Housing & Homestays

Augsburg University's Center for Global Education and Experience (CGEE) maintains a study center called "Casa Augsburg" in the San Anton neighborhood of Cuernavaca, just a 15-20 minute walk to the main downtown area.  Casa Augsburg currently has seven bedrooms with bunk beds and attached bathrooms (not including the private room of our International Resident Assistant), a dining room, 2 living rooms, a large back patio with a basketball hoop, ample garden space, and a small library/study room equipped with a printer and a computer with Internet access, and additional Internet cables and wireless access for students who bring laptop computers, cell phones or tablets. The  WiFi password downstairs is the #9 ten times (9999999999), and there is another WiFi password posted upstairs. 

All of you will who are in a regular semester program (rather than the full-time fall student teaching program) will live in Casa Augsburg for most of the semester, where typically 2-3 people will share rooms. If there is a small student cohort, you might get your own room, but if there is a large group, you will need to share.  The house is within a 5- minute walk of the Universal language school. During your initial time in the house, we will also get to know you better in order to make the best possible urban homestay matches.

After the first few weeks, you will conduct a  3-night/4-day rural homestay in the Nahua indigenous community Amatlan de Quetzalcoatl, approximately 1.5 hours' drive east of Cuernavaca. During the rural homestay, typically 2 students will share each home. After that you will return to Casa Augsburg for close to one week and then move into your urban homestays, which will serve as your homes for approximately one month. After that you will return to Casa Augsburg, as you will be traveling after that and use Casa Augsburg as your home base. Most students report that they love the immersion of the rural and urban homestays but also like having a dorm-type facility where it is sometimes easier to study and experience greater independence. Please note that there is a special application within the housing and homestay form for those of you want to apply for an exemption from the homestay(s). 

Even during the urban homestays, you will continue to go to Casa Augsburg for several of your classes and for lunch on weekdays, except for when you are on holidays or if you are sick, or at your field placement site or internship site if you are completing fieldwork or an internship.  Please see more information in the next section on homestays and be sure to submit your Housing and Homestay forms by December 1/Spring semester and June 1/Fall semester. 

In order to get a visual of what Casa Augsburg looks like, check out this video tour of the CGEE Study Center. 

• Computers: We have one computer and a printer for student use.  We highly encourage you to bring a laptop if you have one.

• We also strongly recommend that you consider property insurance for any theft or damages because if anything happens to it, you will be responsible for the cost of repairs or replacement, whether or not the damage is the result of your action or the action of another student, staff person, or unknown person. 

• Laundry: There is a nearby Laundromat (right up the street) that charges approximately US $4.00 for “full” service – wash, dry and fold.

• Local Conveniences: The Universal language school, which has a small swimming pool and racquetball court, is conveniently located on the same street as the CGEE house.  Also located on the same street are two bakeries, two Internet cafés, a few inexpensive small resturaunts, several small grocery stores, two stationery stores, a baseball field/park, a gym, a Zumba studio, a martial arts studio, a Pentecostal Church and the San Antón Catholic Church.

Casa Augsburg House Rules

COVID-19 Protocols

• If you have a cold or flu symptoms, please wear a facemask in common areas, such as the classrooms and when serving yourself food so that you do not spread your illness to others. Thank you. 

Use of Spanish Language

• You are encouraged to speak Spanish as much as possible even when living at Casa  Augsburg.  Several Augsburg staff members do not speak English, so it is important not to speak a language that the people around you would not understand.    

Meals

• As soon as you know that you will not be eating certain meals provided at Casa Augsburg for you due to personal choices, such as not eating breakfast or going out to eat or going out of town for a few days or due to illness, be sure to send a WhatsApp message to the International Resident Assistant as far in advance of the meal(s) as possible so that our cooks do not prepare too much food. Please also mark on the calender on the kitchen door the meal you will be missing. We are trying to avoid food getting wasted.

• The Casa Augsburg kitchen is off-limits for health and safety reasons while the staff are cooking. When there are no staff in the kitchen, you  are welcome to use it, as long as it is left exactly how it was. In order to use the kitchen when the cooks are not there, you must first receive a training by one of the cooks and the International Resident Assistant.  If the kitchen is left a mess, kitchen privillages may be lost. There is a refrigerator for students in the dining room at Casa Augsburg. If you have special dietary needs, please list them on your Housing and Homestay forms, &/or update the International Resident Assistant. 

