It seems like forever since this morning… well I guess it has been. Forgive me if this makes no sense at all. I’m in a strange daze after waking up at 3:45 in Charlotte, NC, then to Mexico City and then finally here in Cuernavaca. It doesn’t seem real quite yet. I know I’m here, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going to be here for four months. We haven’t really explored at all yet so that also feels a little strange.
Anyway, let me start from the beginning….
The drive down to Charlotte was gorgeous. There were lots and lots of mountains. It seems to be a theme of this trip. Avi and I stayed in Charlotte at the Super 8 in a quite sketchy part of Charlotte. When we got there the woman was behind bullet proof glass and one of those things that you put the money in and slide the drawer through and vice versa, like at a bank or a jail. We got our room ok though and it was fine, typical enough. We were both exhausted after not getting much sleep the night before because of homework for Avi and Spanish studying for me. We were at the library until 11 and then still had more to do at home. So… sidetracked again, sorry… slightly traveled out and border line delusional.
So we decided to go out to eat at an Indian restaurant we found in some tourist book. We kind of had no idea where we were going though when we set out driving. We drove around for what seemed what forever, making like three giant circles that we figured out were so close to where we were trying to get in the first place. Ay ay ay. We were both at our ends because we were so tired when we finally got to the restaurant. I was getting nervous about Mexico and combined with being tired, hungry and lost, it was not a good combination. We had a good dinner though and I felt better afterwards. We called it a night with a little bit of TV and set our alarms for 3:45.
At 3:45 we rolled out of bed, into the car and off to the Charlotte airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but it helped that I was getting really excited for my trip and so tired I didn’t really realize what was going on. The first flight was just from Charlotte to Atlanta and took about 45 minutes. It was dark and the lights kept playing tricks on me. Some were all even, forming the perfect curves of cole de sacks and gated communities, evenly placed on evenly placed driveways, with evenly placed houses. But then there were the random patches with just black and little points like stars. It reminded me of those magic eye books because I could look at it one way and it would look like a city rising up, and then another and it would be woods with a few street lights again. The sun was rising on the other side too, but it was like a perfect gradient of a tequila sunrise, fitting… a sunrise with out the sun.
Then I had a long change over in Atlanta where I called my parents and it hit me that I was on my way. It was a strange feeling, both good and bad. I was excited, but it felt like I was leaving for good. A little water and reminding myself that I would be home in 4 months and I was on my way! It was interesting to see everyone going into Mexico City. There were definitely more Mexicans than anything else. I was hoping to practice my Spanish and being brave speaking it on the plane, but the seat next to me was empty and the one all the way over had a Mexican businessman who had earphones on most of the time.
I got more and more excited as we got closer and less overwhelmed. More than ever I just wanted to be there and have all these strange feelings of anticipation over with. Once we got into Mexico we flew over the mountains neat Mexico City and it was so beautiful. They seem sharper, crisper than the old mountains in the North East and there were so many different kinds of land… mountains and then a patchwork of fields that looked like a quilt then little cluster towns and finally, Mexico City, sweeping out for what seemed live forever.
The overwhelming feeling came back on as soon as I left the customs gate in Mexico City and everywhere I looked there were people. We had directions to go to the food court by going up some escalator, but I was so confused and it was hard to maneuver my giant suitcases through lunch time food court traffic. Then I finally saw a group of girls sitting there looking just as exhausted as I was.
It seemed that everyone had the same anxieties about the trip as I did… about their Spanish, about being somewhere for four months. We were all overwhelmed by the busyness of the airport. I also started speaking to one of the drivers and that made me feel much better about my Spanish and much more confident about speaking it.
Mexico City reminds me of when I was in Lima, which was also quite overwhelming. There’s cars and people and signs all over, many of them American brands too. They had Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts in the airport, but there seemed to be less of that outside of the airport and more little stores, though I did see a sign for a Wal Mart. We were all pretty quiet on the drive… or completely asleep. There were gorgeous mountain views as we got closer to Cuernavaca. They’re hard to describe… lots of different shapes and lush and desert like at the same time. I kept trying to take pictures out of the window and I got one or two good ones of the view.
