Keeping you posted as promised:

My flight was changed to Monday May 4th from the 21st, therefore I will be back in the states in a matter of 72 hours. eek! The dorms have been completely empty the last few days, minus me of course. I did some souvenir shopping today and decided I should probably buy another suit case too! I'm going to be really sad leaving fantasyland, but I think I'll come back soon! It's just a terrible ending to such an amazing semester. :(

Still Not Worried, BUT...

Okay, so MAJOR update from several hours ago. The USAC program has ended. We will be finishing classes via email with our professors. As of yet, four people are heading back to the States tomorrow morning bright and early (including my roommate). There is talk of them closing public highways, but now definitely not the borders, because it's too late for that. But many things are closing, stopping, just ending. Rapidly. We'll see what happens, and I'll try to keep you posted.

Run for Cover, Swine Flu is Coming!

As you have probably heard by now, the "Swine Flu" is "going rampant" in Mexico. I think the death toll is over 80 now. Classes have been cancelled until next Wednesday. Everyone is freaking out, wearing masks, not leaving their houses. But DO NOT FEAR! As this illness approaches a pandemic, I am not worried. I have faith in the medics around the world that by now if someone is sick, with anything, they'll be treated properly. There is a vaccine, or medicine of some sort that you can take within 48 hours and be okay. A few people are leaving this weekend to go home for the semester, in fear of the government closing borders. I think this is getting blown out of proportion. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think with modern medicine it's not going to be the black plague. It's just population contol in Mexico City.
Another fun fact, there was an earthquake which I believe began in Aculpulco and was felt in D.F., but not here. I feel completely calm in the midst of mild chaos.

Random Observations

Okay, so I've decided to add a random post about some random things that I've noticed. Maybe I've mentioned some of these before. The longer I'm around these things, the more normal they seem, but I guess if one of you were to come visit me, you might find some things suprising. Here we go:

+A shocking number of females wear dangerously high heels. I'm talking five, six inches. We've taken to calling them stripper shoes. But EVERYONE wears them!
+There are random manholes on the sidewalk, about three feet deep, sometimes they're covered with scraps of wood, other times not.
+There are certain hand gestures that I'm going to miss. For example, when you need the bill (you have to ask for it, or you will be there all day) you raise your hand and make it look like you're writing something. Easy. Everyone understands. Another thing is when you agree with something, you touch your thumb to your middle finger and move your index finger up and down. If you're at a restaurant and need something, hold your hand up and make it look like you're pinching something very small between your fingers.
+There are armed guards in random places, like the mall and the bus station. We're talking big guns.
+To wave down a taxi, just whistle, or stick your hand out and usually a few stop and you can barter for the best deal.
+There is an entire aisle at the grocery store for drinkable yogurt. It's really popular here, and convenient. I have one every morning for breakfast.
+Mexican constuction workers in the states are the fastest workers EVER. Here, not so much. Mainly because they lack the equipment needed to make it easier. Like a jack hammer. Instead, they just use a hammer and an iron rod and "tink tink" away. Or building cement walls? It's a wooden construction filled with cement mixed and poured all by hand.
+I feel like "the cheesier, the better" goes here. TV shows, stars, bands, comments, advertising, etc.
+The pronunciations of English words are sometimes really funny. Like "Warner Channel" or "Peach and Petals" sounds like "pinche petals" which is a curse word. Also the word "super" when placed in front of any adjective sounds funny too. It's easy entertainment, and I'm sure Americans sound funny when pronouncing words like "taco" or "quesadilla" or whatever other word we pronounce completely wrong.
+If a woman sits in the front seat of a taxi, it implies hitting on the driver.
+Clothing styles are WAYY different here. It's really hard to go shopping and find something, anything I like.
+The soda here is way different too. It's extremely carbonated, light on the syrup, and almost kind of chalky. Thank goodness I don't drink much soda anyway!
+The sun yesterday was the craziest I have ever seen it. It was florescent orangish/red. We watched it set behind the mountain. We were all in a trance with our mouths open and wide-eyed.
+The class differences here are extreme. And there seems to be a lot of animosity between the two.
+Campus is really detached and uninvolved. I never see signs for plays, or political demonstrations, or fundraisers, or organizations, or games, or anything. There are only about 200 people living on campus, so everyone commutes which I guess gives a small reason as to why there isn't a lot going on.
+Street lanes, stop signs, stop lights, and speed limits are completely erroneous here. They are merely suggestions.

It sounds like a lot of negative things, but it's really not. Just differences. I wouldn't change anything at all. I only have a month left here! Time has gone way too fast!!!
p.s.-I have a crazy boyfriend.

New Pics!

I just added pictures to Photobucket from spring break last week

http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/soiwenthome/

My Novel of a Spring Break

According to Mark my blogs are too long, so here is a Sparknotes version of my spring break:
-Beach in Oaxaca
-got sick
-Tuxtla

Friday, April 3/Saturday, April 4:
Chris and I left on Friday night for Puerto Angel in Oaxaca, a day later than everyone else b/c he had an exam and I wanted to stay for Dario's birthday. Our bus was 45 min. late, and Chris was really anxious to leave, he kept asking everyone if it was there yet. The ride was fine, I'm just still stumped why they have so many speed bumps on the highways here, or why there are so many stops for the guards to come on the bus to check for...stowaways I've been told. We got to the bus station around 7 on Saturday morning. As we were getting off the bus, a bunch of taxi drivers in uniform were asking people if they needed a taxi. I was getting my bag, and another man in a t-shirt asked if we needed a ride. I wanted to find someone in uniform, but the next thing I know, Chris was saying, "alright, let's go" and we were walking to the man's taxi. I was nervous. Why was everyone wearing a uniform except him? He helped us put our bags in the trunk, and another man sat in the front seat. Why is there another man in this taxi? They were talking to each other, about where they were from, where the man was going, etc. Are they just pretending to not know each other? The whole time I was thinking of ways to strangle him with the strap of my bag, or roll out of the car, If I keep my bookbag on, hold my pillow...My stomach was doing flips, and Chris kept talking, telling them information they didn't need to know, until I elbowed him. Finally, we made it to the bed and breakfast. It turns out, that it was a collective taxi, which means they pick up more than one person, and go to multiple destinations. Phew.
We opened the gate to the bed and breakfast and walked through a palapa (thatched roof hut) which had a kitchen/bar, hammocks, wooden couches, a table and a bookcase. We walked down a series of 4 or 5 concrete stairs that wound around three or four brick cottages, down to ours. Everyone else was sleeping (Liz, Haven, Rachel and Erin), but woke up to greet us. We ended up sleeping for a couple more hours, then went up to the palapa where Lluvia was cooking us breakfast. She's 25 and has an 18 month old daughter, Padme who just wandered around handing you things and when she dropped something, would make and o with her mouth and widen her eyes. Lluvia and her husband, Josuelo (who looks like George Clooney) are the owners, she lived in Oregon for 8 years, therefore speaks perfect English. She speaks to Padme in English, and Josuelo speaks to her in Spanish.
After breakfast, we got ready to go to the beach, San Agustinillo. The road to the beach was winding, and hilly, and since it is the dry season in Mexico, brown. The whole coast area is really poor and relys on all income from tourism. When we got to the beach the sand was almost white, and the water royal blue. I was shocked at how few people were there. There were several restaurants along the beach which all had little palapas to sit under on adierondack chairs. The waves were easily 10 feet tall, which made the shore line at a pretty steep angle, so where we were sitting was 8-10 higher than the water. There were huge rocks seperating the different little beaches. We didn't leave until sunset that night, which was great because we watched it set behind the mountain.
Later that night, after showering, we went to a little town Zipolite for dinner at this place a German man at the beach recommended to us. We had a little time to kill, so we just walked around the "town" aka-one street about a quarter-mile long. Needless to say, the streets were full of hippies. I swear I've never seen more dreadlocks and cotton pants in one place. Everyone was sitting around talking, eating, selling things, hanging out with friends. We finally got to the restaurant around 9:30 and we definitely went to the right place. It was all open air, nicely lit, had a lounge area covered in a white canopy, the food was gourmet too. The plates were decorated with the garnishings, colorful, and well thought of. Reasonably priced too! After dinner we went for a walk on the beach, and Rachel stubbed her toe on a rock, so we went to a hotel/bar/music venue/hangout to clean her up and found out they were going to have live music the next night. Down the beach we saw a campfire, and walked closer to it. There was live reggae music, people dancing, people sitting around the fire, hanging out. We only stayed for a few min. because we were all so tired.

