Another Quick Update

Just another quick update.

We went on a tour of the city on Saturday and saw some really amazing places. My favorite was Pipila, a giant statue above the city. It has an amazing view of Guanajuato.

Sunday my parents took me to the mall and then to the market, which was fun. Then my mom made cheeseburgers for lunch. I was very happy.

This week is going by really fast, and homework is piling up. The Spanish class and orientation session only have one week left, and I have a final essay for each. I also have two more mini essays and a presentation. I will be in Mexico City this weekend, and things start being due on Tuesday. Stressful! But everything is very interesting, and things that I actually want to be writing about. Hopefully that will make it go by faster.

I met my host brother! He lives in Mexico City, but I think he may have moved back into our house. I am not quite sure. He is really nice and funny, and even though my spoken spanish is horrific he still compliments it all of the time, which is very nice of him. I am excited to get to know him and my sister better.

Today my family had a ton of relatives over and we watched Sherlock Holmes. Afterwards, I went to a salsa lesson with fellow study abroaders, which was really fun. I think I am going to go again next week.

I am a little surprised by how homesick I am. I had a really bad day a few days ago where I was terribly homesick the entire day. Luckily it is not that bad anymore, but I definitely have my moments. And they come at the strangest times. Last night I was talking about the kids at Buckman with a fellow future teacher, and a huge wave of homesickness came over me. Today during salsa, I was remembering going out dancing with Faire, and homesickness again. But these waves are becoming further apart and less intense, so I hope as time passes they will just go away :) Because I am having an absolutely amazing time, and I can not even believe how lucky I am to be here.

That is it for now I think. Tomorrow I will be picking classes (I think I will be taking Migration & Contemporary Social Issues of Mexico, History of Mexico, Contemporary Mexican Literature, and either Latin American Cinema or Phonetics of Spanish). This weekend is Mexico City. Then it is the last week of Orientation. Then I start my real University classes. Crazy!

Getting used to it

Entrance to my room from the garden!

haven’t even been here a week, and I already started to feel like I was stuck in a rut. Things with my family felt a little awkward, I hadn’t quite clicked with the other students, and I was feeling a little under the weather. Yesterday I basically slept all day, ate dinner, then went back to sleep. This morning I woke up feeling pretty uneasy.

But today ended up being a very good day. Yesterday, our homework was to go to the market. We had to find a fruit that we had never seen before, ask about it, and bring it to class today. I bought a tuna, which I think we just call a prickly pear (that is what my dictionary tells me). My host dad told me all about it. It grows on a nopal, which is a type of cactus. Everyone brought their fruit to class, and we had to talk about it and then eat it. The tuna fruit is really sweet, with lots of seeds. I also ate a mamey, which I didn’t like at all. The fruit is the color of pumpkin and it has a really strange texture. Mangoes here are way sweeter and more delicious than back in the states, and also way cheaper. Right now I can go buy a mango for 1 peso, which is about 12 US cents. And they are soooo good.

After class I finally found a store that sells bars of soap and shampoo. I live right in the downtown area, so there are no supermarkets or anything like that. I finally asked my mom and she told me where to go. I followed her directions and found the store on my first try (which is AMAZING- have you Google mapped my city yet? It is unmappable and impossible to get directions that make sense.) I also found my way downtown from there, so I’m getting the hang of this. I think.

Then I went out with some of the other students, which was fun. We watched a creepy clown who liked to chase people down and kiss them, then went to a restaurant. Yay for being able to drink a beer with my food!

The best part of my day was after dinner, when I came home and had my first real conversation with my parents. So far I have been really shy about my Spanish, and our conversations have been really limited. Tonight we talked about learning new languages and about how Spanish is viewed in back in the States. It was the first time that I really felt at home here, and I feel a lot more relaxed.

Random side note- Today my mom made me hot dogs with avocado and mustard for breakfast. Interesting.

Quick Update

Just a quick update.

Moved in with my host family. My mom, Berta, is the sweetest little lady, and my dad, Jesus, is so adorable. I am excited to live with them. My sister is out of town and I don´t get to meet her until later.

The next three weeks are pretty low key. I have Spanish class from 9 to 12 and then our Orientation type class from 12 to 1. Then I go home for lunch and basically have nothing to do all day except homework. My house doesn´t have internet, which is really nice when I need to get stuff done. I end up watching a lot of Law and Order with my mom. Just like back in the States.

I live about 5 minutes from the university but I still get lost everytime I leave the house. I am getting the hang of it though. Today I walked home from class without getting lost. Hopefully tomorrow I can get there without getting lost. I live RIGHT next to one of the biggest tourist attractions in town, and just around the corner from the main plaza, so if I get super lost I just ask how to get to either of those. But getting lost is fun. There is a lot to see here.

For some reason we aren´t going on a tour of the city until the 17th, so I haven´t seen most of the landmarks of the city. That should be interesting.

That is all for now. Pictures when I find somewhere that I can get wireless!

Arrived Safely

Just thought I would write a super quick entry to let everyone know that I have arrived safely in the city. I got into town last night around 7, and our group had a big dinner at the hotel.

Today we all loaded onto a bus and went to a natural park on the outskirts of the city for orientation. We were there all day, and we ate lots of yummy food and drank a special type of coffee that I am in love with. The picture is a view of the city from the road we drove to the park.

It is only about 4 and I'm exhausted. Right now is free time. Lots of people are out exploring, but I don't want to get sick and lose my voice, which happens a lot when I travel. So here I am in the hotel room, on Facebook. We have a Spanish test at 6 and at 7:30 I get to meet my family. They wrote me a quick letter that I got earlier today. It says (roughly):

Hello Kelsey, and welcome to Mexico! I'm sure that you will like it here very much, especially Guanajuato. We have lots of fine things here! You're going to have a really good time. We are happily waiting for you to come join us in your house.