When we arrived in Cuernavaca we met the RA/TAs of both programs. They are both incredibly nice and helpful as well as just fun and cool people. They told us which of the two houses we would be staying in- Casa CEMAL or Casa Verde, which is also caused Casa Augsburg. I was assigned to Casa CEMAL. I have three roommates and it seems like it’s all going to work out really well. Two of the girls, Emily and Katie, are from the Social Work program which goes on at the same time and we do a lot of activities with and the other girl, Betsy, is also in my program and from Boston as well! We are the only ones from the Northeast.
Our house is beautiful. You enter through a gate from the street. There is the
main house and then a garage that has the offices above it with a gorgeous little tropical garden in between. It has a swing and a hammock and just feels very homey already. Then there’s a little overhang and a patio with chairs and a table on one side and then some hang out seating space on the other. The door is right in the middle and opens into the main living room. Our bedroom and another one that also has four girls is right off of the living room. It has a nice view of the garden and its own bathroom off of one side.
Through the living room is the dining room and kitchen, which has all windows on one side looking out over Cuernavaca. It’s a really nice environment where everyone helps out and is very respectful. There’s also a lot of focus on being environmentally friendly, which I also like. There is a dry season in Cuernavaca so it is especially important not to waste water. We all wash our own dishes except during meal times when whomever’s job it is does the dishes. We all have little jobs around the house. My job is with computers, which I guess I’m ok at, or at least can usually figure out fairly well. I kind of ended up with it at the end, but I think it will be good actually because they’re going to teach us about what to do in terms of fixing the internet or unjamming the printer etc. The internet is really inconsistent so posts might be a few days behind when I wrote them, but I’m going to write in word when it’s down.
I forgot the best part about the kitchen… we all have our own little rings hanging on the wall with our names above them. And guess what they are for?! Cloth napkins. We all have one for the week which we hang on our ring when we aren’t using it. Then at the end of the week, or earlier if it’s a messy week, they get washed and we get a new one to hang in our ring. It reminds me on Parent’s Nursery School where we all had those red cups with a piece of masking tape and our name on them and then there was a whole wall of hooks where we would hang it under our name, also in masking tape.
We were all so exhausted at night that we just unpacked a little bit, tried unsuccessfully to get on the internet, and then crashed. I slept so well and I am glad that I am in this house because someone said the other house is really loud. It rained, which I guess what very strange since it is the dry season and hasn’t rained in 2 months. It added to the tropical feeling though and I love the smell of warm rain. It was so crisp and organic. It was so real, like all of the earth was saying, “I’m here.” I can’t really think of any other way to explain it.
We woke up this morning, had breakfast and went over some orientation stuff. It still felt so strange to be here, especially because we still hadn’t been really out in the town so it felt even less real. I got to meet some of the other girls I hadn’t yet and got to talk to a few of the ones I had before even more. Everyone is really nice and excited to be here. Most of them are from Minnesota, from a few different schools. There’s also a girl from Tennessee, one from Kansas, a few from California, a girl from North Dakota and a few other places I’m forgetting.
After we went over the orientation stuff like how to take a taxi and some cultural things and stuff like that, some doctors came to talk to us about a study they were doing about stomach bugs that travelers get. Almost all of us signed up. All we had to do was give a little bit of blood and then keep track of how we felt for two weeks. Then if we get sick they give us special antibiotics and come to the house to help and stuff like that.
After that we went on a scavenger hunt in Cuernavaca. My group spent most of the time looking for the admission price of somewhere that didn’t even have an admission price! Then we went down to the center and looked around Cortés’ palace for a while. It was neat to be out in the city. We had to keep asking for directions to find the things we were looking for and everyone was so incredibly nice despite us asking strange questions and our Spanish not being wonderful. It was really fun, a little overwhelming, but really great and welcoming despite being a bit overwhelming again.
Well… time for Salsa lessons!
Anyway, let me start from the beginning….
The drive down to Charlotte was gorgeous. There were lots and lots of mountains. It seems to be a theme of this trip. Avi and I stayed in Charlotte at the Super 8 in a quite sketchy part of Charlotte. When we got there the woman was behind bullet proof glass and one of those things that you put the money in and slide the drawer through and vice versa, like at a bank or a jail. We got our room ok though and it was fine, typical enough. We were both exhausted after not getting much sleep the night before because of homework for Avi and Spanish studying for me. We were at the library until 11 and then still had more to do at home. So… sidetracked again, sorry… slightly traveled out and border line delusional.
So we decided to go out to eat at an Indian restaurant we found in some tourist book. We kind of had no idea where we were going though when we set out driving. We drove around for what seemed what forever, making like three giant circles that we figured out were so close to where we were trying to get in the first place. Ay ay ay. We were both at our ends because we were so tired when we finally got to the restaurant. I was getting nervous about Mexico and combined with being tired, hungry and lost, it was not a good combination. We had a good dinner though and I felt better afterwards. We called it a night with a little bit of TV and set our alarms for 3:45.
At 3:45 we rolled out of bed, into the car and off to the Charlotte airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but it helped that I was getting really excited for my trip and so tired I didn’t really realize what was going on. The first flight was just from Charlotte to Atlanta and took about 45 minutes. It was dark and the lights kept playing tricks on me. Some were all even, forming the perfect curves of cole de sacks and gated communities, evenly placed on evenly placed driveways, with evenly placed houses. But then there were the random patches with just black and little points like stars. It reminded me of those magic eye books because I could look at it one way and it would look like a city rising up, and then another and it would be woods with a few street lights again. The sun was rising on the other side too, but it was like a perfect gradient of a tequila sunrise, fitting… a sunrise with out the sun.
Then I had a long change over in Atlanta where I called my parents and it hit me that I was on my way. It was a strange feeling, both good and bad. I was excited, but it felt like I was leaving for good. A little water and reminding myself that I would be home in 4 months and I was on my way! It was interesting to see everyone going into Mexico City. There were definitely more Mexicans than anything else. I was hoping to practice my Spanish and being brave speaking it on the plane, but the seat next to me was empty and the one all the way over had a Mexican businessman who had earphones on most of the time.
I got more and more excited as we got closer and less overwhelmed. More than ever I just wanted to be there and have all these strange feelings of anticipation over with. Once we got into Mexico we flew over the mountains neat Mexico City and it was so beautiful. They seem sharper, crisper than the old mountains in the North East and there were so many different kinds of land… mountains and then a patchwork of fields that looked like a quilt then little cluster towns and finally, Mexico City, sweeping out for what seemed live forever.
The overwhelming feeling came back on as soon as I left the customs gate in Mexico City and everywhere I looked there were people. We had directions to go to the food court by going up some escalator, but I was so confused and it was hard to maneuver my giant suitcases through lunch time food court traffic. Then I finally saw a group of girls sitting there looking just as exhausted as I was.
It seemed that everyone had the same anxieties about the trip as I did… about their Spanish, about being somewhere for four months. We were all overwhelmed by the busyness of the airport. I also started speaking to one of the drivers and that made me feel much better about my Spanish and much more confident about speaking it.