Sunday, April 5:
The clocks finally changed so I'm back up to pace with you! Woke up a little later on Sunday, had chai tea and toast with homemade jam for breakfast. Josuelo let Chris and Haven borrow his boogie boards so that they wouldn't have to pay to rent them at the beach. There were quite a few more people there than the day before, but for how beautiful it was, it still seemed deserted. We found an area where the water wasn't so rough and I swam and attempted to body surf until Haven got stung by something, or maybe a jellyfish just grazed her and didn't cling on, either way, I remembered how creepy sealife is and got out. There are always people trying to sell you something, which after about 10 times gets annoying, but there were people selling fresh fruit, so we bought bags of sliced mangos, and coconut. I walked down to the neighboring beach and could count on one hand how many people I saw on the half mile stretch. We left the beach around 7, showered, and ate some of Lluvia's cookies that she had made for the family dinner they were having in the palapa (the owners live in the cottage next to it, so basically we were guests in their house) then went to get some pizza at an italian restaurant in Zipolite. There we met two guys from Denmark, Jonas and Tobias who were on a tour called Trek America. They are spending 21 days in Mexico with about 10 other people from all over Europe then going to California for a month themselves. We went back to the same place were Rachel cleaned her foot for the live music and another bonfire. I'm pretty sure the entire town of Zipolite was there. We hung out until we couldn't stay awake anymore, but by then there were no more taxis to get back to our hotel, so we ended up sleeping next to the fire for about an hour or two and at 6:30 walked to the main street to find a taxi. We waited for a while and finally a collective taxi covered-truck came by. We went to sleep and didn't wake up until around 2.

Monday, April 6: Happy Birthday Grandma!
We felt terrible because we asked Lluvia the night before if she would make us enfrijoladas for breakfast and when we woke up at 2, we saw all the food layed out ready to be cooked. But she made them for us anyway, and even though in most hotels guests leave before noon, we hung around and played with Padme until around 5 and walked down to the beach of Puerto Angel. It was hard to get to, we had to hike down a huge steep hill to get to it, but it was totally worth it. It's a cove with rocks and fishermen in boats. The water is so calm there's hardly any waves at all. I felt like I was in a movie taking place in Greece or somehing. We didn't leave until 6:30, because our bus left at 8. About and hour into the bus ride I started feeling nauseous. I threw up 8 times on the bus, once at the rest stop and once outside a bus station. I also had diarreah. I couldn't keep water down, or anything else and after tasting bile three times I was about to go insane. It was the longest 11 hour bus ride ever.

Tuesday, April 7:
When we got to San Cristobal at 7, I was still feeling really terrible. We were getting off the bus and I woke Chris up to tell him we had arrived and he said "WOAH, I just had the coolest dream. We were in a candy store full of any type of candy or sweet or ice cream you could ever want!” At the time, I wanted to punch him in the face, but looking back on it, it’s hilarious. And ironic. We went to get breakfast and I ordered tea and orange juice which I quickly saw in the toilet, so everyone decided that I needed to just lay down and sleep instead of walking around the cold damp town. So we finally found a hostel for 50 pesos (less than $5) for me to crash. My friends left and came back with an electrolyte drink, medicine, and crackers. And Chris left me his phone so they could keep in touch with me. It was super nice of them. Dario and his friend Roberto were planning on coming to San Cristobal to meet up with us anyway, and he came to the hostel to check on me. I ended up just going back to his house in Tuxtla instead of going on to Palenque and Villahermosa because I can't remember the last time I was that sick. It even hurt to talk, so the thought of getting back on a bus later that night for 5 hours and walking around all day the next day sounded like ripping off my finger nails for fun. When I got there, I said hello to his family and went straight upstairs and fell asleep at 5:00. I didn't wake up until 10am the next morning.

Wednesday, April 8:
Went to the bus station to exchange my tickets, later that night Dario and I went to his friend Roberto’s house and met up with some of his friends there. But I went upstairs to sleep.

Thursday, April 9: Happy Birthday Corey!
Slept late again and ended up taking a nap. We went to his cousin’s restaurant (the same one we went to the last time I was in Chiapas), and there was live entertainment: a band who kept imitating famous Mexican musicians. His other cousin and uncle picked us up and had a truckload full of fish in coolers, and cheese that they raise/make on their ranch and sell in the city, and went with them for a couple of sales. His uncle was trying to speak to me in English but his English was even worse that my Spanish, which is pretty hard to believe, and he insisted on calling Dario “Daytona beach boy” since he used to live there. We went to his cousin and uncle’s house and I played with Becca, the 8 month old baby. We kept each other entertained for about 2 hours until we all piled in the car to go to a lookout of the city. Along the way we bought snacks.

Friday, April 10:
I was almost bored to tears. We didn’t leave the house the entire day. So I took the dog for a walk. Thankfully his sister lent us a movie to watch. I thought my bus left at 11, and packed up my suitcases and we were all waiting in the living room for the taxi, looked at my ticket and realized it was 11:40, not 11. So we postponed the taxi, got to the bus station, and waited for my 30min. late bus. I actually slept the whole way, but when we stopped at the rest stop at around 6:30, we were about to get back on the road again, but our bus needed jumped. So everyone got back off the bus and waited for it to be fixed. It didn’t take too long though.

Some random things I’ve noticed about Mexico:
-Yellow and orange are far more popular colors here than in the states.
-there are some neighborhoods where the houses are really huge and nice but the streets/sidewalks are just rocks or even dirt. Then there are others where the houses are tiny but looks like out of a movie, with green ivy, bushes, hibiscus, roses, etc.

Chiapas

Sorry it's been so long!
Last weekend Dario and I went to Chiapas. Our bus left on Thursday at 7:30 and we got there around 4 or 5 in the morning. His cousin, Arturo (I think that's how it's spelled) picked us up from the bus station. I was assuming that we were going straight to his house, since it was such an ugly hour, but no, we drove around Tuxtla for a while as they pointed things out to me excitedly. "There's where my dad used to work!" "That's the Zocalo!" "There's the cathedral!". Yes, nice, but I just wanted to sleep!!! Finally we got to his house and he called his mom to come unlock the gate. She was so excited, and so was his dog, Harry. I went straight upstairs to bed, but Dario was too excited to sleep. Their house is very clean and plain. It kind of reminded me of an older person's house, because everything was white, the sofa was hard, there was no tv in the living room, the decorations were simple. It didn't really seem lived in, kind of stiff, which is weird because the family is the exact opposite. The two didn't really match. When I got up, his mom was like "Are you hungry? Here, lets go downstairs, do you like coffee? What do you want to eat?" So I went downstairs with her and ate some cereal and drank real coffee! Not out of a machine! Not espresso and water, actual coffee! It was great. We talked for a while, it was a little akward, and I was trying to speak in Spanish, but eventually just gave up and spoke in English. Later, Dario came downstairs and we went to the zoo. The zoo is so close to their house, and only has native animals of Chiapas. There was hardly anyone there, and it felt like a jungle with a pathway. I'm not a huge fan of zoos, but this one was really nice because I got to see things I've never seen before, like a Quetzal (bird that has a huge importance in Mexican history), a huge milipede or something that was the size of a hotdog only longer, a black jaguar, tapirs, and a bunch of other animals. After that, we went to pick up his sister, Marifer, from school. It was the same school that he used to go to, so he went to talk to some old teachers. His sister is 16, but seems a lot older. We came home, his mom was making comida fuerte (lunch) which was tacos (clarification-"tacos" in the US and tacos in Mexico are two completely different things, tacos here are some type of meat and sometimes a vegetable and tortillas, then you stuff your own tortilla, I've never seen a folded hard shell here!) broccoli casserole, and chicken salad. Afterwards, I took a nap and Dario's best friend/godbrother Roberto came over, then we started getting ready because it was his mom's birthday, and she was having family over. We took some tables out to the backyard, (all of the backyards in Mexico are walled-in), and sat and talked for a little while. We took Roberto's car to the store to get some things for the party, and when we came back some people had arrived. We all sat outside eating pineapple, jicama (kind of like a turnip), and cucumber. Everyone was so friendly, but there was so much Spanish, my brain was hurting from trying to comprehend everything as well as trying to come up with responses to their questions quickly. One of the cousin's little girl, Katia is two and a half and was hilarious. When an uncle went to leave and was kissing everyone goodbye, she screamed "beso al perro!" which means, "kiss the dog!", and she was going around to everyone at the table saying that she had a secret and when they bent down to listen, she said "do, do dooo!!" really loud.

On Saturday, we woke up, I again had coffee, and we went out to eat at a restaurant that everyone in Chiapas knows about called "casa blanca" I tried Pozole, which comes in a soup bowl and looks like bean soup, but is cold and made with corn and cacao (chocolate). It sounds really gross but it wasn't too bad. I mean, I wouldn't order it, but I ate/drank it all, and the tacos were amazing. The restaurant was set up with continuous tables and benches, and only had two walls, one on either side. Later, I went home with his mom and did homework while Dario and Marifer spent time with their dad, who was in town. When they got back, we went to Chiapa del Corzo, which is a town about 15 min. away, with his mom, sister, cousin and her two kids (one of them Katia). The town is known for the canyons, and the monument that was built in the 16th century dedicated to Queen Isabel of Spain, and is shaped like her crown. The artwork there is really pretty, too, it's black with bright colored flowers. The bowls and cups and everything else is painted red inside by hand. Soon after arriving, Dario and I bought our tickets for the boat ride through the canyon, which I almost missed because I was in the bathroom. The canyon was beautiful, it is apparently much bigger than the grand canyon and taller, too. We saw a little beach that was covered with vultures, a cave that had a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and a huge crocodile. A few other things happened after we got back that I can't really remember, but later on Saturday night we all went over to Roberto's house, where I met his dad and brother. His brother (who is 16) has his own paintball business in the lot next to their house, and his dad is a car/motorcycle collector. I sat in his mustang while he was telling me to "boom boom", meaning step on the gas. Then I sat in his Jeep from World War II, which was pretty cool. Actually the car that Dario's mom has is one of theirs, because they have more than 10. It was rediculous, it was like walking onto the set of Cribs. Later that night, we met up with his cousin, Arturo again and another of their friends and we went out, which was painfully akward, but thankfully one of his friends studied in Canada and spoke perfect English, otherwise I wouldn't have said a word. (In a loud, crowded club it's hard to hear in English, let alone a foreign language).

