Day 39, Week 6

Oh today was a good day. I had a good time in my classes and am really enjoying my culture class. We're learning a lot about different statistics of Mexico first and then we started a little bit into some foods as well. My professor is a really neat guy and I can usually understand him so that's always nice. He's very knowledgeable about the culture and I can tell he likes teaching it to us. After school today I came home and had some lunch and then laid out in the sun again. I wanted to get a little color for when I go to the beach (TOMORROW!) so I don't turn into a lobster accidentally. I was very nice and hot out today. I think it was around 81 degrees. Our mama told us that in the next 20 or so days the rainy season will be over with and then it will be warmer out. Oh boy, I don't know if I can handle that hot on a daily basis! I shall try. When I came back inside, Allison asked me if I wanted to go find some place to get some ice cream because it was so hot out, so Megan, her and I went on an adventure to find some. We found the little ice cream shop in this little mall and enjoyed it very much. I think I will be making another stop at that mall to check out the cute dressy clothes they have there. :) Allison and I went to get our butts kicked in kickboxing afterward and definitely succeeded. I'm all ready to go to the beach now! haha. Dinner was great and we had another slice of the cheesecake we also had last night. It was so delicious with a little bit of raspberry jelly on top of it. mmmm! Tonight I got to spend some time talking with Brian and now I'm off to bed. Class tomorrow and then we're leaving around 1:30. I won't be able to write my blogs about this weekend until I get back, so stay tuned! Whoo I'm excited! For those of you interested in looking on a map where I will be going, I am going to the little beach called Manzanillo which is located on the Pacific Coast almost straight from Guadalajara. :)

-Whitney

Day 38, Week 6

I started my new classes today. It was very weird for me to start them and to meet new people that came for this session. I got the first-day-of-school uncomfortable feelings. My first class is mostly made of the same people from the last session, with an addition of another Japanese girl, a guy from Colorado and a girl from L.A. The teacher seems pretty nice and she says we're going to be learning a lot in level 7. My second class is a Mexican Cultural class with one of the Doctors from the university. He is an older gentleman that is full of spunk and is going to be a great professor, I can already tell. I have to write an essay about a cultural topic for the last week too, and I already know that this class will be more like an actual college course with more work involved. No matter what, I will learn a lot I'm sure. After class I had lunch and laid out in the hot sun for about 45 minutes and definitely got some color..pinkish tan. haha. I just relaxed afterward and then went to the gym for about 2 1/2 hours with Allison to do our thing and then go to the Zumba class, which turned out to be more of a resistance class. :/ But it was good. We had a good dinner and not I'm ready for bed. Only 2 more days until the beach!!! I'm so excited.

-Whitney

Day 37, Week 6

Ahh what a nice day to relax and not do much of anything! I got to sleep in, have breakfast, soak up some sun and just hang out. Allison and I went for a walk this afternoon after lunch. We made up a little game to keep points of the cat calls we receive. (1 for a taxi or pedestrian, 2 for a car, and 3 for a bus) We had about 13 points within our 30 minute walk! haha. :P This afternoon we met up with our friend Eddy who brought us to pick up another friend David and then we all went to our friend Diego's little restaurant to hang out for a couple hours. It's just a little 3-table appetizer/snack restaurant, but we had fun just hanging out. If anything, it's interesting to try to understand them when they are speaking to each other in itself! Eddy dropped us off at our house and we had a good taco dinner. :) First day of my second classes tomorrow! I'm excited, but more so for the beach this weekend! ahh :)

Buenas noches
-Whitney

Day 36, Week 6

Week 6!! Today, Allison and I went for a walk to find someplace for her to get her nails done-which we never found an open salon on a Sunday. We made it back to the mall and saw there was a bicycle race going on, so we stopped at sat at a bus stop and watched. It was pretty intense! The whole avenue was shut down so half of it was for the race and the other half was for locals to walk, run, ride their own bikes, etc. When it was finished we walked home and had some lunch. It was so hot out today too just sitting in the shade was a little uncomfortable. But, we managed to go outside and do some rooftop tanning after lunch. By that time the sun was not nearly as strong and a little more bearable. We came down and hung out the rest of the afternoon and had dinner later. We noticed at dinner we were both pretty sunburnt from today because we had tan lines from our dresses and not our swimsuits! Our mama doesn't like to see that and tells us we need to wear cream in the Mexican sun! The three of us roommates went for a post-dinner walk to show Allison where our school is and just came back home. We were telling her about our cockroach experiences and freaking her out. :P No school tomorrow for the incoming students' orientation so I think sleeping in will be on my agenda! 4 days until the beach! :)

