A 23-year-old university student from Steinbach is taking a semester abroad in Guatemala.
Hannah Friesen, 23, is entering her fourth year at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU). She left with her classmates on Friday, Sept. 6, and will be in Guatemala for three months.
She is going through CMU’s program, "Estamos," which offers studies abroad in various destinations.
Friesen explains that she wanted to do something different while continuing her studies, so going to another country just made sense.
“I was getting stuck in the same routine of going to university every year, coming home for summer, and I just wanted to get out of that routine a little bit and try something different.
She is happy to be sharing this experience with the other students.
“I’ve had classes with them, we've seen each other in the halls, we've lived in the same dorms, one of them I went to New York with, and we've gotten to know each other over the past few months through all of us signing up for this crazy thing.”
During the semester, the students will be staying with host families living in Guatemala City.
Friesen is looking forward to learning a new language and experiencing a new culture.
“I'm looking forward to the food and the culture, the colour, the beauty of it all.”
She is excited to do things she has never done before.
“We're hiking a volcano, so to do that, I’m stoked.”
Friesen is doing a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history, but "Estamos" is full of people pursuing different studies.
“One of my friends going is a Bachelor of Science, majoring in biology, and there are second years, third years, fourth years, fifth years. All different ages, we’re a fairly diverse group.”
Friesen says every student who has this opportunity should take it if they can.
“They have an amazing grant through the Government of Canada that gives the students a significant portion of the tuition off, which helps me as an individual be able to go, and it helps the university be able to put this program on.”