Halfway...

Hey!

So...guess who survived her first semester at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Guadalajara? I'm completely done with finals and everything...and it feels glorious! This last little bit was stressful, of course, but not nearly as miserable as finals at USC. I'm content with all my grades so far, even though Poly Sci was a little rough.

Now I should be packing...I just went for tacos with Christie and her roommates Yasmin (Oregon), Fernando (Tijuana), and his friend Miguel (?) (GDL). This lunch included a humorous display of Fernando shooting spitballs at Christie. Oh, the little things... Anyways, I have decided when I get home I'm going taco hunting in Berea. That is, after I get a new license after that whole purse incident. Also I'm going to Columbia...I can't wait to see my girls!

Ok...took a break and packed most everything, though there's still some stuff laying around. Moving out is even more depressing here than at USC. Oh! I just realized I don't think I ever mentioned that I'm switching host families. I just wanted something different, like hopefully a big(ger) family this time.

Let's see. Let me try to think of some stuff I've done lately. I have a feeling this section might be a bit disjointed.

Candice came! She stayed here at my house and we didn't do anything too thrilling, but it was a lot of fun. Aside from laying around, we also joined everyone else to go see Crepúsculo (AKA Twilight. I don't recommend it, but I do recommend reading something funny about it that my friend Beth shared with me: http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/go_fug_yourself/2008/12/fuglight.html).

The next day was Thanksgiving! It was my first one not at home with the fam and the Meyers, so that was weird. I was a little homesick...mostly for the food; not even gonna lie about it. BUT we made it happen. It was potluck style at Jessi's house, and included our best attempts at tradition (like a turkey that I made!) and stuffing that Christie's mom brought when she came to visit. There were also some Mexican touches like Tere's delicious guacamole and Edgar's tequila and Squirt. Anyways, it was a really fun get-together. Even so, I'll be glad to celebrate Christmas how I usually do. :) Here's us at dinner:

After our dinner, we all bundled up and went to this ice club that's in town for a month or so. It was too full, so we had to go back another day. When we did get in, it was fun for picture purposes and just to say we did it, but that place was cold!!! 1 or 2 degrees. For 40 minutes or so, we stood around and took pictures, and then we couldn't stand it anymore. So we went and sat by a little fire they had set up...and then we went for tacos at Las papas, where (fun factoid), Jessi, Edgar, and I went through three containers of salsa mexicana (what we call pico de gallo--tomatoes, cilantro, onions, and peppers). I don't think we have ever eaten without having to ask for more limes and salsa mexicana. :) De todos modos, here we are freezing our tushies off at the ice club:

There have also been farewell festivities--Monday we went out to eat with Jessi, who left Wednesday, and last night we went to Eva's all time favorite rock bar. And today, as I said, I had one last lunch with Christie and Yasmin, and Eva left (our house, at least. Tomorrow she's going to visit her host family in Wisconsin that she lived with during an exchange in high school. It's really quite depressing to see my friends go...I already miss Jessi. And packing up my things is even sadder here than it is at USC...

Mmk, that's enough of that. Tomorrow, Edgar and I are going to Uruapan, Michoacán. We're going to go horseback riding up some volcano. I'm guessing it should be fun, since Edgar's been and wants to go back, but I'm concerned that I will be in a great deal of pain from being on a horse that long. It should be a fun little trip to end the semester with a bang.

Nerdy word time! Hmmm I would share something that I learned this week, but what I learned is that something I've been saying is quite the profanity. Oops. So, I will share something more family friendly: "ni modo." Which means "oh well" or "what can you do?" and is often proceeded by "bueno" or "pues."

Ah, I forgot something. I finally went to Tlaquepaque, a "municipality" of GDL that has lots of fancy artisan-y stuff. It was me, Edgar, Jessi, and Candice, and we just walked down the main street and went in some of the stores to see things like paintings, metalwork, sculptures, jewelry, pottery, and home decoration stuff (e.g. really awesome mirrors that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars). It was a cute little daytrip. Dad, this next picture is for you. You might have to click on it to be able to see what it is. I would have bought you one...but as you know I am a very cheap girl, so this will have to do:

Ok, I think that really is all this time. I'm gonna go finish up packing and go to sleep early...yum!

Mazamitla and everything since then

Hi! Time for another post because I need something to keep me from homework. See what ha' happened was...the international program here at the Tec is pretty darn easy. So I've forgotten how to do real work. I should be reading 100 Years of Solitude (yes, in English) but instead I'm going to write about what I did last weekend. :)

I went to this town called Mazamitla (Mah-sah-MEET-lah), about two hours south of Guadalajara (which apparently I can't say very well; today Jessi's friend Flor was picking on me about it). The gang that went was Jessi, Teo, Teo's friend Jenny, Britta (still don't know how to spell her name), Eva, Omar, some of Omar's friends, and Edgar for one of the nights. We stayed in a really nice cabin where we could cook and hang out and sleep without springs in our backs and watch a bazillion cable channels--I even saw part of the USC-Florida game! I'd rather not talk about the outcome but it was SO fun to see even just a little bit of it. Here are my loves:

And here is the cabin:

We left Friday evening after school, and I'm trying to remember if we did anything that night...I think we just watched futbol and ate various Mexican chips that I'm really hoping you can get in the United States. I went to bed early but then everybody else went to hang out with our upstairs neighbors, some other Tec kids that were there. Oops.

Saturday morning we slept in gloriously late, I made some rather successful quesadillas, and we all walked to this waterfall maybe 30 minutes away. Both the walk and the destination were fun...nothing too exciting but it was pretty and with good company. Here's what was at the end:

After we came back, we did more sitting around (that's what vacation is for, right?) and had an amazing carne asada-- grilled meat, sausages, onions, and tortillas, plus guacamole and other delicious things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Then we went to hang out in downtown Mazamitla which was very picturesque, as los centros of Mexican towns/cities tend to be. Except I don't have pictures of that part, so you'll have to imagine it. Not too hard, it fits the general Latin America plaza formula: a block containing a sweet church, gazebo, and lots of people of all ages hanging out. Then we came back and busted out the tequila and a pack of cards... :) Ah, and just kidding about the church; I stole a picture from Jessi:

Sunday we slept in super late again and were going to head downtown to rent some 4 wheelers, but everybody else was doing the same, so it was faster and cheaper to rent horses. So we rode around for an hour, which was pretty and pretty fun. However, my tushy is just now recovering.