Alcohol, Illegal Drugs and Smoking

• If you are 18 and older, you may legally drink alcoholic beverages in Mexico as long as you do so responsibly and in moderation. Moderate and responsible consumption of beer and other alcoholic beverages are allowed in Casa Augsburg. However, drunk and disorderly conduct is not permitted.  If you do drink, we urge you to not only be careful for yourself but also considerate of students who may be alcoholics and/or in recovery. If you are overly intoxicated and/or acting drunk and disorderly, staff will ask you to stop drinking.  At the same time, if you are going to drink, it is safer to do that where you are living rather than to drink at bars, where strangers could try to take advantage of you. Please note that drinking in outdoor public spaces (such as parks or on a sidewalk) is illegal in Mexico. 

• If there are students who are in recovery or prefer dry spaces for other reasons, we will designate spaces in Casa Augsburg that  are “dry.” If you would like this, please let Ann &/or Ruti know right away. 

• Smoking is not permitted inside Casa Augsburg.  Students who smoke tobacco may do so in the following outside areas: at either of the two tables in the garden near the main entrance from the street (not close to bedrooms) and/or behind the house in the area of the basketball court. 

• Although in some states in the U.S. it is legal to purchase and use cannabis products, Marijuana is still considered an illegal drug in Mexico and is strictly forbidden. Any students who use it or any other illegal drug while in Mexico will be sent home at their own expense, as illegal drug use can jeopardize your safety and that of others, as well as  the university’s legal status in this country.

Additional House Rules Related to Safety and Security

Front Door/Main Entrance

• Do not leave the front door open and do not buzz people in or open the front doors without first looking at the security camera monitor to see who is there. If you are unsure, find a staff person to answer the door.

• DO NOT give out your address (or staff addresses & phone numbers) to people you meet. Get their numbers instead if you want to contact them. Please, be extremely responsible in this matter. The reason for this is that students have sometimes met people on dating apps or at bars who seem friendly at first but then harass them and other students. Since you are not the only person who lives or studies at Casa Augsburg, others can be negatively affected if someone you meet turns out to be different from what you first thought. In addition, we ask that you respect the staff’s privacy. 

• While we would like you to make yourself at home at Casa Augsburg, it is essential that you be respectful of the rest of your peers and the people who work at the study center and of our neighbors. Therefore, we ask that you NOT give the Casa Augsburg address NOR give out the phone numbers or addresses of any of our staff. Please see the comments above for the reasons for this policy. 

Friends and Guests

1. New friendships and dating: If you meet someone with whom you want to connect, plan to meet them at a public place & take an Uber home. That way you help to ensure your own safety and others who live in Casa Augsburg by not giving out the address to people that you do not know extremely well. The reason for this is that students have sometimes met people on dating apps or at bars who seem friendly at first but then harass them and other students. Since you are not the only person who lives or studies at Casa Augsburg, others can be negatively affected if someone you meet turns out to be different from what you first thought. 

2. DO NOT have new acquaintances pick you up or drop you off at Casa Augsburg or your host family's home. Please see the reasons listed above. 

3. DO NOT invite over new acquaintances to Casa Augsburg or your host family's home. Many host families allow (& even encourage you) to invite your friends over. Please just discuss this with them. 

4. DO NOT host parties at Casa Augsburg. This is for everyone's security. 

5. Visitors: While you are living in Casa Augsburg, you may receive a few well known and trusted guests between 8:00am and 10:00pm from Sundays through Thursdays and between 8:00am and 12:00am on Fridays through Saturdays. These guests can include CGEE students who are living in homestays and friends that you know well through our staff, host families, and intercultural exchange at International House (IH, or IHouse), a local undergraduate university for Mexican students seeking to become language instructors. Guests could also include family and friends from elsewhere in Mexico or other countries. However, in all cases, you must do the following:

   • Send a WhatsApp message to the "Visitors" group chat on WhatsApp telling everyone who may be at the house who will be visiting and when, ALONG with a photo of their official ID (driver's license or other).  In many Mexican institutions, there is a 24-hour/7 security person at the door who signs people in & out & holds onto their ID until they leave. Since we only have security staff from 10pm-5am, we ask you to use WhatsApp to advise everyone of visitors & share their ID. This is for the security of everyone who lives and/or works at Casa Augsburg. 

   • Take responsibility for your guest while  they are at Casa Augsburg. Make sure that they are introduced to everyone who is around so that people recognize them from your message with their photo ID. 

   • If you live in Casa Augsburg and have a single room, your guests may enter your room. However, if you have one or more roommates, you may not have guests in your room unless it is okay with your roommates. If you have roommates, you should plan to hang out with any guests in public spaces (with them) so as to not inconvenience your roommates and other people in the house. 

