My name is Enrique Aguirre and I am from Mexico.

I live in Saltillo, Coahuila and I’m a full time student in Universidad Tecnologica de Coahuila. I am studying Mechatronics and I like my career very much. I have been studying English since I was in kindergarten because I went to the American School of Saltillo. When I started studying in the university, I wanted to go to another country to continue my studies because since I was a little boy, I always wanted to live by myself at least for one semester.

It was the end of the semester and a teacher came to our classroom and talked about this scholarship to go to Washington DC for 13 weeks called, Mexico 100. I was very excited to participate in this, so I started applying to win the scholarship.

First of all, we had to answer some questions and do a couple of tests to see if we were candidates for this program. Then we picked a topic and did a project of this topic, I choose The Hunger and Malnutrition. My project was focused mostly to help the homeless and fight the hunger and at the same time recycle and help the environment. After two weeks of doing the tests and the project, they announced the winners to go to Washington DC, there were only 100 places for all Mexico, so it was hard to be picked, but I trusted in myself and in my project and knew that I was going to win this. When they told me I was one of the winners of this scholarship I was very happy and excited, and all I wanted is to get to Washington DC as soon as possible, but I still had to wait for five weeks and had to attend to normal classes at my school.

When I arrive to Washington DC I noticed that everything was very different to Mexico, I’ve been before at the United States, but only to the border and it’s very different than the places I’ve visited.

The apartment where I am staying is very nice and huge, it has 2 rooms, a living room and a kitchen, and I live there with other three persons that are in the Mexico 100 program too. Since I got to Washington DC I have no time to go for a tour and get to know places because I’m always busy doing homework and projects for the school, But the good news is that I only have to assist to The Washington Center on Fridays, but on weekdays I go to my internship.

I’m doing my internship in Inlingua, a very nice institution that gives English courses for international students and I’m going to be working from Monday to Thursday till January. I like working in Inlingua because you get to know people from different countries and you can learn some of their traditions. The people I work with are very nice and helpful, and I expect to learn a lot from my internship in Inlingua and become a great leader, because after all, the main goal of this scholarship is to create great leaders for Mexico.

The main purpose of this blog is that the interns of Mexico 100 program, can publish their experiences and what they have learned since they got to Washington DC. This will help to other students that want to study in another country, take the decision to come to Washington DC to live the real experience of living in the Capital of the United States.

Crossing Language Barriers:

“Our success in crossing language barriers makes us the premier language institute in the Washington DC area.”

Inlingua Washington DC and The Washington Center:

Inlingua Washington DC and The Washington Center entered into an agreement whereby Inlingua will provide English language training to the participants of Mexico 100. Designed and administered by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, Mexico 100 is funded by the Department of Education of Mexico and the Department of Social Development as part of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. Mexico 100 provides technical and academic skills training for professional development to one hundred committed students from public schools in Mexico. These young Mexican leaders will spend one semester in Washington, DC receiving training at The Washington Center’s academic training facility while doing an internship with different participating civil society organizations in the greater Washington DC area. Commencing this October, this program will continue to sponsor one hundred participants for the Spring 2015 semester, with potential for extension for subsequent semesters.  Inlingua Washington DC is honored with the opportunity to participate in such an ambitious program by enabling its participants to improve their English language skills as they embark in their professional development journeys.  

Inlingua Washington DC and The Centro Paula Souza:

Earlier this year, Inlingua Washington DC, through one of its main agents in Brazil, entered into an agreement to provide English language training in its main campus to hundreds of academically excelling students from the Sao Paulo State Public School System. This fantastic program is being sponsored by Centro Paula Souza, a Sao Paulo State government agency. These two programs allow Inlingua Washington DC to contribute to the academic and professional development of young adults that would otherwise not have access to such a fantastic opportunity. We are certain that the skills acquired by all the participants will better equip their respective countries to become more competitive in the global arena.

  See here 100 Free things to do DC.