Hello,

As most of you know I am studying Spanish in Mexico City over the next 6 weeks. After much research I decided to go with a program titled CEPE that’s associated with the University of Mexico. The program seemed ( and turned out to be) legit, however there is not much information online. This post is for people who are thinking about attending the program and want more information.

*All information as of July 2019

Arriving & Registering

Arriving-You have two choices, you can find and book your accommodations (more on that under “accommodations” below) or you can start the trip staying at a hotel and hostel. For my trip I stayed at Casa de los Amigos, a basic non-profit hostel by the center of the city, for the first weekend and then moved to my permanent housing Monday after classes. Casa de los Amigos is a bit far from CEPE but the ride a straight shot without any changes. I loved staying near the center where I had a chance to explore a different part of the city then where I stayed for the 6 weeks I studied.

Registering- You can register online before arriving OR you can register on the Friday before classes start. I recommend just registering when you arrive. I know that this can seem very strange as many people in the western world want to have everything perfectly planned out before leaving on a trip, but trust me there’s absolutely no downside of just waiting to register and pay once you arrive.

Day of the exam you can arrive anytime between 9:30 and 2 although I highly recommend arriving early as the classes start to fill up. Walk through the CEPE walk way and turn left at the end, and you should see lots of people walking around. We had to register first in the first room, then you go to the payment room (we couldn’t pay online), took our 3 placement tests, and then went to the scheduling room. Overall the process took about 4 hours- be ready to wait.

Housing

My mom and I messed up when we doing this part of the trip. We waited until arriving and registering before trying to find housing. This is what I would do if I were to do it over. I would look for and book my housing via the CEPE alojamiento website BEFORE arriving. In waiting until arriving a lot of the housing in decent locations for decent prices were gone. Coyoacan is considered the “hip” location located about a 30 minute bus ride from the city. I chose to stay here and will update this post with my opinions at the end of my trip. The other option I looked at was close to CEPE. I would have loved to live walking distance but in the end I choose a place where I can walk around over location to the school.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out. Ciao!