Senior Mayra Yundt-Pacheco is in Mexico this week, taking on the town of Acapulco as her cousins get married. Missing a week of school for a wedding in another country seems like a stressful task, but luckily she won’t be doing it alone. Yundt-Pacheco is bringing her friends Sonali Mehta and Elizabeth Jowers with her, turning a wedding for the family into an impromptu vacation for friends.

A week may seem a long time to miss for a wedding, but Mexican weddings differ greatly from the weddings generally seen in America.

“In Mexico, it’s much more about the family than the individual,” Yundt-Pacheco said. “So they’re a huge deal and multiple days long.”

The finer details of the wedding also differ, as a difference in culture means the way the festivities play out takes on a distinctly Latin taste.

“The food is amazing there. Also, in Mexico, everyone dances all the time,” Yundt-Pacheco said. “Weddings end very late, and most people just end up spending the night after the wedding.”

Despite the excitement surrounding the festivities, the three students will still have to work their way around missing three days of school.

“I’m going to ask all of my teachers for work that I’m missing before hand,”  senior Sonali Mehta said. “Then I’m going to do all the work I can during the flights and any down-time we have.”

Because it is an international trip, students will also be required to carry passports, and the two going without their parents will have to manage their own papers. Mexico also presents a different atmosphere than America, as it is a developing nation and has different cultural norms.

“The idea of Mexico here isn’t the best one,” Yundt-Pacheco said. “When safety is discussed, it’s the same as any big city, just have common sense. If there was a genuine danger I wouldn’t take my friends.”

Despite any possible challenges, the girls are keeping an optimistic outlook for the trip.

“I’m just gonna go and have fun,” senior Elizabeth Jowers said. “I don’t know what to expect and that’s the best way to go into a new experience.”