May 23: El Dia del Estudiante – Students’ Day

Parisa Pajooh
Jul 13, 2017
2 min read

My third week at the UTR was noticeably different from the first two weeks. I’d already been to all of the classes and at least briefly met all of the students. Additionally, I got to be part of the student’s day celebrations on campus.

Students Day in Mexico is observed on May 23. The history of Mexico’s Students Day began in May 1923, when the students of the National University of Mexico organized a wave of strikes to protest a new grading system and support the efforts to gain autonomy for the university. The strikes reached their peak on May 23, when several students were injured during a confrontation with police at the medical school. May 23, the anniversary of the culmination of the student strikes, is now celebrated in Mexico as Students Day.

At UTR so many different games were set up for students and teachers to play and celebrate the day, in addition to food and dance! The day got even a lot better after a music band joined the party to play Banda and Tambora which are known as traditional Mexican music usually played with brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments found throughout Latin America.

Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes

“We migrate of country, not of identity”

“No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience in the world that we become what we are.” - Paulo Freire

Another day, I got invited to a great event at Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes (UAA) to participate in a forum about globalization & multiculturalism. Other speakers were from England, Canada, Germany, and also two Mexican students who have traveled and experienced living in Europe as interns. I was asked a lot of questions about my view prior coming to Mexico and after being here for a couple of weeks.

I got to share my advice about my travel experiences with students and encouraged them to forget about stereotypes, be fearless and consider traveling abroad at any age, especially since they are still young; as the earlier you can learn the lessons travel teaches the better!!

I talked about the ways travelling helped me to find out about myself and my life path, and how it prepared me for my professional journey. I believe that it is a MUST to take advantage of our freedom and youth while we still have the flexibility to move around the globe and have relatively long study breaks; as every trip enriches us in ways that can never be recreated or reproduced.

At the end of the forum, once again, I emphasized the importance of the following points: