in an entirely different culture and a new big and exciting city. UDLAP’s biggest university dorm has almost double the occupancy of people who went to my entire high school. 

I chose UDLAP mainly because they offer Politics classes in English, and because Mexico speaks Spanish. I have been learning Spanish since I was in year nine (on and off) and I hope that the basics I have in the language already will help me become fluent more quickly than if I was completely starting from scratch. I also have not been to Central America before, and I am so excited to experience a whole new culture. 

I hope to get a lot out of my exchange. My main hope is to become fluent in Spanish to help further my career, and my secondary hopes are to meet lots of new people, make friends, and experience another culture.