On Sunday, we went to San Cristobal de las Casas, which is a small touristy town high up in the mountains and COLD! On our way there, we passed through a toll booth and his mom asked the attendant if a quarter of a tank would be enough and they said probably not, so we had everyone behind us back up so we could turn around to get gas. We had a little picnic once we got there of all kinds of sandwhiches. We walked down the market of tourism and I bought a necklace, got popscicles, and watched a street performance of a clown and a unicycle, a Mexican and German volunteer. They were making fun of the German because he didn't understand what he was sopposed to do or what the clown was saying to him, and I was really glad that it wasn't me! On Sunday night, we met another of his cousins at the mall and her 7 month old daughter, Becca who was facinated by me. We went to this really nice restaurant in the mall and got juice (kiwi juice! it was awesome) then ordered pizza from Dominos. Roberto and some other friends that I had met the night before were there and they were going to a movie. We went to his cousin's house, ate and played Uno for hours.

Monday, we went to Wal-Mart (everyone's favorite store), and to some houses of his family (they live on the same street). We picked up Arturo and went back to the house to eat lunch which was milenza chicken (extrenely thin chicken breaded and fried), spaghetti and meatsauce, and mashed potatos, then went outside to play Phase 10. Soon after, we were taken to the bus station, to wait for our bus that was thirty minutes late. It left around 7:30 and we finally got into Puebla around 6am, and waited for a taxi for 30-40 min, then had class at 9. Tuesday wasn't too much fun, but as I'm typing, it's already the weekend, so I'm not complaining! I kind of miss the heat of Tuxtla. It's about 75 here, but it was over 90 there! This weekend, the USAC program is going to Mexico City (D.F.) to go to the Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera museums. I still haven't decided what I'm doing for Spring break (which is in two weeks!), but hopefully this weekend, we'll decide. Until then, cuidate!

A Few Additions to the Last Update

I just realized I forgot to mention going to the Great Pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtepetl) in my last update! Last weekend Liz, Stephanie and I finally went! It's the biggest pyramid in the world by volume. When we first got inside, it was a long narrow tunnel with wings leading to nowhere, or to huge staircases but were blocked off. Towards the end (which I didn't know was the end at the time), the walls kept getting closer and closer together, and the celing kept getting lower and lower. We were kind of starting to get claustrophobic, but then we turned a corner and saw light. It was interesting, but kind of creepy because we were only in a little tiny tunnel for a little ways in a huge pyramid. When we got out we turned the corner and headed up the giant set of stairs leading to the church on the top. It took us forever to get up because there were so many stairs and it was wearing us out because they were all so steep. When we got to the top, we went the the entrance of the church, but there was a service. Now, I don't know who would venture all the way up to the top of a 250 feet tall mountain every sunday to go to church, but it was packed all the way out the door. While on top, we kept hearing a booming sound, like fireworks or something, but we didn't know what it was. The ruins at the bottom were all really confusing, because I'm pretty sure there were several civilizations that used the same site. There were stairs on top of stairs, stairs leading to nowhere, walls over walls, all different brick, etc. Near the stairs that have been excavated and restored (the rest of the pyramid has not yet been excavated and just looks like a huge hill covered in grass with a church on top), there was a reenactment of a ceremony of somesort. There were two men dressed in the biggest headdress I have ever seen, decorated with feathers as tall as they were, a hat made of a leopard's head, bone necklaces, shells around their calves, and other types of jewelry. After the pyramid, we walked near the Zocalo to get something to eat, and while eating we heard another "BOOM" but this time it sounded like it was right outside. We walked closer to the Zocalo and saw a bunch of people crowded around. They were watching a bunch of men dressed as Turks, or Russians, or something shooting what looked like a huge bonfire, without the fire. We were a little puzzled as to why people were dressed up, why they were shooting fake guns at a pile of sticks, and why so many people were watching them. A few minutes later a parade came by, they were headed for the Zocalo to join the others. We were beyond ready to leave because it was so loud and there were so many people, but we couldn't find a taxi that would take us back to campus (we eventually did, but much later). I asked one of my profesors who lives in Cholula what it was all about, and she said that it was Cholula's version of Carnival. It was called the dance of the Huehues.

Another addition: today there was "community day" on campus, and they had all kinds of food (not free, Ibero doesn't know how to attract college students), a bungee jump trampoline contraption, inflated American Gladiator type arena, and so on. When I walked past the cheerleaders (or dance team maybe?) were dancing to Britney Spears, and on our way to dance class tonight, we walked past again and they were doing lucha libre (ever seen the movie, Nacho Libre? yeah, like that) which is Mexico's version of professional wrestling where huge men put on tight pants and masks and "wrestle". It was more like watching sausages in glittery casings pretend to fight and pretend to get hurt and flip around. It made me embarassed for human kind. Maybe I'm not being a culturally sensitive as I should be, but professional wresting anywhere is pretty bogus. That's all for now that I can remember!

Happy International Women's Day!

Sorry I haven't updated much lately, I'm sure you all have been waiting impatiently on the edge of your seats wanting to hear what has been going on.
Some random things that I've noticed in Mexico:
The way they mix cement: so there is a new neighborhood being built right outside our window, (which isn't too much fun on the weekends when we're trying to sleep) and the way they mix cement looks so laborous. They clear a bit of land with a shovel, sift something stones maybe?, pour the bag and water, mix it with a shovel, shovel it into a bucket, lift it on their shoulder and take it upstairs to wherever it needs to go. Then come back down for more, or do it all again.
Bathrooms: Toilets are normal here, the only difference is a lot of times there are no toilet seats. Or toilet paper. Or soap. Or water. Sometimes a lack of more than one of these things. and for example in the bus station, it's three pesos to enter, and you have to get your toilet paper before you go in the stall (which I didn't know the first time). Another fun story, our toilet in our room got clogged about three times this week and the first time, I went down to ask the guards if they had a plunger (had to do some research on technical terms of the bathroom) and one of them walked with me to the stairs of my dorm where there was a plunger right outside, in plain view, three feet from the door. A little embarassing.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this already or not, but fried and roasted crickets are sold in every market here. I have yet to see anyone eat some, or buy some, or tell me they like them (common response is "ugh, those are disgusting").
Last weekend we played the middle school game of pizza and a movie at the mall. We went to see Slumdog Millionare ("Quisiera Ser Millonario"). This weekend Dario and I went to a huge market near the bus station and I bought 100 peso shoes (around $7), then up to this church that you can see from anywhere in Puebla because it's on a huge hill and has a white dome, that I have wanted to see for a long time. Then we walked all the way down to a shopping center complete with your Applebees and Starbucks, and went to see He's Just Not That Into You ("A El No Le Gusta Tanto"). We basically made it a whole day affair, and continued with attempting to go to an Irish pub on Avenida Juarez (a street in the really nice part of Puebla called La Paz), but as always, it was full, so we went upstairs to another bar/restaurant where we watched a show similar to Planet Earth and it was decorated like the 70s but modern.
On Saturday, Kayla and I went to the post office and finally got to go into the huge cathedral that Puebla is so famous for right in the Zocalo. There were three organs with the biggest pipes I have ever seen on an organ. Kayla was like "I could fit in one of those!". We tried to find this coffee shop that we went to one time that we really liked, (my chai frap tasted like Christmas), but had no luck because we couldn't remember the name of it or where exactly it was, but we knew we were really close. Saturday night I went out to Cholula with Dario and five of his friends. We were going to go to this restaurant that specializes in food from Chiapas that is apparently really good becuase it was so crowded. We waited for about 30 min. and nobody left, probably because there was a game on between Chiapas and Guadalajara on, so we decided to go somewhere else. It was pretty crowded too, but we sat outside and just kind of forgot about the game. They kept bringing us all kinds of snacks, soup, fish (which I did not partake in), cheese, chips, fried cheese rolls, something that I don't even know but was good, sausage, and maybe something else too. It was fun, but kind of hard because I understood about 30% of what the said and the rest I just inferred from mannerisms, tones of voice, and other means.
This morning a few of us went out for brunch to this restaurant that specialzes in juice. A large juice was a liter. (I was the only one that got a small), and everyone was treating it as a marathon "you're almost there Chris, don't let us down" "you can do it" "keep going", and so forth. The rest of today consisted of homework and arguing about daylight savings, which doesn't start here until April 5. Chiapas in four days!