So that was our trip, very relaxing and very fun. We did the whole thing because we had Monday off because I think today (though I could be wrong) is the anniversary of the Mexican revolution, when some important historical figures overthrew the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz in 1910. Though I learned this in three of my five classes, I have obviously forgotten details, so if you would like more info, consult Wikipedia or my father.

Monday we were already back, so we didn't really need the long weekend for that trip, but it was a nice day off anyways. Edgar, Jessi, and I went to Plaza Galerias, a very American looking mall for lunch, where I had some amazing pasta with chicken and spinach. And then we split a ginormous tiramisu and had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant. After that, Jessi and I went to San Juan de Dios, a big market here. I was hunting a wristlet so no one steals my crap again, but I didn't find anything, maybe because a lot of places within the market were closed for the holiday. We spent the entire afternoon there, though we didn't mean to. It was actually kind of exhausting...and overwhelming. That place is huge! Here is a picture of Mystery the gnome (explanation below) and the food floor of the market. That particular floor cracks me up...if you're just walking through to get to your leather goods or pirated movies, a bazillion people tell you to sit down and start rattling off the menu. Anyways, picture:

Tuesday, I went to visit a house/family I was thinking about moving to next semester. I like my house that I'm in now, but I also think it would be neat to try out a completely different living situation. It seemed like a lovely place, but I decided to go potluck with the Tec, so I'll let y'all know when I know who I'm gonna be with.

Wednesday, I didn't have class till late so I just hung out at home and did some homework-- one final paper done! Then I went to my once a week night class (I guess Mexican International Relations would be the translation) and the birthday party of my friend Heather in the dorms on campus, where we did girly things like eat pizza and cake and watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. After so much Spanish, it feels weird capitalizing that much-- they just do the first word and then proper nouns. Bet you enjoyed that tidbit. Ooh, speaking of random tidbits you probably don't care about, today Flor (after picking on me for my accent) told me that almost all Mexicans have O+ blood. We were going through our wallets and and came across insurance cards...that's how that came up. Anyways. So after Heather's party, Jessi and Edgar and I went to this bar called Purgatorio, which made me giggle when I first learned of the place.

Today I went to my easy day of class and then the "feria gastronomica" at the Tec. It's this thing marketing students do every year where they host this food fair, but they have to set up their booths, get sponsors, sell tickets, etc. It seems like a pretty cool idea to me, if you're into marketing. Which I'm not, but I am into eating. For $25 (less than $2.5o US), I got a barbeque-type sandwich, horchata (aMAzing rice drink), and some jello. So I ate with Jessi and Flor, went to the CCI (library) to do some homework, and the UPS store to try to send this gnome of an inside joke to friend and ex-roomie Katie, who is currently in Italy. But that would have cost me like $50 US, so Mystery will have to settle for Spain and Great Britain (where the other roomies are). On the plus side, I now have a bubble mailer for just in case purposes......

Tonight, Jessi and I are going to Edgar's for a Pride and Prejudice and Pancake Party. It's been months since I've seen P&P (far too long!)...and hours since I've eaten pancakes (every. single. morning. here.) but I lost a bet or something so pancakes it is.

Mexicanism time! Mande (MAHN-day) = what? As in I didn't hear you. Literally it means "send." Spain and the rest of Latin America use "como" but yeah. It can also be used if you call somebody's name to get their attention to ask them a question...and they respond mande, but minus the question tone. As for anyone from home reading this, I just wanted to inform you that the word has worked its way into my English lexicon, so get ready for that...

Welp, I hope the fruits of my refined procrastination skills have informed and/or entertained... Now I shall read a tiny bit till chick flick time! Bueno, nos vemos! Hope all is well!

El día de los muertos

Here is a belated (as always) post about what I finally ended up doing for el dia de los muertos, a really neat Mexican holiday.

I shall start with an explanation of my understanding of the thing. It's a prehispanic (before the Spaniards came) celebration remembering loved ones who have died. It takes place on November 1st and 2nd, with the first night being for kids and the second for adults. There are various ways of going about this commemoration. One is making altares, kind of like shrines to somebody who died. You can do them in your house, and I also saw some in stores and restaurants. They generally have a picture of the person, flowers, candles, and things that the person liked, like food, drinks, even cigarettes. Though I don't think many people actually believe it, the traditional belief is that their spirits come to the altar the night of the 1st or 2nd and eat the food. Similar to these altars is the decoration of the person's grave. There's all the things that the altar has, plus a huge structure of flowers, generally orange carnations or some fuzzy purple flower called xempaxúchil (gracias, Edgar) on the back of the grave. So before el dia de los muertos, family members go to the graveyard ("panteón") and set up really elaborate decorations.

Now I shall move on to what I did. The whole week before was filled with confusion about who was going to go where, what we would do, etc. One of my classes was going to have a trip to some towns in Michoacán, the state just to the south of Jalisco (where GDL is) that has the best dia de los muertos celebrations, but not enough people wanted to go.

Oh wait. The weekend started off with a good Americanicized halloween party at the apt of a fellow international student. I was a Chivas player. Here's a picture of me and Teo, who was a tejano singer or something like that. :)

Mmk. So that was Friday night. Then Saturday morning, Edgar drove me, Heather, and her friend Tamami to Michoacán. To be honest, I don't remember the names of the towns we went to because (a) it was a while ago and (b) I'm not really sure I even knew then. I think the two places were Tzinzunzan and Patzcuaro. We did normal touristy stuff like, well, a tour that some theater group or something organized. We also walked around this big outdoor market and saw a bunch of cool artisany things. In the centro were a bunch of stands where people were selling sugar skulls and skeletons and coffins and stuff like that-- also fabulous and traditional.

Now for an excessively academic tidbit. I had to read part of this book by Octavio Paz, a famous Mexican writer, in my "Culture and Thought of Mexico" class. This is one of the things he says: "To the resident of New York, Paris, or London, the word 'death' is never pronounced because it burns the lips. Mexicans, on the other hand, frequent it, caress it, they sleep with it, they celebrate it. It is one of their favorite games and their most permanent love." Anyways, sugar skulls, sometimes with your name specially written on it, are a good example of that.