Mexico City reminds me of when I was in Lima, which was also quite overwhelming. There’s cars and people and signs all over, many of them American brands too. They had Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts in the airport, but there seemed to be less of that outside of the airport and more little stores, though I did see a sign for a Wal Mart. We were all pretty quiet on the drive… or completely asleep. There were gorgeous mountain views as we got closer to Cuernavaca. They’re hard to describe… lots of different shapes and lush and desert like at the same time. I kept trying to take pictures out of the window and I got one or two good ones of the view.When we arrived in Cuernavaca we met the RA/TAs of both programs. They are both incredibly nice and helpful as well as just fun and cool people. They told us which of the two houses we would be staying in- Casa CEMAL or Casa Verde, which is also caused Casa Augsburg. I was assigned to Casa CEMAL. I have three roommates and it seems like it’s all going to work out really well. Two of the girls, Emily and Katie, are from the Social Work program which goes on at the same time and we do a lot of activities with and the other girl, Betsy, is also in my program and from Boston as well! We are the only ones from the Northeast.
Our house is beautiful. You enter through a gate from the street. There is the
main house and then a garage that has the offices above it with a gorgeous little tropical garden in between. It has a swing and a hammock and just feels very homey already. Then there’s a little overhang and a patio with chairs and a table on one side and then some hang out seating space on the other. The door is right in the middle and opens into the main living room. Our bedroom and another one that also has four girls is right off of the living room. It has a nice view of the garden and its own bathroom off of one side.Through the living room is the dining room and kitchen, which has all windows on one side looking out over Cuernavaca. It’s a really nice environment where everyone helps out and is very respectful. There’s also a lot of focus on being environmentally friendly, which I also like. There is a dry season in Cuernavaca so it is especially important not to waste water. We all wash our own dishes except during meal times when whomever’s job it is does the dishes. We all have little jobs around the house. My job is with computers, which I guess I’m ok at, or at least can usually figure out fairly well. I kind of ended up with it at the end, but I think it will be good actually because they’re going to teach us about what to do in terms of fixing the internet or unjamming the printer etc. The internet is really inconsistent so posts might be a few days behind when I wrote them, but I’m going to write in word when it’s down.
I forgot the best part about the kitchen… we all have our own little rings hanging on the wall with our names above them. And guess what they are for?! Cloth napkins. We all have one for the week which we hang on our ring when we aren’t using it. Then at the end of the week, or earlier if it’s a messy week, they get washed and we get a new one to hang in our ring. It reminds me on Parent’s Nursery School where we all had those red cups with a piece of masking tape and our name on them and then there was a whole wall of hooks where we would hang it under our name, also in masking tape.
We were all so exhausted at night that we just unpacked a little bit, tried unsuccessfully to get on the internet, and then crashed. I slept so well and I am glad that I am in this house because someone said the other house is really loud. It rained, which I guess what very strange since it is the dry season and hasn’t rained in 2 months. It added to the tropical feeling though and I love the smell of warm rain. It was so crisp and organic. It was so real, like all of the earth was saying, “I’m here.” I can’t really think of any other way to explain it.
We woke up this morning, had breakfast and went over some orientation stuff. It still felt so strange to be here, especially because we still hadn’t been really out in the town so it felt even less real. I got to meet some of the other girls I hadn’t yet and got to talk to a few of the ones I had before even more. Everyone is really nice and excited to be here. Most of them are from Minnesota, from a few different schools. There’s also a girl from Tennessee, one from Kansas, a few from California, a girl from North Dakota and a few other places I’m forgetting.
After we went over the orientation stuff like how to take a taxi and some cultural things and stuff like that, some doctors came to talk to us about a study they were doing about stomach bugs that travelers get. Almost all of us signed up. All we had to do was give a little bit of blood and then keep track of how we felt for two weeks. Then if we get sick they give us special antibiotics and come to the house to help and stuff like that.
After that we went on a scavenger hunt in Cuernavaca. My group spent most of the time looking for the admission price of somewhere that didn’t even have an admission price! Then we went down to the center and looked around Cortés’ palace for a while. It was neat to be out in the city. We had to keep asking for directions to find the things we were looking for and everyone was so incredibly nice despite us asking strange questions and our Spanish not being wonderful. It was really fun, a little overwhelming, but really great and welcoming despite being a bit overwhelming again.
Well… time for Salsa lessons!
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