More Adventurous

Thursday was Chris' birthday, so Chris, Sean, Kayla, Mariah, Celia, Rachel, Erin and I went to Rachel and Erin's house downtown. Their house is really close to the Zocalo, and own a restaurant which is the bottom front part of their house. It's a huge house, I think about 14 people live there all together. Since it was Chris' birthday,Papa Tomas (the sister's host dad) and mama Linda made us the most incredible food. We had homemade horchata, fresh squeezed orange juice, jugo de tamarindo, homemade tortilla chips and guacamole, squash soup, salad, spanish rice, and pechuga milanesa (very very thin breaded fried chicken). We ate until we were uncomfortably full, then had a tour of the house. It just kept going and going. The dog lives on the roof (which is really common here), where one of the habitants was hanging laundry to dry (the washer and dryer was on the roof, too). The girls have their own room apart from the house, with a balcony overlooking the courtyard with a fountain, lamppost, and children's toys. The house was built around a courtyard that was completely open. There were two kitchens, one upstairs and one down, but apparently the one downstairs is only used for holidays, which is sad because it’s an authentic Mexican kitchen, with some of the biggest pots and pans I’ve ever seen, and the tile stove that you put coals, or whatever heating source in the holes in front. On our way back to the bus stop, I got a watermelon popsicle at this ice cream shop that had every fruit imaginable and every flavor of ice cream you could want.
Friday during the day was probably the most boring day I’ve had yet, here. I didn’t really do anything, just some homework and was restless all day. Friday night, Sean made us “Josh’s feast”, consisting of all of Josh’s uneaten food, (rice, beans, tortillas) since he’s back in the states now. Later that night, a few of us were going out and ran into Regina as we were leaving the gate, so we walked with her through campus to meet her friend, Joslin (Joslyn? Josslinn?) who’s from Germany. We went with them to los Sapos (the popular strip downtown) to meet their friend Emiliano. We went to this really nice place that was an old church, and had a live DJ, but it closed fairly early, so we went looking for something else to do. We couldn’t decide, so we just went back to Emiliano’s apartment which was about 4 blocks away, to hang out. Again, the complex was surrounding a courtyard, where the residents part their cars. He is a really interesting kid, a photographer for Myspace, but a political science major. We left because Chris had a field study trip bright and early in the morning.
Saturday, Dario and I were going to go to either Pachuca, or Tlaxcala, two towns about an hour away from Puebla, each, but he couldn’t go, and I still wanted to, so Sean, Mariah and I went to Tlaxcala. We weren’t really sure where to go, what time the bus would leave, or what to do when we got there, but we just went to the bus station to see what we could do. I asked the clerk what town we should go to today, and he said Pachuca, but I asked him about Tlaxcala, since it’s closer and we left later than I had originally planned. The bus fare was only 16 pesos (about $1), and there was a bus leaving every 10 min. I think we made a good choice. The town was sprawled out on hills, very quaint and European looking. We didn’t do a lot of things of substance, just walked around and saw new things. I really liked it, we went to the biggest market I’ve ever seen, that was next to a really smelly river, when we were trying get back to the bus station we walked up this huge, steep hill, and down the road quite a ways, until we looked across the town and saw a sign for the store across the street from where we got off the bus. Aka-we were really far away from where we needed to be. So we walked back down the hill in attempts to get to the other side of town, and stopped in a store to ask a little old lady for directions. We were in a rush because it looked like a nasty storm was coming really quickly. Walking BACK up the hill again, there was a sand strom-ish. We were wearing our hoods up, sunglasses, and covering our mouths because there was so much sand blowing. The lady told us to just go down the street to the statue and catch the bus from there, which was great advice because otherwise we would have been walking around in the rain. We hopped on the bus and this time it was only 14 pesos.
Sunday, Kayla, Chris, Mariah and I went to Cholula in search of the Carnaval festival that was sopposed to be there, but we didn’t find anything. I did, however, finally see the largest pyramid by volume in the world, which is in Cholula. I didn’t go in because they had all already been, but I’ll go back sometime this semester. It is still buried in dirt/grass, except for the stairs, and the church on the top. Kayla bought a hammock (which she is lying in now), and I found a great store for Talavera. I still haven’t decided what to get yet, maybe a sugar bowl? Since nothing was really going on, we came back to the dorms and met Celia there. We still wanted to do something so we went to the smallest volcano in the world, which is in a tiny town between Puebla and Cholula, called La Libertad. The cab driver said that there was in fact a festival in Cholula, but that we had gone to the wrong center, there are apparently two centers in Cholula.
I had my final exam today for 305. We are taking three Spanish classes in one this semester. So tomorrow begins 306, then in March or so we’ll begin 410. Regina and Joslyn are renting cars to go to Acapulco this weekend and they invited us, so hopefully we’ll get to go!

week 6 thusfar

Quick recap:
Monday, Sean and I went to our favorite restaurant, Antojitos Tomy where I'm pretty sure the waiters know us and what we want to eat by now, and then to our favorite panderia (bread store) and I got two huge loaves of fresh baked bread and flan for 21 pesos ($1.50). Then he left and I ventured around Puebla to the market to do some grocery shopping for the week. All of the vegetables, fruit, and grains are fresh and really really cheap. I think I spent around 60 pesos (about $4) for an entire bag of food that will probably last longer than a week. Needless to say, the bad was REALLY heavy. I was walking to the bus stop to take it back to campus, and knew the intersection was 4 and 9, but couldn't remember which direction of 4 and 9 is was. Norte, Sur, Poniente, Oriente. so I walked around. And around. And around. Until finally I just said "okay, I know how to get there from the Zocalo, so I'll just go there and take the route we always do". It was long and grueling, but I think I've finally figured out Puebla's layout and plus, I found a new artisan market along the way.
Tuesday, I had to finish grocery shopping that I couldn't do at the market, like milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Not exciting.
Wednesday, about 15 of us went out because today is Chris' birthday. We went to a really nice restaurant in the mall and watched the Puebla soccer game. I asked the waiter how to pronounce BeerBQ Chicken pizza and he just looked at me and said "BeerBQ Chicken". "Oh" Everything was really good, but extremely expensive, especially compared to the prices of food we're used to. Chris and a few others shared a beer tower that was 3 liters, and about 3 feet tall with a tap. It was pretty interesting. Apparently they have those in the states too, but I had never seen them before.
In other news, the girls on our floor are actually starting to talk to us. It's not as akward as before. Kayla and someone else were racing them in Mario Kart the other night, and they've invited us to go out with them a few times, we've just never gotten our plans straight and missed them every time, but hey, it's a start. Stephanie moved to the second floor. Josh went back home to Las Vegas, Sean and Fionna may be moving to a homestay. There's a lot of changes going on in the USAC program!
I want to go somewhere this weekend, but a lot of people don't want to go, because we have our final exam on Monday for 305, and other people are worried about finances. But if it's just a day, I think it'll be alright.

Weekend Travels

Yesterday, Sean, Mariah and I went to D.F. (Mexico City) to go to Teotihuacan. We left the dorms a little after 7 to catch the bus to the bus station. When we got to the bus station we bought our tickets for the next bus at 8:20, which was perfect because we didn't have to wait but maybe 2 min. The ride there was so, as I've said before, so different. The scenery changes drastically. Sometimes it's the stereotypical Mexican landscape that people think of, dry grass, cacti, shrubbery. Other times it's like your driving through a midwestern American state with rolling farmland, horses, hay, etc. Then at one point, it reminded me of driving through North Carolina or something because the road was cut through a mountain, to to the left and right there was a wall of rock and dark green trees. I saw a few farms with farmers steering cattle and one man was on a roman carriage with a donkey pulling it. However, when we started apporaching the massive city of D.F. (Districto Federal), I saw what looked like Mexican suburbia. Cookie cutter houses made out of cement and painted bright colors, all attached to one another. Then we got more and more into town and then started the above ground subway trains (I don't know the name for them, not metro? not subway? not train?) and really amazing graffiti decorating the entire length of the ride. There was a park extending the entire length of the divided highway (I guess you would call it), with playgrounds and whatnot. When we got to the bus station we bought our ticket to Teotihuacan for 31 pesos ($2.25) and just like any other time we've needed a bus in Mexico, it left right away. We stepped on and it pulled away. Our timing could not have been any better the entire day. I was sitting behind some girls that had an Australian accent so I asked them if they were studying here, but they were in Mexico City "on holiday". They had met this kid from Guadalajara/Mexico City in Oaxaca a few weeks ago and then they facebooked him telling him they were going to be in town so he was there too. He was born and raised in Guadalajara, but now lives in Mexico City for school. So we all started talking a little bit on the ride there. We got in for free for being students in Mexico, which was nice, then headed through a street of vendors to a museum. When we got on the other side of the museum, there was Teotihuacan staring at us in the face. I knew it was a huge place, but I was not expecting it to be the size that it was. It was 2.some miles long. We didn't even get to see the other half of it, we started out going left, towards the pyramid of the moon. There were people selling whistles that sounded like jaguar growls (or people being murdered, according to Mariah), jewelry, blankets, and other items the entire way, kind of had to fend them off. We went through a tunnel from one plaza to the next under a set of stairs. (It's so hard to decribe this, maybe I'll just upload the pictures to photobucket :) Climbing the pyramids is so exhausting, they are massive and the staris are at about a 70 degree angle, and a foot tall each. But getting to the top makes it all worth it. From there, you can see the entire ancient city of Teotihuacan, along with the modern day surrounding of Mexico City. Climbing to the top of the pyramid of the sun (the biggest pyramid in Mexico), was even harder, but we rested in between levels. Sean, (if anyone knows my brother, Isaac, Sean is the closest person I could compare him to) got yelled at for not climbing the stairs, but for climbing the side of the pyramid, like McGuyver. We have some photographic evidence. At the top of the pyramid, I ran into the Aussies and Alejandro (I think was his name) again. It turns out that he knows someone from USC that I had a class with last year and who is best friends with Kathleen from FMLA. It really is a small world. I mean, I don't know this girl well by any means, but I at least know who she is which is crazy to not have any connections at all, just randomly meeting people that know people in other parts of the world. We were all exhausted, and thristy, and starving, so we went back to the bus station, across the street to a restaurant, ate then left. I originally wanted to stay in the city a little longer and go to the national museum of anthropology, and do some other sight seeing, but we were too tired. I'm just going to have to go back. Maybe Luis will come to visit and he can show me around his home town! Who knows? Today I'm going to get my haircut, finally and attempt to make it, yet again, to the pyramids in Cholula which I have been planning on doing for weeks now. Nos vemos.