We also visited some neat prehispanic ruins there:

Here's a really cool picture that you might actually not find interesting at all. But I enjoyed it because I'm a big nerd. In Tzintzuntzan, there was like this big park thing that had a church and an ex-convent. In the middle of the park was a stone cross that I imagine the Spanish Franciscan missionaries built. Anyway, the cool part is that I had talked about this in class (same one as the Octavio Paz book). We learned that they didn't put up crucifixes because that's really intimidating if you're trying to convert somebody from an indigenous religion--it's kind of hard to grasp why someone would kill their deity...So instead it's just a plain cross (St. Anthony's style!) with symbols representing the crucifixion, like a crown of thorns and a hammer. Check it out:

We also got to visit a graveyard, both during they day and at night. During the day, everyone was decorating the graves, though they had pretty much finished, and at night, when they were hanging out or even sleeping by them. Of course there were plenty of tourists like us traipsing around. The professor of the class that I was going to go on the trip with (David, as we call him, de Cultura y pensamiento de Mexico) assured us that it's not disrespectful to look at all the graves and take pictures because the family members that are there are used to the tourism. He also told us that last year, somebody even invited them to hang out with him at the grave. No one did that for us, but it was amazing to see the graveyard, filled with flowers and--at night--completely lit up. Here are some pictures:

Later on, we met up with some other friends:Eva, Omar, Breta (sp?), and Omar's dad. Then we all went to see Don Juan Tenorio in that same town. It's a Spanish play by Jose Zorilla that I read in AP Spanish lit, so when I saw an ad for it, I freaked out and decided we had to go. It was cool and all, but also on a literal level it was absolutely FREEZING. And the Spanish was way over my head. So I gave up after like five minutes. The plus side of that event was that we bought some ponche, which is hot tea made in a huge vat with a bunch of fruits and flowers that stay in the bottom of the cup...and sometimes alcohol. So if there is alcohol, basically it is Mexican PJ. Oh, and I bought pan de los muertos-- sweet bread with crossbones on it. Yum!

After that, we were going to head back to the ruins to watch a recreation of a game that the indigenous people there played: like soccer, but with the ball lit on fire. So we walked from the outside auditorium, past the graveyard, and up this big hill where there were a ton of teenagers standing around on the side of the road getting trashed. Apparently, for some young people, el dia de los muertos is turning into an excuse to party and moving farther from the traditions. But for others, the traditions are alive and well, as we definitely saw. Once we got up the hill of drunkards, we found out the juego de pelota encendido had already happened at 9 (by this point it was 3). So it was sad we didn't get to go to that, but it's ok--we saw plenty of really neat things. We were going to sleep in the car and head back to Guadalajara in the morning, but we ended up just driving back right then.

So even after all the pre-trip confusion, it ended up being really amazing...and I'm really glad I got to spend el dia de los muertos in Michoacan. That was the cheesiest concluding sentence ever. But it's true, I'm glad it worked out. Mmk! Spanish lesson time! Another simple one: nos vemos = see you later. Literally we see each other. Mmk that is all.

Ooh, that is not all. I finally got a plane ticket (cheap..yay!) and I'll be home from December 9th till January 4th, hopefully with a Columbia visit in there!

Next post: weekend trip to the mountains and more. Get excited.

Also: pardon the deteriorating English. Whew. You should see me try to write homonyms.

Vallarta, Guanajuato, and other October-y shenanigans

I keep promising that I'm going to write more frequently...and it never happens. Sorry about that. So there is a lot to catch up on, of course. Let's start at the beginning (a very good place to start).


I took another trip to Puerto Vallarta with Edgar, Eva, Jessi, and two of her friends from home who were visiting. It was kind of rainy the whole weekend, but we still got in some good beaching and going out. If you remember from last time, we went to this place where there was gloriously white sand and such, and this time we went to a rocky place with rather uncomfortable sand. On the plus side, there was a sweet waterfall that we got to play in. Here's Eva, Edgar, Ali (Jessi's friend) and I in front of it:
Here's my girlies and I hanging out at the apartment we stayed in:


Later on was Jessi's 21st birthday, which we celebrated with some pay de queso (cheesecake), the birthday song called Las Mañanitas that I still don't know, dinner, a bar one night, and an antro another night. Classic...and a lot of fun. Here's me, Christie, Eva, Jessi, Tere, Flor, and some creeper:


Ah, this was a fun one...Edgar and I went to see lucha libre. Quite entertaining. The crowd actually put on more of a show than the luchadores, including chanted insults between the people in the cheapie seats and the normal seats, lots of bad words, etc. They wouldn't let me take my camera in, but I did get this picture of Mystery. This is for my 306 ladeez:


I also went to "Las fiestas de octubre"-- i.e. a fair here in Zapopan. It included a concert with some people that nobody knew but Teo with the exception of a couple radio songs. We also rode some rides (juegos mechanicos, which I think is a silly name), and just wandered around. We were going to see a cockfight, which I've always wanted to see despite how gross they surely are, but that didn't happen. Speaking of which, my Gamecocks are doing quite well, and I shall take a moment to congratulate them. Anyways, here's Trevor (another Tec kid), Jessi, Christie, Teo, and Edgar about to start a classic fair game...


The next event of the month was that I finally got to hang out with Emma, a friend from USC. She's studying in Guanajuato and she and a friend took a long weekend and came to visit Guadalajara. We went out for tacos at this place called Los Tarascos-- get excited, Mom and Dad, cuz we're going there. It was really exciting to see her, especially because she was in Argentina last semester, and it was also exciting to be able to talk with somebody about USC stuff, complain about our advisor, etc. :)


Then that weekend, a bunch of Tec kids and I went to Guanajuato for the Festival Cervantino, a huge arts festival there. The city is little and completely adorable--very colonial. I'm kind of wondering why I didn't decide to study there... Anyways the place was PACKED with vendors and people of all varieties, including lots of hippies which was a fun change from GDL and made me think of Julie. But we got to traipse around the city (aka elbow our way through the crowds), go to a church, mine, some ex-convent (???) that included mummies and various instruments of torture that were used during the inquisition, and a huge statue of Jesus on top of a huge mountain out in the boonies that is supposedly in the geographic center of Mexico, and a dance performance. To start, here is what the crowds looked like:
And this is the city. Adorable or adorable?


Other random occurrences of the month included my conquering the absentee ballot system at the last minute and having my wallet was stolen at a club. I never bring my purse in and I'm not sure why I did that time, but that's what I got. I lost my keys, money, license (why??) and debit/credit cards. Everything is fine, technically, but at first it was quite traumatizing, and now it's quite the hassle not having functioning cards, etc. However, Mom is going to send me my new debit card with some clothes...yay!


