Bienvenidos a Queretaro!

I finally arrived in Querétaro on Saturday and I already am in love. The city is very colonial style, and it looks somewhat like a European city. The buildings are all old stone, very elegant, the streets are all cobblestone and almost too small for a normal sized car to drive down. We stayed in a wonderful hostel Saturday night called Casa de San Gallito, gallito means rooster, and there were many rooster references throughout the place. The logo itself is of a rooster head, and they sell merchandise with roosters on them; I have no idea what significance roosters have to this particular hostel but it was kind of different and fun. The hostel had no roof over the main entrance/lobby area, which shows just how beautiful the weather is here. The entire building reminded me of a movie I saw that was filmed in Greece. It was all white stone with giant archways and open windows. If it wasn’t so expensive per night I would make an excuse just to stay there again! But yesterday was the big day! I FINALLY got to meet mi familia! My señora is very, very friendly; her name is Ana Luisa. She immediately greeted me with un beso, a kiss, on the cheek and a big hug. My señor, Miguel, is also very friendly; he is an accountant and also very funny.  My guess is they are in their early 60s. La abuelita, my host grandma, lives in the house as well, and she is 93 years old! She is very cute and I love talking to her. I also noticed during la comida today that she ate more than anyone else! They also have a dog, Noli, but she doesn’t like me yet. She’s some kind of small Scotty looking dog with a handlebar mustache and kind of long hair. After la comida yesterday, the biggest meal of the day served at 3pm, I went to a meeting with the program directors and all of the other students to go over our schedules and class times. I’ll be taking Mexican Civilization, Advanced Writing, and Mexican Literature, and will be at school from 8:30-2pm Monday through Friday. I’d say that’s a pretty darn good schedule! After the meeting I went to my host parents’ son’s house, where there were tons of people waiting to meet me, and it was quite overwhelming. I’m pretty sure all of the men named their son’s Miguel because my host parents’ son was named Miguel, his son is named Miguel, and I think I heard another Miguel as well, but I lost count. There were brothers of my host parents’ son, their wives and kids, and I think a couple of cousins with their wives and kids as well. I met about 15 or more people total, and all with besos on the cheek. So far I think Queretaro is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The weather is great, mid 80s usually, with bright blue skies and no pollution, thanks to the 6000ft altitude, and almost everything I need is within a 30 minute walk, which is perfect because I get to see and take pictures of all the buildings along the way. Today I had my first day of school and so far I like my classes. It’s hard to concentrate on school though when my mind feels like I should be on vacation! It’s too pretty here to take anything seriously, in my opinion. But I think that’s also true of most people here. After school and after comida my family is always telling me, descansa hija, go take a nap! And of course they don’t have to tell me twice. Napping is very common here, which I love because it has always been my favorite part of the day. And speaking of sleep…it’s 11pm now and I have class at 8:30 tomorrow morning! Ay! Nos vemos!

Mexico City by Day

After seeing the city at night when we arrived, we were extremely shocked to see how dramatically different it is during the day! We began our first real day in Mexico City by visiting the Cathedral, which is one of the most elegant, beautiful and massive buildings I've ever seen. It really taught me how important Catholicism is to most Mexicans, and I could feel all of their positive religious energy flowing within the building. It was captivating, and I longed to feel what they were feeling when they looked up at the statues of their santos, or paintings of Santa Maria. After the Cathedral we saw a giant market, almost similar to the Eugene Saturday Market, only ten times the size, and with so many different kinds of items for sale that it's almost impossible to focus on any one of them. A lot of what we saw everywhere was so overwhelming, and the market was definitely one of them. We went into the Palacio Postal, which is the main post office of Mexico City, and it was incredible. I've never seen such an elaborate post office. My mom, a mail carrier for the USPS would be amazed. We also saw the Museo de Diego Rivera, and received a lengthy and comical explanation of one of Deigo's most famous murals from a local man who was apparently quite knowledgable in Diego Rivera's life. It was definitely a momentous event from our short stay in the city. We witnessed our first sudden rain storm, and that rain puts Oregon rain to shame! Within minutes we went from leisurely walking through the cobblestone streets in the sunshine to a giant ominous black cloud covering every part of the sky, and huge, stinging rain drops pelting us as we ran for cover at our hostel. It was a sight to see thousands of pedestrians running through the streets, vendors yanking out plastic sheets to cover their merchandise, people selling garbage bags from under cover to the unlucky ones who didn't have jackets (us, of course). We spent the rest of the afternoon eating pan dulces in our room and waiting for the arrival of our other friends who were meeting us that night. We all spent the evening chatting on bunk beds in one of the hostel rooms, and it felt just like grade school again. Today we were lucky enough to be escorted by a friend of a friend who lives in Mexico City. He showed us a very nice, upper class restaurant to eat at for lunch, and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, shortly after we had to catch our bus to Queretaro, so we didn't get much more of a tour of the city. The bus ride was 3 hours, and it felt so long... I was just so anxious to see the city that I'll be staying in for the next 6 weeks! Finally, we made it and had a great dinner with our resident director of the program, Dawn, and some other group members who will be joining us this summer. Tomorrow I finally get to meet my host family! I've been waiting for this for so long, and I can't wait! I'm sure there's plenty more to add, but for now, buenas noches!

First day of Mexico

Before leaving for my 6-week study abroad trip in Queretaro, Mexico, many people warned me about culture shock when returning home. They said that most times, the shock of returning home is much worse than initial arrival into the new country. I honestly have no idea what they were talking about. Nothing could have prepared me for getting off that airplane into a jumble of customs, baggage claim, everything being in Spanish and so many people walking like packed sardines, let alone the shock of being on my own, in a country so unlike what I’m used to. I felt like I should have dedicated an entire 2 weeks JUST to prepare myself for everything that I was about to experience, but how is possible to prepare for the unknown? If I could have seen myself from everyone else’s eyes I can only imagine how wide eyed and frightened I must have looked. Not only did I feel out of place amongst nothing but local Mexicans, I felt like I must have been the least prepared traveler they’ve ever seen. I packed an entire suitcase full, one that was almost bigger than me, and almost as heavy, and could not lift it anywhere I went. I also dressed for sun, which did not find its way to Mexico City that day apparently, and looked just about as lovely as a drown rat in a sun dress would have by the time I arrived at my hostel. It was memorable, to say the least. The hostel that Acacia, our friend/study abroad group member and I stayed at was called Hostal Moneda, recommended to me by a friend, Emily, who had stayed there in the past. It was a great place for a first hostel experience, in my opinion, and not due to luxury, but because it was grungy, smelly, and real. The bathroom sink leaked onto our feet, the bathroom floor was constantly wet, the beds had no fitted sheets, and mine had no pillow, and yet, it was humorous and realistic, not disappointing or frustrating. Immediately upon arriving at our hostel we did the one thing we were constantly advised against, ate tacos from a stand just a minute and a half walk from our hostel and were only 10 pesos, which is less than 1 US dollar. After our 10pm taco dinner we did a bit of exploring around the centro, but surprisingly the night scene closes up quite early and we didn’t find much else to do, so instead we settled for a good night’s sleep.