Introduction

Hi my name is Laura Klink and I am a senior studying journalism at the University of Arizona in Tucson. This blog is part of an online magazine that deals with border issues between Mexico and the United States. The magazine is run by students and will be my final journalism class before graduating in May.

As an Arizona native I have traveled south of the border many times. Most recently I spent two weeks south of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula. During this trip I could not help but notice the many differences between Mexicans and Americans, especially when it came to accomplishing tasks. I was baffled when a seemingly simple task such as buying gas revealed that my rental car had a hole in the gas tank.

The relaxed, carefree attitudes of the employees were even more frustrating when I tried to secure a safer mode of transportation. They could not understand why I would not take the car and only fill the tank half way. This experience, along with countless others just like it, inspired my blog title, Lost in Translation. I plan to identify cultural differences between Mexicans and Americans and explore how they interact with each other in Arizona. The topics I cover will vary, noting anything interesting that represents contrasting viewpoints as a result of culture.