I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles for this post's Mexicanism. Let's go for something basic, shall we? Que onda = what's up. That was kind of anticlimactic, actually. Anyways...


Tonight I think I'm gonna go to Jessi's to eat some mac and cheese that her dad brought and potentially do homework. :) Yay! Ah, y un dia de estos, there's another post coming about what I did last weekend, which was go to Michoacan for the dia de los muertos celebration...get excited. Hasta luego!

I swear I'll come up with a catchy title next time

Oh dearie me...now like three more weeks have passed. I will definitely use the tests as an excuse. They took up a good two weeks which involved a lot of catching up and a LOT of coffee. This partial, as I told myself last time, I'm gonna try to actually do work along the way so the next round of tests isn't miserable. A ver.

No huge trips or anything like that have happened since the my last post. Generally my life looks like this: get up, do homework, go to school (11:30...love it), come home, nap, do homework, go out. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I had to share this picture. Nothing too special, just Eva, me, and Jessi at a club being really cute:

Two weekends ago we went to another Chivas game...
The game, the "clasico tapatio", was the Chivas vs. their GDL rivals, Atlas. We won, 1-0. It was quite fun, but made me miss Gamecock football (of course)--knowing the cheers, actually feeling spirited, etc.

Hm, now I'm thinking in terms of what I have pictures of... For my "Mexican Culture and Thought" class, we were talking about prehispanic medicine and had to ask our host families or friends if they knew any natural remedies. I think the funnest thing I learned was that if you have a toothache, to put a clove on top of the tooth and bite down...and it numbs it. Pretty cool. Another part of the assignment was to go to one of the markets in town and find a natural medicine place, ask them what they do, and buy something. When I say market, I'm not talking like fruit stands. We went to one called San Juan de Dios and it is this HUGE building with a ton of restaurant-type things and a bazillion shops selling pirated goods. Eva (roomie) and Tere (friend) went there the other day and bought 16 movies for 200 pesos, which I think is still $20ish, if our economy hasn't completely crashed since the last time I checked. We've already watched one--La Misma Luna--which never came to SC but was so good. Generally my Spanish capacity is that I understand most things...except jokes. Oh well. So here's Christie and Teo (from California...I'm not doing a very good job of mixing with the international kids) at the market holding sticks of stuff called "hierba de perro" that you make a tea out of and it supposedly fixes upset tummies. Not sure if it works, but I can tell you it tastes dreadful.


Another exciting thing was that on Sunday I finally went to a church I like. It was uber contemporary and the last chunk of songs greatly resembled a concert, but the teaching was awesome. The speaker is from the US, I think, but I'm pretty sure he, Christie, and I were the only gringos in the room. He spoke Spanish really well but was also really easy to understand. I'm so excited... After church, we met up with Jessi and Edgar and went to his house to watch The Office. The nbc.com clips don't work here, so he offered to download it and host us. It was so much fun to watch it after so many Office-free months.

In the beginning of the year, Eva, Christie, Candice (from USC, remember her? She had to go back in order to graduate on time) and I made a deal that after October 1 we would only speak Spanish. So on October 1 I woke up to Eva's "Buenos dias!" and some gibberish about whether she could get in the shower first, but I can't really handle foreign languages that early. We don't speak it all the time, but definitely more than before.

In other news, just last night I found out Candice will probably be coming back for a visit! When she was leaving, she said she was going to, but we didn't know if it would actually happen. She'll be here at the end of the semester, during Thanksgiving! Jessi and I had just decided we want to have a Thanksgiving feast. I can't wait...

I think the most random occurrences since my last post include going to a banda club for Christie's birthday (it's a hilarious dance--look it up) and "learning how to drive a stick," which everyone here drives. It actually just involved the car moving a few meters and making a terrible noise, and me giving up. Another fun random thing is that this morning, I saw a horse and carriage while I was walking to the bus stop, driven by some guy with a sweet sombrero. I've seen it a few times before (not sure if it's the same guy), but it's just cool because in GDL there are oh so many modern and really US-like things, and then all of a sudden you see a horse on your way to school. Ooh, something else-- I saw the Mexican High School Musical. Not dubbed, as I originally thought. Like with Mexican actors and "reggaeton" songs and everything. It was amazing. I think that's the extent of my random activities as of late...

Ready for the Mexicanism of the post? Not a word this time, but here goes... In the US, you use a nod to emphasize an affirmation. Here, they use their hand like you're doing the "hold on a second" motion, except you wiggle the top joint up and down. So that was a terrible description, but maybe you get the point. Anyway, it's a lot of fun. We're trying to pick it up but failing miserably.

As usual, I didn't think I had anything to write about, and here we are, like 10 paragraphs later... In keeping with tradition, I shall update on future plans too. Right now I'm either going to take a nap or do homework and then go to an antro. Then do those same three things till the weekend, when I am going back to Puerto Vallarta--yay! It's going to be Eva, Jessi, two of her friends from home (cough cough hint hint I'm just saying, if any of y'all come I promise we'd do something just as sweet), Edgar, and Tere...I hope I'm note leaving anyone out...

So yep! That's all on my part. Ah, shoutout time-- happy birthday Dad! I hope it's great! And that Mom makes you some delicious sugar-free goodies... :)

Love!

DF!

Hey! I'm sorry I've been lame and haven't posted anything in like a month. But here I am; I promise I'll do better; blah, blah, blah. If I'm remembering right, I think the only really exciting thing that happened was my trip to Mexico City last weekend with the Tec's international program.

We left last Friday around 11 at night and "slept" on the bus all night. The program (and trip) coordinators decided it wasn't necessary to give us the itinerary till we were on the bus, so we got the fun little surprise that we were actually going to a little town before heading to el DF (Distrito Federal, like District of Columbia). It's called Taxco, in the state of Guerrero. It's exciting to be able to say I've been in this place I've read about. Anyways, it's an adorable colonial town that used to have a ton of mining, and I think still does--it's famous for silver production. We went to a fake mine (cuz the real one is too dangerous for tourists), took a tour of the city, and just wandered around. Actually, I can't really remember what we did, so...picture time!

In the morning, Jessi, Eva, Christie, and I went looking for an OXXO (the store that's generally stuck to gas stations-- either that or 7-11). It was so neat just to get to see the city a little bit on our own.

