Summer Conexiones

One of the great things about my job is the fact I get to work with UNM students on a regular basis. Each semester, we work with interns from primarily the Journalism and Political Science Departments. The students are passionate, ambitious, and bring a great energy to the station. A lot of the work they end up doing for me can easily be categorized as "grunt" work, but the students never fail to impress me with their can-do attitudes. The students also help provide a link for me to many of the unknown goings-on at the university. That is definitely the case with Kaycie Robinson, who interned with us here at KNME in the fall of 2007. Kaycie is involved with an annual study abroad program in Mexico. Before she left this summer, I asked Kaycie if she would be interested in blogging for us during her trip. Below is her first installment, which includes a description of the study abroad program, known as Conexiones. Look for more updates from Kaycie in the coming weeks!

Kevin McDonald
Public Affairs Producer

Conexiones is a study abroad program sponsored by the UNM Honors Department
and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. For the past 20
years, Conexiones has sent students to Morelia, Mexico and Trujillo,
Spain. This year, we are in Morelia, Mexico, in the state of Michoacan
(about 250 miles from Mexico City). Morelia is a cosmopolitan city of
nearly 1 million people and is well known for its colonial architecture and
annual migration of Monarch butterflies. Conexiones students travel to Morelia
on their own after pre-departure classes at UNM and spend the next 4 weeks
living with a host family and taking Spanish classes taught by UNM
faculty. Every weekend, the group goes on excursions to explore different
cities and towns. At the end of the 4-week program, students are given the
option to travel independently for up to one week before returning to UNM to
give final presentations and turn in their Cuadernos, which are scrap book-style
notebooks full of guided exploration documenting their stay in Mexico.
My
name is Kaycie Robinson, and I was a student with Conexiones Mexico 2006 and
with Conexiones Spain 2007. I am now a senior at UNM and I´m back for more
as the student helper for Conexiones Mexico 2008- basically, I can´t get enough
of Conexiones!

The Conexiones group has been in Morelia for a week
now, living with host families, going to Spanish classes and enjoying the
city. This past weekend we went to the village of Angahuan to see the
volcano Paricutin. Paricutin was born in 1943 when a farmer in the village
of San Juan noticed steam rising from his fields. The town was evacuated, and
Paricutin continued to erupt for 9 years. The residents of San Juan
founded a new town, the creatively named ¨San Juan Nuevo¨, yet San Juan the
viejo remains very much present if not in the same way as before. When
Paricutin erupted it covered the whole town of San Juan in lava. However,
the lava stopped at the sanctuary of the 17th century church in the middle of
town. We were lucky enough (crazy enough?) to have the chance to complete
the 13 mile hike through the lava fields and up the volcano. We also
visited the church, which displays a replica of the Cristo that was found intact
in the sanctuary after the eruption. The church is a very spiritual place-
many people in Angahuan talk about how not even a volcano could break it
down. Next weekend, we are off to Patzcuaro and Jaracuaro to attend the
fiesta of San Pablo y Pedro!