   • If your guest has arrived before one of the two night watchmen (Diego or Mario) arrives at 10:00pm and your guests are still at the house, you should introduce them to the watchman who is on duty, although he will already have access to the "Visitors" group chat and therefore know who is in the house.

6. You may not have overnight guests stay in Casa Augsburg. If you have friends visiting from out of town, there are many nearby Airbnbs & hotels where they can stay.  

Please note: At the beginning of the semester, you will have a meeting with the International Resident Assistant to discuss any additional group guidelines that you may want to establish as a group of people sharing a house for both living and studying. Such guidelines could include quiet hours or time limits on the use of the library computer and printer.

Your approximately month-long urban homestay with a Mexican family is a highlight of the semester program for most students.  For those of you who are learning Spanish, you will have time to practice your Spanish with native speakers, but more importantly, you will get to know people outside of the university setting and experience some of the diverse realities of Mexican life.  If you haven't submitted your forms yet, please do so asap. 

CGEE-Mexico has close relationships with a wide variety of families, mostly of modest means. Past students have found the homestay to be one of their best experiences in Mexico.  All of the families that receive students have been carefully chosen by CGEE staff and have participated in orientations and activities including a health and safety orientation, as well as diversity orientation sessions.  They open their homes to students with a strong desire for cultural exchange and solidarity. Most of them go out of their way to adapt to you, and several have participated in vegetarian cooking classes that we have offered so that they can meet the needs of vegetarian students.  For your part, we ask that you open yourself to the experience, accepting the positive and negative elements as well as and the unavoidable awkward moments, remembering that different is not better or worse, just different.  See this video for past students' comments on their homestays.

During the urban homestays, you will most likely be placed in a home in the same neighborhoods as at least one or two other students. However, if you are conducting an internship, you may be placed in a home that is closer to the internship site. 

For LGBTQ students, we have a growing number of LGBT+-friendly families who host students in different neighborhoods throughout Cuernavaca.  In addition, we have a few “recovery-informed homes” for students who are in recovery from alcohol and other drug addictions. If it is important to you to be placed in an LGBT+-friendly home or if you are in recovery from any kind of alcohol or drug addiction, be sure to indicate that on the Housing Homestay Form along with any allergies to pets, special dietary requirements, and other preferences regarding your homestay. 

It is essential for you to complete the Housing and Homestay Form as soon as possible. This is very important to help us ensure happy housing arrangements. 

Quotes from former students regarding their homestay experiences:

“I got a better feel for what real life is like in Mexico and learned a lot of things that can’t be learned from a book.”

“(It was) definitely the most important and meaningful experience of the whole program. Many relationships developed, and I had opportunities to do things I wouldn’t normally have done.”

“It was really a time to be able to observe cultural differences in opinions, behaviors, religion and way of life.”

“It helped my Spanish a lot, and broke bad stereotypes.  It taught me a lot about Mexican culture and life.  I learned so much during those three weeks that would not have been possible by staying in the program house. It strengthened my commitment to fight poverty and oppression. My host mother was a great inspiration for me. I learned about food, relationships, music and much more.”

 “I liked my family stay.  It was hard at times, but very good for me and my Spanish. I feel much closer to Mexico and the people because of it.  I felt like a guest in my family sometimes, but felt very welcome. I learned so much about commitment to each other and gained a better understanding of Mexican life and culture .”

“I really enjoyed my overall experience with the host families. There were some frustrations, but overall I made long lasting relationships and made everlasting memories. I learned the value of family in Mexican terms, and truly got to see how closely knitted this family was. Also, I got to see the true working class family, and learn about their struggles, history, and social movements that they were involved in.”

Casa Augsburg has a printer and a PC computer, all of which have Internet access, plus additional cables and wireless Internet access for students who bring laptop computers. If you have a laptop computer, you are encouraged to bring it along.

The server at Casa Augsburg is cemal_net, and the password is the #9 ten times (9999999999).

Please note that there are occasional problems with Internet service in Cuernavaca and that it may be slower than that to which you are accustomed. Internet service also goes down sometimes, so please purchase a data plan for your cell phone.

There is a small library in Casa Augsburg. You can also access Augsburg's Lindell Library online using your Augsburg email address, which will be provided to you prior to the start of the semester if you normally attend a different university. If you are not an Auggie and also want to access your own university library online, make sure you find out from your IT department how you can gain access from Mexico.