Here's roomieface and I in the main plaza...a necessity for any Latin American town. In the background are some adornos that have been hanging up all around Mexico for the past few weeks. Tuesday was independence day (hold your horses, I'm getting there) so in the weeks leading up to it, there was a great increase in the amount of red and green decorations.

This next picture isn't exactly an essential part of this weekend, but it's amusing...That night in Taxco, we were on our own for finding dinner, so we wandered around again and found this pizza place, where we ordered pizza al pastor (including the same meat that's in the tacos I'm obsessed with and pineapple). There was some special with a large pizza and 2.5 liter coke that we ordered, and between like 7 of us, it cost $3 USD a pop. This is what they meant when they said "large":
Oh yeah... we finished that.

The next day we went to Mexico City. I think these pictures are going to be out of order, but whatevs. Something else we did (that wasn't in the city, hence my disclaimer) was go to this town called Xochimilco to ride some Mexican gondola-type things. Interrupting myself, I really like saying Xochimilco...and just seeing street signs pointing to towns with crazy Nahuatl names. So it involved floating around for an hour, maybe, and the whole time, vendors were floating by trying to get us to buy food, blankets, mariachi services, etc. We took them up on the latter. Quality entertainment, I must say. Here are all the empty boats waiting to be taken out.

We also went to Teotihuacan, which was so freaking exciting for the LASP major in me. This was another thing that I've read about for years and I finally got to see it! Trivia time: Teotihuacan was the largest prehispanic city in the Americas. haha, anyways, here I am on top of a pyramid:
Here's a fun tidbit: the pyramid behind me, although it doesn't look like it so much in this picture, is the same shape as the mountain behind it. From certain angles, it looks like the mountain is the pyramid's shadow.

The night of the 15th, we went to this place called Coyoacan. We were going to do the grito in the main plaza of Mexico City, but our lovely coordinators decided that would be too difficult, dangerous, whatever, so no. Coyoacan basically looked like the state fair, but with more red and green and better food. I had tamales. Yum! Eva, Jessi, and I got to the plaza at 11:03, so we missed the grito, which was very disappointing. I guess that just means I have to come back to Mexico next September. Here we are in the plaza:

Back in el DF, on the actual independence day, we went to el centro historico, or "el centro histerico," as one of my professors called it. There was a military parade, where we couldn't really see much, but oh well. Mom, I thought you might enjoy this one. Enlarge to see why...

Here's the Zocalo, the big plaza where the president comes out and does some famous yelling at midnight of the 16th. AKA where we were not:

In the same block as the Zocalo are some Aztec ruins-- crazy. I had learned that when the Spaniards came in 1510 (I think???), they destroyed the Templo Mayor and built a cathedral on top of it, but it was really neat to be standing in the center of this city and see both the ruins and the church side by side.

I think the last notable thing we did was go to the Anthropology Museum, apparently one of the best museums in the world. My favorite part was this amazing Aztec calendar. Swoon!

So that was what we did in Mexico... I hope that makes up for not posting anything for a month. :)

Ready for the Spanish leccioncita? I'm not sure I have the definition quite right, but I just learned the phrase "que chafa," which, I think, if talking about a product, means "how cheap," as in poorly made (or a knockoff). Or I think it can be used as a response to a situation or whatever, meaning "lame."

Welp, that's all for now. So far today I've just been laying around...and it's glorious. Last night I went to my friend Tere's housewarming party (unfortunately, Spanish doesn't have an equally cute word). It involved everyone hanging out on the floor cuz she doesn't have furniture yet :), Uno, and lots of Spanish, which is really nice because I feel like I'm around so much English, mostly because of my international friends. Today some of the same people and I are going camping in this place called Tala. Should be interesting, especially considering the fact that I haven't been camping in a really long time. And right before, I think Edgar's going to come over to see if we can figure out how to make chilaquiles, a food I believe I raved about in the last post. In other news, the second parcial is coming to a close, AKA this week and next are going to be filled with exams. Excellent. Bueno, thanks for reading, I'll be impressed by those that got all the way through--sorry I'm a rambler. De todos modos, I hope you're doing well! Let me know what exciting things are going on in the US. Love!

The longest birthday celebration ever

Hi! Right now I'm eating chilaquiles or something like that and not having anything to do. Plus it is def time for a post. Apparently this food is really Mexican and I've been meaning to try it but haven't yet. It's kind of like soggy fritos with chile and cheese and stuff. Sounds nasty, but it's SO good.

This week and next week is our first wave of partials (exams) which stinks because they all come at once. They're far worse than USC's exams because (1) all professors have to give them and (2) there are four waves of them instead of two. Blech. I've got two down, which went ok, I guess, but I still have three more. Oh, and a 5 page research paper in Spanish due in a week and we just found out about it. Whew. Ok. I promise I'm done whining. Oh wait, one more thing. Leaving the TEC today, Christie and I had to cross rivers instead of streets. Yay for Chacos! PS the tan lines are absolutely out of control-- I really need to start putting sunscreen on my feet.

In other news, I'm twenty! And feeling old. But then I think of my friends that are twenty and remember they're not old. Now I'm just babbling. I think it's because I'm senile. The birthday weekend was amazing! It consisted of a Saturday night at a Chivas game and an antro, a Sunday carne asada, and a laid-back Monday out. Here's some pichas!
That's me, Edgar, and Christie at el estadio. Oh my goodness! All my friends got me a Chivas jersey for by birthday! I love it so much! The game was against the Santos from, um, somewhere up north and I think they won the national championship last year. So we lost, naturally. 5-3, with their last point being in the last few seconds. Kind of like that Clemson game. Sigh. BUT last night USC beat NC State 34-0. I was doing homework and clicking refreshrefreshrefresh on ESPN.com. Wow, that's a long caption.

The stadium looked like a page from Where's Waldo:

Here were are at this antro called Mood. It was chido, but I probably won't go back. Too expensive and not enough reggaeton. :) This is Megan, Christie, Jessi, me, and Eva.

Here's the carne asada! This is me, Heather, Lisa, and Erin.

Here's my sweet roomie and what was going to be guacamole, but the avocados were as hard as rocks. Therefore, we had avocado salad.