Brief summary

Things have been pretty calm here lately. We watched the US vs. Mexico game last night and Dario left when Mexico missed a goal that probably would have given them a chance to win. Tomorrow Sean, Erin and possibly Josh and I are going to walk to Cholula, the next town over to see the ruins. Then Saturday we're planning to go to Mexico City and to Teotihuacan.
In dance class we're learning salsa, and the professor has to be the best dancer I've ever met so we all feel higly inadequate. Spanish classes are getting a lot harder, but my professor is extremely helpful. I asked him if he had a chart of all the tenses with equivalents in English, and he didn't have one but he said he'd look for one, and give us all a copy on Monday. I've been trying to speak Spanish everyday for at least 30 min. The other night I hit an hour and a half. Kayla, Josh, Dario and I finally broke down and went to Starbucks two nights ago. We just wanted a cup of coffee that's bigger than 8 ounces.

Pictures!

So I finally took the time to figure out photobucket, and I have some pictures up now! It's only about half of them, because I can't figure out how to get all of them since they've been uploaded in different files and programs and whatnot. They aren't very good especially the ones that were taken on the tour bus because it was the one day that it was cold and not sunny! and we were on top of a tour bus and were going too fast to get good pics. But there are some from Veracruz, but I can't upload the ones of my dorm or campus, or more from downtown. Also the newest ones aren't there yet, but keep checking because now that I know how to do it, I'll be uploading more often.

Here's the link: http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/soiwenthome/

Speak Spanish SLOWWWLLLLYYYY

Okay, so I'm way overdue for a post. AKA-This is going to take a while...
The week was a pretty normal school week. On Thursday, we went to the bus station to buy our tickets for Veracruz, which was much easier than I had expected it to be. It was 234 pesos, which is about $17. Next to the bus station is another huge market full of any kind of shoe you can think of, bags, jewelry, movies, everything, so I am definitely going to have to get some more shoes sometime while I'm here. On Thursday night, the International club on campus was hosting a bbq at some students from Spain's house. Regina (from Guatemala) told us about it so we went with her and got to meet a bunch of people from all over. You could totally tell the house was owned by college boys, but we mostly hung out outside by the bbq pit. The homeowners were all wearing either wigs or crazy hats, and the "chef" was wearing an indian headdress. I met some people from France, Spain, Mexico, Holland, and Germany, and ended up talking with a guy from Holland in Spanish for quite a while which was good, because it was the longest Spanish conversation I've had since I've been here. We talked about pretty classy things too, not gonna lie. Like differences between indigenous and non-indigenous Mexicans, the class differences and such, American politics, then what Holland is like. We talked to the kids from St. Louis and Seattle too. Then we stayed pretty much up until Chris dropped a glass and broke it. lol. Then Chris, Josh, Mariah and I went to the Ibero party at a club in Cholula, open to all students of Ibero. It was a really pretty club, but also really expensive. We met up with some of the Mexican students from the dorms there.

Friday, we got packed and ready to head out to Veracruz. The bus left at 3 and on the cab ride there, I was afraid we wouldn't make it. It was already 2:40 and we were still in traffic, but we made it with plenty of time to spare. The bus was a really nice charter bus, and they played Pirates of the Carribbean 3 to keep up entertained. The ride was really great because the land between here and Veracruz is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It changes so fast, one minute it was just brownish grass and shrubbery hillside, the next it was like a jungle. We got to the bus station a little before 7 I guess and took a taxi to our hotel. The hotel was in the perfect location and we had plenty of room for the 11 people that went. Each room had three double beds. We dropped off our bags and walked toward the Zocalo which was so pretty at night. There was live music and people everywhere and all the buildings were lit up. We ate at an outside restaruant with marimbas and mariachi music and tons of people coming up to us and trying to sell us random things. I had a real live Coke, not the Mexican version, a real one. It was great. After dinner we were all pretty tired, but didn't want to waste the night, so we just found a small kareoke bar to sit down and relax at. Almost everyone sang a song, and all were pretty terrible, except the boy's rendition of Bohemian Raphsody.

Saturday, we ate breakfast at the first Mexican restaurant where I didn't enjoy the food. Then we split up and some went to the Aquarium and to the beach, and my group went to the ruins at Zempoala. It was about an hour away, but it was so short, and the ticket was only 27 pesos which is about $2. On the bus to Cardel, we met this woman and started talking to her and told her we were going to the ruins, so when we got off the bus, she walked us to where the other bus picked us up at, and told us what restaurant to go to and what food to order there. She was so helpful, because i'm not sure we would have found the bus ourselves and it just so happens that it was about to leave when we got to it. Everything went so unbelievably smooth. The town of Zempoala was so calm and peaceful. It was tiny from what we could see with one street to the ruins and no cars, just a man or two on a bike and at one point, on horse. We ate at the restaurant she recommended, which was probably their house, (which is common in Mexico-the restaurant is downstairs, they live upstairs and when it's closed at night, they park their car in the restaurant). The owner had the cutest little grandson ever, and he was in a baby seat with wheels (what do you call those?) and slid out of the kitchen really fast. I couldn't stop laughing but I missed at taking the picture of it. He kept smiling and waving at us. The ruins were about 1 min. down the road max, and free to get in. We were basically the only people there, maybe one other couple. It was amazing to be there, in a place where people lived over a thousand years ago. We were walking where they did, touching and climbing what they touched and climbed. Sean and Fionna had a battle in this huge circle of stones, then later we "sacrificed" Josh. We climbed a huge branchy tree behind one of the pyramids. Later that night, we went out dancing. The first club was really crowded and really lame, so we left and went to another one that was pretty much the complete opposite, we were pretty much the only ones there, but we made friends with one of the waiters, Ricardo.

Sunday, we woke up and went to the family restaurant across the street. The owners were so nice and made my favorite thing about Mexico even better- fresh squeezed juice wherever you go. We went to the beach, which was pretty crazy because we ran into the St. Louis kids there, they were staying at the hotel across the street. The weather was perfect, but the water was cold. We layed out for a little while, then Chris and I went to ride some water slides at the water park that was right behind us. That was the most fun I had the entire trip and that water was nice and warm, and not salty. The water slides reminded me of the slides you have to race down in Mario 64, if you know what I'm talking about at all. Half of the group went home Sunday night, but Erin, Rachael, Chris, Josh, Celia and I stayed. We met back up with Ricardo and he took us to a really nice coffee shop that he used to work at. We watched the end of the superbowl there (we started watching it in the hotel room). Erin and I walked on the beach then took a cab back to the hotel because we were exhausted, but the rest of the group met up with the St. Louis kids and went out.

Monday, we went back the the family restaurant and we took a picture with them because they were so good to us that weekend, we wanted to remember them. We walked around the port, on the malecon and got ice cream. We went back to the beach, but the weather was a little windy, so playing cards was a little difficult. We sat at a table under an umbrella and Celia and I shared a pina colada. It was a really relaxing day. We had to catch our bus at 5:30, but when we got our food it was already 5:15, so we just ate really fast. The ride home was nice too, because we sat in the very front.

Veracruz is really pretty and interesting, but I just felt like I had to watch more carefully in front and behind us, there wasn't any reason to really feel that way, I guess it was just an instinct or a gut feeling, but I guess it was just weird because there was hardly anyone walking around on the streets, or even really driving, it was kind of eerie. There are a lot of details that I had to leave out for time's sake, and now Dario Kayla and I are trying to speak in Spanish to it's hard to jump back and forth!

