This final week in Mexico City marked the end of our project with Hagamos Composta and the culmination of everything we had worked on over the past few weeks. On Monday, we presented our final pitch to the Hagamos Composta team and handed over our final report. It was a great opportunity to showcase the work we had put into the project and to finally see everything come together. Keni told us that she was really proud of the work we had produced, while the Hagamos Composta team were very positive about the final deliverables. They said they would review the report in more detail and felt that it would be a useful resource for the organisation in the long term. Knowing that our work could continue to be useful after we had left was a particularly rewarding way to finish the project.

Although the project had officially finished, we still had plenty of final programme work to complete throughout the week. After several weeks of research, analysis and discussions, it was strange to suddenly be working towards something other than the Hagamos Composta project. It also gave us more time to reflect on everything we had achieved and how much our understanding of the organisation had developed since arriving in Mexico.

Outside of the project, we made the most of our final week together. Over the weekend, we explored a very different side of Mexico City by taking the cable cars from Xalpa to Santa Marta, stopping at different points along the route and exploring local markets along the way. Seeing the city from above and travelling through areas far beyond Roma Norte and Condesa gave me a much broader perspective of Mexico City and how different the experiences of people living across the city can be. It was a completely different side of the city from the one we had become familiar with during our time there.

We also celebrated Liam’s 21st birthday on the rooftop at Triver with drinks, games and plenty of chats. On Sunday, we spent the day in Coyoacán, visiting the Casa Azul and the former home of Leon Trotsky before exploring the area and stopping for lunch. The evening was another relaxed birthday celebration, with dinner followed by more time together on the rooftop.

Monday was spent recovering after our final presentation, with a much-needed chilled evening watching Cars 2 and Mamma Mia. On Tuesday, after some final programme work in the morning, we headed to Chapultepec Park to go on the pedal boats before having a lovely Italian dinner. Wednesday followed a similar pattern, with some work in the morning and a final trip to some of the city’s markets in the afternoon. That evening, we celebrated Blake’s birthday with dinner and karaoke. Thursday was our final full day together. We had a goodbye picnic in the morning before visiting the Museo del Estanquillo in the Zócalo, and in the evening we all had dinner together on the rooftop for our final night. After five weeks of living, working and exploring together, it was weird knowing that this would be the last time we would all be together in the same place. On Friday, we had one final priority before flying home: tacos!

Looking back over the programme, one of my biggest personal achievements has been becoming more independent and pushing myself outside my comfort zone. This was my first time travelling outside Europe by myself, and I arrived in Mexico with only very basic Spanish and no real experience of navigating a completely unfamiliar environment independently. Over the past five weeks, I have become much more comfortable with being by myself, adapting to new situations and finding my way around a city that initially felt completely unfamiliar. Experiencing such a different culture has also challenged some of my assumptions and given me a much broader perspective on how people live and work.

At the same time, I have learnt a lot about working with people who are very different from me. Living so closely with a large group meant navigating a huge variety of personalities, habits and perspectives, and I am proud of how well we supported each other throughout the experience. The group quickly became one of the best parts of the programme, and I genuinely feel that I have made friends for life. From spontaneous evenings on the rooftop to the trips we took around Mexico, the memories we made together will probably be what I miss most. I will also definitely miss the food. From tacos and chilaquiles to all the restaurants and markets we discovered along the way, Mexican food has been a very enjoyable part of the experience! Leaving Mexico is therefore a mixture of relief, pride and sadness. I am proud of the work we produced for Hagamos Composta and of how much I have developed personally over the past five weeks, but I am also sad to leave a city and a group of people that have become such an important part of my experience. I arrived in Mexico unsure of what to expect, and I am leaving having pushed myself far beyond my comfort zone, gained valuable professional experience and made friendships that I hope will last long after we have all returned home. This has been such a different experience from anything I have done before, and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of it!