Monday, my actual birthday, just involved me, Jessi, Eva, and Edgar going to a bar, and I look really bad in those pictures, so you'll just have to imagine it. Oh yeah and that morning I woke up ridiculously sick again. I think I am allergic to Mondays. But it was cool because I just slept for a long time, and then when I woke up, I got to talk to Julie online. She seems extremely happy and healthy.

Now that I'm done with my chilaquiles, I'm gonna go sleep and shower, o sea, take care of two things that get put on the back burner when one is studying for an exam. Mmmm. Then Eva, Jessi, Edgar, Omar, Tere and I are going to an antro. I'm pretty sure it's another Tec welcome party, even though we've been here for a month. Eek! Upon realizing that the other day, I started feeling like time is flying by. It's weird that that was just the getting-used-to-things period and now this place is really starting to become my home. Don't get me wrong, I definitely miss things from my real home, e.g. family, friends, Gamecock football, and peach cobbler, but I guess that's part of the deal.

The rest of the weekend will include a visit to a taco puesto (stand, or literally, "put") tomorrow that we walk through every day on the way to school but have never been to. Other potential events include going downtown for the parade that begins the month-long mariachi festival. Since mariachi is from here in Jalisco, bands from all over the world come here for an expo. Sunday I'm going to be doing a lot of studying and hopefully trying a new church with Lisa--yay!

So this might be really nerdy, but I decided I'm going to start including a fun Spanish word every blog post. This one's is las palomitas, or "little doves" AKA popcorn. Mexicans put chile on it. They pretty much put chile and lime on everything. I'm loving the second and getting used to the first.

And last but not least, thank you so much for all the warm birthday wishes! :) I could definitely feel the love, even though it was sent from far away!

Puerto Vallarta

I decided I have to write a post ASAP because Mandy said she's gonna read my blog today or something and I don't want to disappoint. I'm currently sitting in bed skipping class because my stomach is tying itself in knots o algo asi. Fun stuff.

This weekend (or is it last weekend?--Marie :) I went to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco's most famous and touristy beach. :) The school organized a trip, but it was kind of expensive for a cheapskate like me, and Edgar, who is from there but lives here, offered to take us for a lot cheaper. Plus we knew he would be able to show us some not-so-touristy stuff, which was a huge benefit. Though a bunch of girls planned to go, it ended up being me, Christie, and Lisa. We brought all our crap with us to the TEC Friday morning and left from there. The drive was about four hours and so much prettier than I was expecting. There were mountains the whole time--apparently the Sierra Madre Occidentals are wide. Partway through, we had to switch our seats around, so we got out and had a touristy moment:
We stayed in this apartment type place (departamento AKA depa) that was really cheap and therefore not exactly luxury, but it did the job quite nicely. It, like seemingly everything else in Puerto Vallarta, is owned by a relative or friend of Edgar. I'd always heard about the importance of connections in Latin America, and it proved to be quite true. We got to go to a bunch of antros for free (bouncers were friends from school), a super sweet hotel pool (owned by tios), a discounted boat ride (friend), good parking (cousin), cheap food (tios' restaurant), etc.

Friday we went to dinner around 9--of course--then we met up with Edgar's cousin and friend and went antro hopping till like 5. Though clubs were still open, we were pretty tired so we went for a walk on the beach and then called it a night.

Saturday we woke up circa 11 and went to the beach! It was a little drive to get to a good one, but most certainly worth it. So we drove...somewhere...and took a boat to get to an even more secluded place. Then we walked for a couple minutes to get to a beach with no one on it. It was so hard to believe we were really on a beach that pretty! They look something like this:
It started raining right after the boat-driving friend picked us up. According to Edgar, it always rains after the beach and before the antros, but that day it was sort of a downpour. According to Lisa and Swedish superstition, it was because one of us killed a spider that morning. Or if you ask Eva, because someone didn't finish their dinner. :)

Then we went to the most glorious hotel pool ever created.
This is one of the pools; there are like five more of this size or bigger stuck to it. Oh yeah, and that's a beach in the background. We swam for like ten minutes before it started raining...then pouring...then flooding. I have never seen more flooded streets in my life, and I wish I had a picture, but I think it would have been inappropriate to have taken one with such a frustrated driver. We'd been planning to go to this taco place that los muchachos had been talking about for two days straight but we couldn't exactly get there. So we floated over to Chrisitan's house (the cousin) and had some quesadillas, the Mexican snack food of choice. We waited for this taco place to open, and then went over there. SO GOOD. But we had accidentally stuffed ourselves full with quesadillas so we couldn't have as many tacos as we would have liked. Then we went back to our depa to shower, take a nap (from like 10-11...cra cra!), and get ready. Then more antro-ing till the not-so-wee hours of the morning.

Quick interruption: Zabel just brought me some sick food. She is an excellent temporary mom!

Oh yeah, and while I'm at interrupting myself, I'll toss in here that on the way up, we made a rule that we would puro Spanish for the weekend. This is tricky, because all the international kids as well as the Mexican kids that I hang out with speak English. We did really well following the rule Friday and part of Saturday, but otherwise Spanglish dominated.

Sunday, we went to Edgar's aunt and uncle's restaurant for lunch, and then el centro to see it in the daytime and let Christie get a Hard Rock Cafe pin for her collector mom. Then we went back to the pool, and this time it was sunny at least for a little bit longer. But it still rained, sadly. We left straight from the pool around 5 and headed back all smelly, happy, and tired. I would like to add, though, that I hardly got burnt at all. This is a huge accomplishment for me. The drive was, uh, exciting with all the twists and turns, and my stomach had just started freaking out before we left. Excellent. I went to bed exhaused and woke up sicker. I was going to go to class so I could save up my absences for traveling, but there's no way I could have walked to the bus stop. That's enough whining for now. Sorry. I think it's getting better anyways.

Ooh, I think I'm going to go to the Chivas game this Saturday. I hope it's not a problem that the only thing I know about soccer is that the goal is to get the ball in the net. Also, I wish I had a jersey so I could be spirited, but I'm too cheap. Maybe we can find one at a market sometime this week. Anyways, that's all I got for now. Besos!

How on Earth did I forget this?

We had a carne asada Sunday! O sea, a cookout but so much cooler.

For a bit o' history, in Cultura y pensamiento de Mexico the other day, we learned that mesoamericans weren't really big on meat, they mostly ate corn, beans, and other things that I don't remember. When they did have meat, it was a big deal and they'd throw a party. The professor, who we like to refer to as David Flores (kind of like "Rudy"), said that that's still the deal-- when Mexicans party, they eat meat.

