The whole experience in Yucatan was more eye opening than I ever guessed it would be. I struggled against the culture for a long time and eventually I realized that you shouldn't (and can't) fight it. The whole world doesn't fit into my idea of how it should be, and that's something beautiful.I think maybe my host family was a key player in that discovery. I only lived with them starting two weeks before my independent project, but those weeks were crutial. My relationship with them was what made the first hole in the wall that I had built. After that, it didn't take much for it to crumble. I stayed in Mérida for an internship after the program ended, and without the impact that my host family had I wouldn't have stayed.