Cultural Exchange
Vanessa Ruiz Perez, a global studies and Spanish major of Mexican and Zapotec heritage, studies abroad this semester
Before her study abroad trip to Spain this fall, senior Vanessa Ruiz Perez had not ventured beyond North America. Yet the global studies and Spanish double major brought with her a rich cultural background as a first-generation student of Mexican and Zapotec heritage, an Indigenous population with its own language, traditions, and customs.
“If I say Indigenous, or if I say native, people really only think about Northern Native Americans, but Indigenous people are everywhere,” the College of Arts and Sciences student said. “So I say I'm Indigenous and Mexican, and I separate those two, just because Mexican culture is very different from the Zapotec one. My parents are Zapotec, I'm Zapotec. And then my parents speak Zapoteco.”
Researchers believe the Zapotec culture goes back as far as 2,500 years in what is now modern-day Mexico. There, the Ruiz Perez family travels three hours outside the city of Oaxaca in the southern end of Mexico to visit their Zapotec relatives.
Sharing moments with loved ones both near and far speak to a common theme in her life. “I think I'm just like this with my heritage. It's helped me be really family-oriented. I think a lot of Latino families are the same way,” Ruiz Perez said. “They're really big on family, really big on connection, on openness.”
This semester, Ruiz Perez bid her family a brief farewell and traveled to Europe as part of her global studies major. She chose a full-semester study abroad experience to fully immerse herself in both her host country, Spain, and its language, her second major. “I feel if I were to spend only a week in a place, it might feel like a vacation,” she reflected. “I wanted to live as a Spanish student, study as a Spanish student, and then get to grow alongside my classmates,” she added.
Ruiz Perez is taking courses at the University of Valencia in Spain’s third-largest city, about a two-hour train ride from Barcelona. She described her first time in Europe as a culture shock, particularly with transportation. “Everyone says how walkable the cities are, but it really is astounding how I can walk 25 minutes here and be somewhere, exciting or new—it doesn't have to even be that far,” she said.
When she returns to the United States, she will complete her final semester at Rutgers University in Camden, where she enrolled as a transfer student less than two years ago. After earning her associate degree, Ruiz Perez always knew she wanted to continue her education at Rutgers. But she especially appreciated Rutgers–Camden’s distinction as a Minority Serving Institution (MSI) as she felt like the university offered her a student experience with similar backgrounds as hers. “There are just some unspoken things I don't have to explain, like why my parents work so late, or just other cultural nuances. They're just unspoken within my peer group,” she said. “That makes a difference to me, personally.”
Before she ever set foot on campus, Ruiz Perez became actively engaged through a coworker who was attending Rutgers–Camden and had told her about the school’s Latin American Student Organization (L.A.S.O.). Ruiz Perez reached out to the club’s eboard and joined the group as its event coordinator her junior year.
She now serves as president of L.A.S.O., which she described as an outlet for students to embrace their Latin heritage. L.A.S.O. members have attended the Latin America Thrives Fest in Philadelphia and, on campus, hosted dance lessons and thought-provoking discussions on topics like addressing negative stereotypes about Latin American countries.
Vanessa Ruiz Perez (front, second from left) and members of the Rutgers–Camden Latin American Student Association (L.A.S.O.)
Vanessa Ruiz Perez (front, second from left) and members of the Rutgers–Camden Latin American Student Association (L.A.S.O.)
Last spring, she worked for the Camden Law Clinic as an English/Spanish translator and cultural liaison between law students and professors and their clients. The experience confirmed her interest in pursuing a career in law, though she’s most interested in intellectual property and copyright: “I want to be a part of that movement of protecting the original artists' work,” she said.
In the meantime, Ruiz Perez is looking forward to leading L.A.S.O through the end of her senior year and revising her fall campus bucket list to a spring one to check off a few on-campus experiences from her list. Ruiz Perez takes every opportunity as one to be grateful for. “Every experience, just because for me personally, my parents are immigrants, they really didn't have access to education or resources like I did,” she said. “So everything, especially the study abroad one, it's something exciting, and I look forward to sharing it with my family.”
Chancellor Antonio D. Tillis and Rutgers University–Camden invite you to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by recognizing and honoring Hispanic individuals who have made a difference in the Rutgers–Camden community and beyond.
Creative Design: Karaamat Abdullah
Connect with Us
Built with Shorthand