Last week.

So much has happened since going to Puerto Vallarta, I don't even know where to start. It has been a rough month, not because of drama or illness, but just because I know that I'm leaving Guanajuato soon. Over the past year, this city has truly become my home. I will miss sitting on the steps of Teatro Juarez doing nothing in particular, drinking in the sketchy basement bar La Pinta with Alexander and his co-workers, watching a really gruesome autopsy show with my host mom as we eat dinner.

The day after I got back from Puerto Vallarta, I went to Alexander's cousin's birthday party. It was SO much fun. I spent the night chatting with the family, dancing salsa and cumbia, and getting caught in the middle of a flour/confetti fight. Best birthday party ever.

The first weekend of April I went to Lagos de Moreno with Alexander to visit his uncle. It is a city in Jalisco, but only about two hours away from Guanajauto. Hospitality in Mexico is unlike anywhere else. When you visit someone, you are always told estas en tu casa, or you are in your house. Sort of like mi casa es tu casa, but deeper and more sincere. We started off the visit by spending the day at the pool with the whole family. His uncle has three children, roughly 12, 9, and 2. I'm in love with those kids. In the pool it was boys vs girls, so Denise (9ish) and I teamed up against Alexander and Axel (12ish) in some sort of game. After the pool, we went grocery shopping, ate dinner, then stayed up all night playing Guitar Hero. Just like home. The next morning we stayed in watching movies, then headed back to Guanajuato that night. I felt more at home with his family than I have felt in a very long time, and was very sad to have to leave. The family might be taking a trip to the US sometime next year, hopefully they will drop by Portland!

Nothing all that exciting has happened since. Friday night was the program's goodbye dinner. Afterwards, I finally went out drinking with Imelda, Charlie, Allison, and Abram. We started off at La Diabla and ended up at the UG Foreign Language Department's goodbye party. SO MUCH FUN. Within twenty minutes of getting there, I was getting salsa and cumbia lessons from a really nice student. He kept saying "See? I told you it was easy. You're a natural." He was just being nice, but it was still so much fun. After an exhausting hour of dancing, I joined back up with Imelda and met a lot of other exchange students. I'm really sad that I'm only just now meeting them, because I can see most of them becoming pretty good friends.

So that is all for now. Less than a week left in Mexico. I still have so much to do. I still have my final essay and presentation for 19th Century Latin American Literature, packing (how am I going to fit everything in the two small suitcases that I brought?), and gift buying. Sigh.

Oh, Mexico, I'm going to miss you so so much.

Pizza with chimichurri. SO good.'

Me, Alexander, Denise, and Axel after a day of swimming.