Regeton is loud

This weekend was a lot of fun, on Saturday we all went downtown again but this time we split up into smaller groups. I bought a wooden necklace at the market with a tree carved into it. There are people that are always in the same exact spot every day doing things for money. This one blind man plays his trumpet in front of the cathedral, another man dresses indigenously and is a one-man-band type deal, another man has a monkey stuffed animal sitting on top of a hand crank music player saying "uno peso! uno peso!", another man painted silver standing like a statue, but on Saturday I saw a new man. He was dressed in a tuxedo, had angel wings, white gloves, his face painted white and a black zoro mask. He would stand like a statue then when people walked by he moved like a robot (G, an "egit" lol) and then dance. I saw him do the moonwalk then bounce around like he was a marienette. It was pretty funny. The weather here is so perfect. It's always sunny and about 70. On Saturday night, Chris, Josh, Erin and I went to Cholula to meet up with Megan and her boyfriend at this club called the Ming. It was asian-themed and huge. We all felt really underdressed, even though in the states we would fit in fine at a club. We really liked it but no one was dancing, they were all just standing around talking to their friends, so we went down the street to a techno club (finally!) and met up with some guys from the dorm. It was so sick, there was a light show, two huge projectors playing the videos, then a coulple of songs were accompanied with live performances, choreographed dances and such.

Yesterday some of us went to the mall to find new clothes to go out in, but that mall is crazy expensive, so I just went downtown to the markets with Darío. I bought a plant, a horn necklace with elephants engraved in it, and a $2 dress. Later we had family dinner in my room and just laughed for a long time. Sean was on my computer and when I opened it the next time, my desktop was a picture of him making a rediculous face and a double chin. haha, and today, we tried to take pictures on the porch with the volcano behind us, and he was just climbing all over everything. Everyone here is so friendly, and hilarious. A few minutes ago Chepe and Ramón were acting crazy at dinner and joking around. Today Kayla and I met another American, while sitting in the sun on campus doing homework. I had my first quiz today, and my first test is Wednesday! Jeannae and I were talking about studying abroad and how there actually is the part about studying in there...but it's really been fine, Kayla is a really good student, so we usually end up doing our homework together since we have all of the same classes except for one. I feel like I am learning a lot of Spanish, because today when I went to write my paper, it just flowed out rather than having to struggle with every word. And yesterday Darío was helping me by just pointing at things and saying the names of them. It's hard to get people to speak to us in Spanish because everyone speaks such good English, they just assume it's easier (and it is, but sometimes we just have to force it). We're still trying to figure out the Veracruz trip this weekend, we're just trying to find somewhere to stay that's affordable, we think we found a good bungalow, but we just have to make sure it's a legit website. Sometimes I forget I'm in Mexico, it's like I don't even remember living before here, like I was born here or something, or it's still a dream and I'm about to wake up. I don't know how to explain it, it's weird, but I like it!

I never know what the title of these things should be.

Yesterday Kayla, Erin and I went downtown and walked around. We got there earlier than everyone else while they were in class to try and take better pictures, because all the pictures any of us have taken do not do this city justice. We went into a dulceria (candy store) and bought amazing Mexican candy. Then we stumbled upon the museum of where the Mexican revolution started. Our tour guide spoke as much english as we do spanish and so we taught each other words. It was the home of Aquiles Serdan where he was shot, and where the first shot of the revolution was fired. It still had the original floors, and pipes (that still worked). All the flags were embroidered with gold thread, they still the the original window panels with the bullet holes in them. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I wish I could have because the house itself was amazing, let alone the huge piece of history that took place there. We went into a few of the most elaborate cathedrals. I will put up some pictures on here one day. I just haven't quite figured out photo bucket yet (and it's really slow). Then we walked around some more and happened to see everyone eating, so we met up with them and went to the Amparo Museum, the musem of Anthropology. It was the museum that my mesoamerican prehistory professor was always talking about. It was huge and had artifacts from all over Mexico and from all of the civilizations. It was so great to finally see the things we spent all last semester learning about, in person.

Then we went to the Zocalo to rest and this guy came up to us and wanted to practice his english so he started talking to us. It was so funny because he asked us what kind of music we listened to because he had the lyrics of "what if god was one of us" and was trying to learn them. Then the guys behind us started talking to us, and the one had perfect english because he used to live in LA. So we asked him where to find the best mole poblano, and different spanish terms we weren't quite sure about. Everyone here is so friendly and helpful and eager to talk to you to try to practice their english, which is great because then we get to practice our spanish.

We went to this restaruant that had the biggest quesadillas ever for 15 pesos (about $1). I haven't had any food here that I haven't liked. Potato tacos, juego de horchata, salsa, everything. And nothing is anything like the "Mexican" food in the states (suprising, huh?) The tortillas are thick, handmade, the salsa is sweet and spicy, everything is so full of flavor. I can't even begin to describe it. And the best part is it's so cheap! With a group of about 8 or 10 the bill is hardly ever more than 200 pesos (about $14). Yesterday I had falafel, haha. Oh and burritos are an american thing, just a little fact. They don't exist here. There are a lot of stereotypes that Americans have about Mexico and Mexicans that are completely absurd.

Last night we went out to Cholula again, and pretty much had a repeat of last weekend, but Cedric wasn't there this time. On Thursday night, Ignacio (the director of our program) attemped to have a pizza party. He tried. It was pretty much an elementary school PE teacher making us play games that none of us even remembered existed. Like jump rope, bulding a tower our of straws, etc. The man was nice, but we were all starving by that point and didn't eat dinner until about 8:30. C'est la vie.

I haven't been updating as much as usual, because the past few days have just been school and homework. It seems that whenever I try to write about the day, I can never remember the important things to say. It doesn't really matter what we did, it's how we felt about it, or how different everything is and why. It's so hard to describe things. Everyone just needs to come here and experience it for themselves.

Explanation

Maybe I came off as a little harsh in my previous post about the noise and school and the girls in the dorm. My disclaimer: it's only a few (maybe 4 or 5) girls, specifically on this floor. Every single other person that I've met has been really nice. And respectful.
We're going to a museum tomorrow, hiking a volcano on Saturday, and Veracruz next weekend!

19 de Enero

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Did you have a nice day off?

Today went by really fast. I added Spanish Conversation to my schedule so I have it Monday and Wednesday from 11:40-12:40. After class, we ate, studied inside a little bit, but the girls are so loud, so we went outside to campus and sat on the lawn in front of the library. the weather was so nice today, it was probably in the 70s. Later a couple of us went to the store to buy food for family dinner. On our way back from the store we left our mark in Puebla by sticking our feet in wet cement. We made chili and guacamole and used the kitchen downstairs because it's actually quiet, and clean. Kayla and I are going to break the TV tomorrow, like turn down the volume and take the up button off. While we were washing dishes tonight we heard them talk about us saying something about "I don't think they can understand us". It's not a cultural difference, it's a class difference. It's like "my sweet 16" on MTV. Ask and they shall receive. The girl downstairs was really nice though so we ended up eating our chili with her and watching Friends. Then we went back upstairs to loud music, screaming girls, and video games on volume 80.

Sean got the sickness today. I haven't heard from him, but he went to the hospital to get antibiotics. Kayla doesn't feel very well right now, so we'll see. We're all just anticipating our turn so we can hurry up and get it over with.

The kids here dress up for class, and so when the Americans walk in in our t-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes, we kind of get stared at, as if we don't enough already. This weekend we are planning to hike the volcano. Other than that, not too much new information on this end. Inauguration tomorrow! It seems like everyone here will be watching it right along with you.

Day 6/7...is that all???

So pretty much right after I last posted Fionna went to the hospital, but Erica went with her to translate. She was okay after she got some medicine and apparently she was out and about today, so it’s just a really bad, but really quick sickness. Last night a bunch of us went to eat at this really nice restaurant at the mall. It was by far the most expensive place we’ve been to yet but I think I spent about 100 pesos, which is only about $7.50. Stephanie and I weren’t feeling too hot, but after eating a good meal and a good night sleep we woke up fine. I was a little worried it was my time for the sickness. But we pulled through.
Today Kayla and I woke up around 9, went to wake up Chris and Sean, and gathered Josh so we could go to the mall. The mall is really close to us and is by far the nicest mall I’ve ever been to. It’s all marble floors and walls, two stories, but soooo expensive. It’s got stores like Prada, Lacoste, Louie Vuitton, etc. Needless to say we didn’t stay long, but we found out that they do have an arcade there, which we were pretty excited about. Then we caught a bus from the mall to downtown and walked around this really neat outside market with people selling everything: bags, paintings, jewelry, pottery, food, belts, anything and everything. Then we continued the search for shoes to fit Chris’s size 13 foot (which most likely doesn’t exist here). After that, we went to this mom and pop place to eat which was really good, I had rice and fried plantains. They had really good guacamole too. It reminded me of a 50s diner because they had all their drinks set out on the counter and old school milkshake machines. Then we went to another market but this one was indoors, and a lot different that the other. There was this huge building packed with vendors selling meat (which I’m pretty sure was in really unsanitary conditions), fruit and vegetables. The craziest thing I saw was goat heads. Across the street was the fish market which we all had to get away from, laughing because of the smell. That section of town was a lot different that near the Zocalo. The class difference here is so vast. The wealthy are filthy rich, like don’t know what to do with their money, rich. And everyone else is less materialistic, looks for deals on things, just lives day-to-day. Kayla and I came back and did some laundry but neither of the dryers are working, but there are three clothes lines in there. Oh yeah, and most of the girls here don't do their own laundry, they pay the maids to do it, which brings me to the only downfall I've come across so far...
The only complaint I can possible conjure up here, is definitely the girls in the dorm. They are so loud, and these walls are so thin. They turn the TV up so loud that I’m pretty sure you can hear it outside, they scream when they talk to each other, all talk at the same time and do NOT know how to clean up for themselves. The kitchen and common room are a mess, there’s food wrappers on the couches, dirty dishes covering the entire counter, food left out, food on the floor, and trash everywhere. Everyone that can afford to go to this school has been raised with maids and cooks and nannies and butlers and whatever else you can possible think of. So they just wait for the maids to come and clean all the dishes (which they do on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and yes, we have maids). So tonight when the 5 USAC girls that live on this floor went to make dinner, we moved everything into the corner, Lysol-ed the tables, and washed our own dishes. It’s not hard. Really.
In other news, everyone here has very distinct personalities, but we all get along really well. The other night we just sat and listened to Liz tell stories for an hour until our stomachs and cheeks were so sore from laughing we had to do something else. She’s the funniest person I’ve ever met, hands down. Sean is hilarious too, but it’s a different kind of funny it’s a lot more sarcastic. My roommate is really awesome too, and I get an opportunity to make fun of Chris’s Wisconsin accent. The best part is we are already planning a trip to Veracruz in two weeks because we have a three day weekend (four for me). Exciting stuff! How is the US?.....................