Zabel's boyfriend Cesar and his two brothers came over. Los muchachos grilled meat, tortillas for making tacos, green onions, and nopales, which are cactus leaf-type thingies, not to be confused with tunas, cactus fruits, which are NASTAY. There's no pit or anything but there are seeds everywhere that I just could not make myself swallow. The rest of it isn't even that tasty. Here's a picture of Candice eating one when we were in Tequila. I'm going to try making the pictures bigger this time. Without further ado:

So in addition to the grilled thingies, there was the biggest bowl of guacamole that I've ever seen and pico de gallo, but Zabel called it "salsa mexicana." Salsa actually means sauce, and this isn't even saucy, but everything is called salsa here. Speaking of Mexicanisms, they are forever whipping out diminuitives (-ito, -ita, -cito, -cita). It's awesome because you can call someone loquito, which is a little less mean than calling them loco. And yesterday in class, the professor asked what happened during a certain year, and someone guessed wrong, but to lessen the blow, the professor said that was a little despuecito (whereas despues is how you would usually say after.) Ahorita, as opposed to ahora, comes up a lot. Anyways, that's enough of my nerdiness for one day. Here's some pictures of the asada:
In other news, our Puerto Vallarta trip is tomorrow!!!

Various failures and a light-up Jesus

As usual, I absolutely don't remember what I did with my last few days, so I will just ramble, starting with today's ramblings.

But I guess today sort of starts with yesterday, since we went to Wall Street...again. I think everybody does the going out on Tuesday thing because not many people have classes Wednesday. Here, they're Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday, with each class being an hour and a half long, and there are Wednesday classes for 3 hours each. I went to my first dance class this morning, and I was scared out of my mind because I knew I missed all the important stuff last week when I was doing visa shenanigans. Umm and it was just as bad as I thought it would be. Sort of fun, but I forgot that I am terrible at learning dance moves. This poor kid worked with me for like 30 minutes trying to explain the basic salsa step. I think I learned it wrong at USC...whoops. Anyways, I still don't have it down. I want to drop the class so badly but I think I might make myself stick with it. Sigh.

After class I went to the center of Zapopan with Heather and Candice, who just decided to go back to USC. She just found out none of her credits are going to transfer, and she doesn't want to have to waste time and money on yet another semester at USC. I'm really bummed, because she rocks my face off. They and everybody else went to the movies (2 for 1 on Wednesdays!) but I had that poly sci-ish class from 6-9. It went ok, I guess. The professor seems lovely but I didn't understand a lot of what he said. Mostly it's that everybody jokes around a lot and my Spanish isn't quite at joking level. Sometimes in class, or just at random times during the day, I get incredibly frustrated with my Spanish, or lack thereof. I want to speak it (and perhaps more importantly, understand it) perfectly NOW. And that ain't happening.

I guess the only other noteworthy thing is sharing my excitement about Puerto Vallarta this weekend! Figuring out transportation details has not been fun in the least, and it's not over, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

This is a really complain-y note so far. Let's change that.

Today in the bathroom at school I saw money thrown down the toilet. It made me giggle.

Then on the way home, tonight's bus decos included multicolored flashing lights above the bus's crucifix. Yesterday there were like neon blue lights throughout the whole bus, so we took rave-tastic pictures.

Ooh, last night was a fun one. Back to the beginning of the blog! We wanted to have a goodbye something or another for Candice, so we went to dinner at this place called La Chata, where I had a non-spicy but delicious torta ahogada. Apparently the downtown GDL location is packed, but this place was huge and empty, which was excellent, because we were incredibly loud. Here's a picha; we haven't had one of those lately. Here are Heather, Erin, Candice, and I being silly:
Welp, I think that's pretty much it for tonight. I'm gonna go to bed so I can do that whole class thing tomorrow!

Week one: complete. Status: alive.

Because of my tendency to write long posts, I'm going to try to limit this one to what I can write while finishing my tea.

Umm, yeah so I don't really remember what I've done with my past few days. I think Thursday was just more school and homework. Ok, now I remember, and yep, that's all I did. I spent the afternoon in the 'brary finishing a dumb assignment, but I was really proud of myself for staying even though I really wanted to go home and eat tacos or something.

I think the classes are going to be ok, but not any easier than those at USC. Just different. Oh, but yesterday I remembered that the grades I make here won't go into my USC GPA-- woot!

I dropped that Poverty and Development (Migration) class like a hot potato and picked up "Political Exterior of Mexico," which I'm pretty sure will count nicely towards my LASP major. The only thing is that it's from 6-9 PM Wednesdays, so those days I'll go at 10 AM for dance class, sit around and do homework todo el santo dia, go to the poly sci class, and take a taxi home. I think another girl that lives in my neighborhood is also in school till 9, so it'll be cheaper and safer. I'm really hoping this new class is decent, because the adding/dropping period just ended.

Yesterday I got my laptop registered into the Tec's campus-wide wireless network. Maybe I won't get homework done at school after all. It certainly won't be the same as being in the depths of the T-Coop (our loving nickname for USC's sketch library, which is 70s-tastic and has 5 creepy floors underground that are most conducive to getting things done.)

Last night we went to Wall Street again, which was sort of weird since it was hosted by the Tec Int'l Programs. All the staff that have been changing my classes all week and hearing my complaints about my ID card's saying "Janet Newton Devde" were there at the club with us. One of them actually took me and Eva home, so that was pretty awesome that we didn't have to pay for a taxi. And we took a bus there (50 cents) and there was no cover, so it was an excellent night for a cheapskate like me. I did pay for a pina colada. I know you're probably tired of hearing my excitement about alcohol, but darnit, I served those things at OTB for over a year, so I deserved to try one. The Japanese girls Mizouki and Sari (the girl that's staying with Zabel's mom) came too, but they left at 12 because their group went to Tequila this morning. Later, however, there was much dancing--techno (ick), salsa, and all the popular Spanish music that I feel less weird about liking here than I do at home. Fun was had by all.

Today Eva, Candice, and I are going shopping because we are running out of going-out shirts (haha) and we might go crazy if we stay cooped up in such small quarters. The malls here look just like US ones, but SO much fancier than the Haywood or Columbiana malls. And surely we will have some sort of bus adventure. I can finally get to and from school in a pretty stress-free fashion, so that's a plus in my life.

Oh, yesterday after class I took Mizouki and Sari home to help them get used to the buses (apparently busses isn't a word? whoops), and I was trying to explain how you have to push a button so the bus driver knows when to stop (no one remembered to tell me that part) in very slow, present tense Spanish. This girl a couple seats in front of us asked if we go to the Tec, and we made some lovely smalltalk. When we got off the bus, she told us where she lived, told us to come visit, and gave me her phone number in case we need help with anything. She's a first year student from Nayarit, the state on the coast just north of Jalisco (where GDL is). So I guess we will call her sometime and go get dinner or something! It's so weird how, when you're just walking on the street or riding on the bus, you pretty much look straight ahead and don't smile at anybody or anything, but when you do talk to someone, everybody is SO friendly. I don't really get how it works, but I guess I'm ok with it. I completely understand not smiling at guys you pass on the street, but it makes me sad that even the women don't really smile at each other.

I have to share this out of control Mexicanism (Latin Americanism?) that you may or may not have heard of: when you ask for directions, people are very quick to help, even if they can't actually point you to where you're trying to go. They make up very elaborate directions and are so nice and sure of themselves that you take their advice and usually end up even more lost than before. Apparently it's because they don't want to disappoint you by not being able to answer your question, but this is not logical to me. I am quite disappointed when I am freaking lost in a city I don't know, but I guess it's better for them because by that point I'm so far away, they don't have to see me being let down. The best option is to find a map, and the second best is to ask a bazillion people the same question and take an average of their answers.

The tea restrictions didn't work well; I just kind of forgot to drink it. 306 ladeez-- I thought of you this morning because I almost left said tea in the microwave. :)

It's either this or bed...

...and I don't really feel like going to bed.

Way-ul. Let's see...what happened yesterday? Ah--more classes, all went well. The Contemporary Latin American Lit one was good because the professor said we could read stuff and write essays in our native tongue if we so desire. Then the Culture and Thought in Mexico was amazing because the professor is just fabulous. Probably the best part was finding out that we're going to go on a couple trips, but the only one I remember is to Michoacan for the Day of the Dead. Michoacan is the state to the south of Jalisco, and I think they have more indigenous people and therefore cooler celebrations. Then there was "Poverty and Development in Mexico," but the professor decided he would rather teach the class on immigration from Mexico to the United States. That screwed some kids over, but I was fine with it. Until I found out that by coming to class every single day, reading for every single day, and doing some field work shenanigans with migrants, you get a 70. The only way to raise that grade is to get crap published in newspapers or something. No thank you. So now I'm hoping USC will tell me that they'll give me credit for my no-credit dance class. A ver...

Anyways, I just came home from school and layed around a bunch. Though bus rides still make me nervous (When should I get off?), the rides, walks home, and being the first one home are excellent. Alone time is a hot commodity. Then Eva came home and we layed around and facebooked. Some things never change. During said facebooking, Nacho's friend Edgar invited us to an antro (bar/club). So after much debate, we decided to go.

Oh! So the debate was because we have another roommate! Zabel forgot to mention this or something, but I found out yesterday around 1 that a Japanese girl would be coming that night and staying for four weeks. Her name is Mizouki (sp?) and she's lovely, but doesn't speak much Spanish or English. I think because we originally thought she spoke more Spanish, Eva and I have been speaking in Spanish around her. After even just a few hours of puro espanol, it's weird to have to flip my English switch on to write this. But it's really neat that brains can get so used to something after such a short period of time. My friends in the international program and I decided we would just speak Spanish starting October 1. We'll see if that actually happens...

Anyways, we decided Mizouki would probably want to go to bed, so we stayed home to greet her and then went to our first antro! It's called Wall Street, yet it's beach themed and yesterday was Mardi Gras night, which just involved the distribution of beads at the door and like an hour of Brazilian music. The place is generally known for having lots of international kids, but Edgar took us and we met up with some of his friends later. It was so exciting actually being with Mexican kids. Only after I got there did I remember that I hate dancing, but I was accompanied by some other bad dancers, so it wasn't so bad. The scandalous part of the night for me was that we stayed out till 3:30 (again, took a taxi back) and had to leave the house at 8 this morning for visa stuff. Whoops. I guess a good thing is that I never drive here, so driving drowsy isn't an issue...haha.

Fun tidbit: perhaps the most awkward thing about last night was that you're supposed to tip the lady in the bathroom who gives you a paper towel when you're done washing your hands, but I never had my money with me. This happened in the Nicaragua airport too-- equally awkward.

Anyways, we were in the visa place from 9 to 2, with a break for lunch (a glorious 60 cent quesadilla and coca in a glass bottle!) and running around to get pictures taken, ridiculous forms filled out with a typewriter, and copies made of every single page of our passport and visa. It still wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I have to go back next Friday, hopefully before class, and then I think it will all be done! It kind of stinks, but I'd like to not be deported (oh, the irony).

After we finished with visa stuff, a couple other girls and I walked alllll around Guadalajara going in various bookstores trying to find textbooks. My challenge was finding an English copy of 100 Years of Solitude...no luck yet.

I came home wiped out and, uh, haven't really done anything productive since. Zabel, Eva, Mizouki and I hung out for a little bit, which was especially fun because it seems like lately we haven't been home much at the same time as Zabel. Ooh, she did mention that we have to go to Tlaquepaque soon, which is east of Guadalajara but still considered part of the GDL metropolitan area or something like that. Apparently it's really cute and famous for it's artesian-type things. And it is super fun to say: tlack-long a-pack-long a...mmm, I could totally be a linguist. But this Friday, Tec is renting out Wall Street, so we won't be very functional Saturday, next weekend is a trip to Puerto Vallarta, then the next weekend is my bday!!!, well, the following Monday is. I have no idea what we will do. Zabel said we could invite friends to the house for dinner or other shenanigans, and then we could all get ready together and go...somewhere fun. Maybe an antro, or if we're antro-ed out, the center of Zapopan. The following weekend would be Tlaquepaque, then D.F. for Independence day...eek! I wonder when homework will get done... But I'm really excited that my time here won't all be spent laying around my house. :)

Katie, I don't know if've you been reading this, but shoutout time! Tomorrow she's leaving for an archaeological dig in Menorca, Spain and then heading off for an exotic semester in Italy...so safe travels and don't get stressed out!

And to everyone else, thanks for stopping by! I love you!