Recap

I feel like there is so much to catch up on, but we’ll just recap briefly(ish).
Friday: Woke up around 8 and did homework until 1, went to eat lunch with Kayla at the cafeteria, then we got Mariah and just walked around the neighborhoods around campus and went to Home Depot to get a new shower head b/c ours is corroded and rusty. A little while later pretty much all the USAC students met in Alyssa’s huuge loft room and hung out for a little while we decided what we were going to do. Our original plan was to go to Cholula to a techno club, but Alyssa said since it’s a huge college town and school hasn’t started yet it would probably be dead. But we ended up going anyway to this really awesome bar/club called Bar Fly, but the l and the y weren’t lit up so it just looked like “barf”. Hehe. They were playing really good music, and the clientele were dressed really modern/the kids in the US that attempt to reject popular society by means of old tight sweaters and keds or something. Whatever it is that they wear. We met another American there, Cedric. He’s a football coach at one of the universities in Cholula, and probably the only black person in Mexico. We went with him across the street to this dance club, Ultra (I think was the name). There was a huge line to get in but he said that’s his spot and goes there all the time so he knows everyone that works there so we cut the line and got right in. It was so crowded, we had to squeeze our way to the dance floor. It was two levels and they played all kinds of music. We heard popular Mexican songs, Shania Twain, Spice Girls, techno, Soulja Boy, along with other random songs that we haven’t heard for years. We left around 3 and it was still as crowded as when we got there. There was no sign of stopping. It was definitely the best club I’ve been to yet. Then we took a taxi back to the dorms.
Saturday: This morning I wake up to Chris yelling “Morgan! Morgan!” trying to find what room we’re in to wake us up to go shopping for shoes/clothes to wear out b/c last night we all felt so underdressed. So Kayla opens the door and the three USAC guys walk in (it’s like 11:30am). “Why are you awake???? It’s still the AM!” Anyway, so we got ready and went to the Zocalo to go shopping. We ate at this really good restaurant, and had the biggest glass of fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever seen. then walked around. Afterwards we sat on the wall of the Zocalo and watched a clown perform. Chris and I started talking to this guy Phillip, who spoke as much English as we do Spanish, so it was perfect.
The other students are starting to come back; there are two girls in the common room playing video games. There’s no insulation in the wall here so you can hear every single thing anyone does. Which is fine, because when it starts getting really hot, no insulation will be realllllly nice.
The other night Josh went to the hospital b/c he “got it”. Then last night Fionna went home early because she “got it”. We all know it’s coming, we just don’t know who’s next…It’s pretty much inevitable to get sick.
Tonight we’re going back to Cholula to wear our new dancing shoes. But for now, I think I’ll take a nap. Pictures are coming as soon as I can get a good mix of campus, downtown, and people.

Pesossss

Today was a lot of fun, like always. I went to my one and only class this morning, then ate at the cafeteria (awesome chilaquiles) and walked around campus and took pictures. Then Kayla, Josh and I ventured to the wal-mart across the street (I know I know, so American of me, but hey, it’s our first week and we don’t know where the good places are to shop yet) , but we took the long way…without knowing it. But it was the nicest wal-mart I’ve ever been in in my entire life. Then we took a cab back to the dorms, unpacked and I went downtown with a couple other people. There were six of us and we just walked around looking for a place to eat that looked good, and not too expensive. We made a really good choice (I don’t think there are any bad choices here). Then we walked around looking for something to do and found a pool hall and played pool for an hour or so (with Chris who is exceptionally good at it and made the rest of us look like we’ve never seen a pool table in our lives), then caught the bus right outside back to the gate of the dorm.
Everyone here is so nice and smells good. Most people seem to have a lot of money though…and the students apparently start arriving tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes, I heard that here, it’s like in elementary school where if you don’t have name brand clothes you’re talked down to and considered a “loser”, and here, if you don’t dress up for class it’s kind of the same attitude. There is definitely a huge class separation here. The uber-rich, and the lower middle class/lower class. And all of the really rich kids attend Ibero. I still can’t believe how different everything is and how much better everything is here than in the states. I am really dreading going back, without good public transportation, without being able to walk anywhere, without a huge city that feels smaller than it really is, without a small campus that is completely efficient and open and “Alice-in-Wonderland-at-the-queen’s-castle” feel, and super helpful set of faculty, random strangers smiling and saying “hola” as you walk by, being able to just hop into any restaurant and know you’ll be able to make like a bandit, the casual attitude of everyone, being able to actually enjoy a beer with dinner without feeling like you’re committing the biggest crime in the world, knowing you can ask anyone for help and they will help you no questions asked, I pretty much am getting extremely spoiled…and loving it! Okay well, like always I think I’ve walked to the moon and back already today, so again I’m really tired! But the good news is, I can sleep in as long as I want tomorrow, because I DON’T HAVE ANY CLASSES!!
Buenas noches!

Another AMAZING day here in Puebla! There is really so much to talk about and to explain I feel like if I don't post every day I'll miss out on recording everything that's happened.
We all met outside the USAC office to meet our Spanish professors and then we divided up to our seperate levels and followed them to our classroom. The classrooms are pretty small but there are only 6 people in my class so it's just fine. The professor is really really nice and willing to help in any way. His name is Noé Blancas Blancas. Then I had a break so Liz and I went to the cafeteria to eat lunch where some girls that are here for the year met up with us and after about two hours we had a group of about 10 USAC students. After that, I had my Multicultural Lives class with the American professor from Idaho. (about 10-12 students). After that we were all hungry so we went back to the dorm to drop off our bags and finally got our keys. From there we hopped on the bus that picked us up right in front of the gate to the dorms and went downtown to the Zocalo. We basically just stopped at the first restaurant we saw which was a really good choice! I had chalupas which were amaaazing. We walked around downtown for quite a while with two of the girls that were here last semester so they knew where they were going and what they were doing. We went through this huge plaza filled with tons of shoe stores, wedding dresses, clothes, food, candy, anything you can possibly imagine, but it was where all the rich people shopped you could tell by the clothes they were wearing and how nice the stores and streets were. Then we went inside another huge plaza of stores which, I can't even describe. Marble everywhere, a glass-ish(?) ceiling about three stories tall, really nice, clean, fancy things. After parousing cell phone stores we headed back to the Zocalo and caught a taxi back to the dorm. There were ten of us in two taxis one with 4 and the other with 6. It was really funny to see them pour out of the taxi.

So far, the most different thing about living in Mexico is you can’t flush the toilet paper, which isn’t really a problem because they change the trash every day. So if that’s the worst thing…I think I can handle this. The internet is spotty, so skyping might be kind of difficult. I’m not sure I haven’t tried it yet but Kayla was on it last night and it was breaking up and whatnot. We’ll see. Everyone here is so nice, I haven’t been harassed for money or whistled at or any of the other stereotypes Americans have/worry about. There are water coolers everywhere on campus, including in the common room with purified water. Oh, and there is free laundry upstairs.

My class schedule is:
Monday: Spanish 9:00-11:15
Tuesday:Spanish 9:00-11:15, Sociology, gender and Indigenous Belief in Mexican Cultures 2:00-5:00
Wednesday: Spanish 9:00-11:15, Multicultural Lives in Contemporary Mexican Society 2:30-5:15, Dances of Latin America 6:00-8:00
Thursday: Spanish 9:00-11:15
Friday: NO FRIDAY CLASSES!!!!!!!
Which means plenty of time to travel!

This Friday we’re going to a techno club in Cholula which is the next town over and as close as downtown is (about 20-30 min.) so I’m pretty stoaked about that. And next Thursday we’re going Salsa dancing with Kelly who is apparently an amazing salsa dancer and actually knows what she’s doing unlike the rest of us!

As always, I’m exhausted! But it’s the good kind, like when you’ve been at Disney World all day kind of exhausted. The other students come Sunday and start their classes Monday so things should not be as quiet as they are now (you could probably hear a pin drop down the hallway even with the door closed). But I’m going to bed now on my rock hard bed. We’re going to the store tomorrow to buy mattress pads and about a million other things that we need. (Like food! And soap! And toilet paper!)
Buenaaaaasssss

p.s.-I'll put pictures up here as soon as I get some with actual people in them, and of my dorm and campus and around town and whatnot!

My First Day in Puebla!

Disclaimer!: There are a lot of descriptions/details but it should die down with time

I know I've only been here for 24 hours, but I'm pretty sure I want to live here forever. I don't even want to think about the U.S. Yesterday was full of ups and downs, literally. Flying into Mexico City was absolutely amazing, every way I looked all I could see was city city city city houses buildings more buildings city. Coming into immigration/customs was a little iffy and I wasn't sure if I was sopposed to pick up my luggage or not so I asked someone (in Spanish) and they said to wait for it, so I did, but it wasn't there. So I just figured they'd get it to me anyway but right now I really need to make the next plane on time. I went through the doors and a crowd of people were standing there, some with signs, flowers, etc. This man with an airport ID came up to me and was like, "connecting flight?" So I said yes, and I followed him up to where the entrance to the gates was and he said "tip?". I thought to myself Ughhh...I'm not even there and I'm already being harassed for money? But I just politely said "no, I'm sorry" and kept walking. Next stop was Monterrey, which was completely different than what I expected. Granted I only saw it from 20,000 feet or so, but it was a lot more barren than I thought. When I got to Puebla, getting off the plane and walking outside through the tunnel-ish thing, there were piñatas hanging and signs that said "Bienvenidos! Welcome!". I waited near the baggage claim for just a few minutes for my luggage and thankfully it was there. I wasn’t sure where the group flight was coming in so I went to ask someone at the information desk and apparently my Spanish was so bad she just said (in English) “what are you asking?”. So I just waited for them, and this man asked if I needed a ride to the University and I said “I don’t know, are you Ignacio?”. It wasn’t him, but he was very nice and we talked for a few minutes. Finally, Ignacio came in and saw me and we introduced ourselves, I met his assistant Leti and we just spoke in English (thankfully) for a while until Liz and Stephanie came off the plane, then we waited on the others to get there, we put our luggage in the school’s van and got in another one. I was super excited to meet everyone and everyone was so nice and after a while, we all got a lot more comfortable because we were all in the same boat. We were all a little nervous, worried we didn’t know enough Spanish, curious if Puebla was going to be okay or not, if the program was going to be anything like we expected. We soon realized we all knew about the same thing: same insecurities, same levels of Spanish, etc. etc. So the whole way to the school (about 30 min) Ignacio explained every possible thing that we had doubts about and if we had any questions. After all the questions were answered I asked him what his favorite color was (it was blue) and then we started talking about soccer.
When we got further into town it was so exciting, there were street vendors selling food, lights, buildings connected and colorful. I was going on pure adrenaline by then, and when we arrived at the dorms we went through a gate, and up to our rooms. My roommate was already in the room. Her name is Kayla, and she’s an American from Idaho. The room is just like any other dorm in the world. Two beds, two desks, two closets, one window, but the nice thing here is we have our own bathroom, medicine cabinet and everything. And the linens were a lot better than I was thinking. Everything is white and either tile or plastic (even the walls) inside and out. There are doors that lock to every floor, a huge kitchen/living room when you first walk in with everything you need. Our view isn’t the best in town, but it’s not important, I won’t be in it very much this semester, I can feel it. The dorms are surrounded by a high voltage fence, and 24 hour security guards (who now know us all by face, name and room number). I was so excited to talk to everyone and there are 6 other American girls in the dorm, 4 on my floor, and 2 below.
It feels like I’ve been here so much longer than I really have, I almost said “in the morning”, rather than “this morning”. THIS morning we met in the common room to go to breakfast at the cafeteria a cars length away from the dorm, but they were closed, so we went across the street to campus. We found an ATM and for the first time I felt rich. Taking out 1,000 sure feels better than 100. Then we had orientation and we told Ignacio we were hungry so he had people bring us breakfast and COFFEE! (Proving how nice he is). We had to take a placement test to make sure we signed up for the right level of Spanish and at first I felt pretty good about it, but as I was approaching the third page, that feeling went away. Then there was an oral portion which I failed miserably. Whatever. It turns out that everyone wants to go to the same places I do (Veracruz, Acapulco, Palenque, etc.) and we have two three-day weekends, one five-day weekend, and spring break, so hopefully we’ll make it everywhere! The buses are really cheap too, so that’ll help.
Campus doesn’t even feel like a school. It feels like a resort. Or like in the movies when they show a California high school and the locker are all outside. We kept the door open during orientation because the weather was like a warm spring day. There are cylinder-shaped trees, flowers, swans swimming in the lake (which has a small island and a few bridges), peacocks that walk right in front of you like they’re just another person or something, everything is built to be open, bright, and breezy. We had a tour of the library (very nice, and very modern), and campus. Then we had lunch, which Ignacio “cooked” (aka-got from Costco). Which reminds me, there is a huge shopping complex behind the school equipped with Wal-Mart, Costco, Sears, and a ton of other stores. Next, we hopped on the bus to go downtown. It’s nice because the school has its own bus system that picks you up and drops you off at the main gate basically every hour on the hour M-F and a taxi service that picks you up at either the dorms or the main gate to the school.
Leti took us from where the bus dropped us off and walked with us to the Zocalo (main square) of Puebla. I was skipping and whistling in my head because every single thing I looked at was way cooler than anything else I’ve seen. The signs, the buildings, the houses/apartments, the streets, the colors, everything. There was so much going on! When we got to the Zocalo I thought my heart was going to explode. Some of my favorite types of trees filled this huge square right next to a huge 16th century cathedral with fountains everywhere, people selling the most balloons I’ve ever seen one person carry in my life, everyone seemed to be either holding hands, kissing, or linking arms with their friends. School must have just gotten out because a lot of kids were in uniforms, but like the cute Japanese kind, not the American kind. We took a double-decker bus tour of the city where I took a ton a pictures.
8 of us decided to stay downtown instead of heading back to campus, so we went to this little restaurant while a man sang un cancion to us/me. He asked my name then incorporated it into the song. Erica is fluent in Spanish which was sooooo helpful because otherwise, we would have been screwed. Then we went on a hunt for sheets, because a few people didn’t have anything to sleep on last night (which would have been me). We were all just hoping around the city as it began to get dark and all the lights came on. There are definitely not as many people walking around and in stores etc. as I thought there would be. We went to a drug store to buy food for tomorrow morning. We finally found sheets which was interesting because Josh doesn’t speak any Spanish whatsoever so Erica was translating everything and he didn’t have enough so Sean chipped in to cover the rest. The stores here don’t really have doors, I mean they do, but not like in America. Everything is open and some kind of remind me of a storage shed or a garage. Then we gathered up money for the bus to go back to school, and Erica paid my fare because I didn’t have change (it was only 5 pesos which isn’t even 50 cents). We were heading to the bus station and saw bus #29, the one we needed speeding past us and stopping at a bus stop far ahead of us, so we all started running trying to catch up with it, but it was a lost cause. Then we saw another bus #29 and walked right onto it without even waiting a full minute. The bus ride back was entertaining and we made it back to campus pretty much by luck.
When we were walking through the parking lot I said “I would call today a success”. I mean, we got to eat breakfast for free, it wasn’t boring for even a minute, none of us got sick from the restaurant, Ana got into the right cab safely, we got off on the right bus stop, we didn’t miss the bus, we didn’t get lost or mugged, everyone was so patient and helpful we had Erica to translate when needed (which was most of the time), and nothing could have turned out any better.
I’m in an exciting, culturally and historically rich city, a new country, surrounded by a new language but at the same time everyone in this program speaks English. We all get along really really well and we were planning on all hanging out together tonight after we unpacked but the boy’s dorm is locked and we have no way of contacting them. It doesn’t really matter because I’m exhausted and could have/should have gone to sleep two hours ago, but I don’t want to forget a single thing that has happened so far so I had to write a much as I could tonight! Well, I have class at 9 tomorrow morning so BUENAS NOCHES! Hasta pronto.

I'M HERE! I MADE IT!!!

Today was not as bad as I thought it would be. Everything turned out just fine, and everyone seems really awesome. I promise I'll catch you up on EVERYTHING tomorrow, but I'm so tired I can't think right now. I've been awake for 21 hours...

Pre-Departure

I leave for Puebla Mexico on January 12 (6 days! :/ ). I'll take a plane from Nashville to Memphis, to Huston, to Mexico City, to Monterrey, to Puebla. That's the only part I'm a little worried about, I hope my luggage makes it!