-Whitney

Day 35, Week 5

What a fun day! My new roommate Allison moved in today and I already know we're gonna get along GREAT! :) I'm really excited for the next 10 weeks with her. I brought her to the mall today so she could buy her concert ticket for Aventura and we sat and talked at Starbucks about our boyfriends-hehe. We met up with some friends at Los Arcos (The Arcs) which I am showing you in the picture, to go the this huge outdoor FREE music festival at the fountain (La Minerva). There were SO many people and I didn't really know who the artists were, so after we stayed for about 2 hours we left. I thought I was going to see a big fight with the police, but it wasn't anything too big. They were trying to kick this guy and some ladies out for not listening to them from what I could interpret, but it got a little wild! We left and Allison and I went out for dinner and got to have some great conversation about our families and stuff. We are somewhat alike in several ways so it's really neat to me! We came home after dinner and attempted to walk in the sprinkling rain but then in an instant it started to DOWNPOUR and we had to get a taxi. :) I'm pretty tired now so I'm just gonna hang out at home for the rest of the night. Not sure what I'm gonna do tomorrow, but I can't believe its the start of week #6!

Buenas noches
-Whitney

Day 34, Week 5

Friday was my last day of course 1! I took my final exams and they didn't seem to be too difficult and then I came home early. We had a great lunch and then I took almost a 2 hour nap I think! When I woke up, I was so bored and didn't know what to do until I was going to go out with my friends at 8, so my friend Diego picked me up at my house and brought me to this mall called Andares. It was so nice and ritzy, but also pretty expensive too! We had fun just walking around and practicing my Spanish though. We came back to my house and we picked up my new roommate, Allison, and we met up at our school with about 5 more people to go out for dinner. We wanted to talk about our plans for the beach next weekend, but I don't think that really got accomplished. I think I am the only one plus Allison now that I for sure about going. The rest are still deciding. But I am very excited to go! I haven't seen a beach in a while. :) But we ate at a really nice Italian restaurant and another friend Diego came and met us there. After dinner they took us to a bar/lounge and we hung out there for a few hours. I just love hanging out with them because they're tons of fun. Diego brought us home and I crashed! :)

-Whitney

Day 33, Week 5

Today was a very crazy day. It started out pretty normal with my last day of class for this session. We did a lot of reviewing and played a game too. I laid out in the sun for a little while, trying to study for my tests tomorrow but I came in because I thought it was going to start raining. This afternoon I got some devastating news from my cousin that there was a fatal car crash in Wabasha. I believe it had been raining pretty badly because school was even let out due to the weather. The young girl was driving with her best friend when they pulled out in front of a semi. She sustained some very tragic injuries and is currently in her 2nd operation of the day to reduce some swelling of her brain. The boy she was with however was killed. They are both so young and are known throughout Wabasha so it was very hard for me to think about. Anytime something like this happens, it's always hard, but when you're from a small town, I think it's even worse. I went to the gym to clear my mind for a while. I attempted the Latin Rhythms exercise class but was pretty embarrassed due to my dance skills, or lack there of. Oh well, I will just keep practicing I suppose. When I came home, I began to think of the accident again and was reading the many Facebook posts all over everyone's pages. I am such a soft-hearted person it's such a hard thing to deal with. I had a Really good talk with Brian tonight and can't wait to be back with him in almost 2 months! :) I need some sleep before my tests tomorrow and then I might be hanging out with my Mexican friends (I hope).

Good night
-Whitney

Day 32, Week 5

I am so sore from the gym yesterday I feel like an old lady! If it's not for my hips or my ankle, it's going to the gym for a nice hard workout that gets me feeling like I should be having my 50th birthday and not 21st. haha :P But all in all, I had a good day. We did some reviewing in class today for our finals on Friday and more review tomorrow too. We played a trivia game in my second class as a speaking and listening exercise and I actually learned quite a bit about Mexico.

My new roommate had lunch with us today! She seems really awesome and is from Seattle, Washington and is 21. She will be moving in with us either Friday or Saturday and will be here until December also. I'm really excited for her to be with us and for her to meet all of our friends we've made, etc. She speaks really good Spanish, but said she doesn't know how to read or write very well so that's why she needs help at the school.

This afternoon, I went to a movie in Spanish "No Eres Tu, Soy Yo" (I am not you, I'm me) with Jenny, Tara, and Megan. It was a pretty good romantic/comedy that involved a lot of listening and Spanish comprehension. I'm getting better tho! :) Every day is better. I raced home from the theater to get ready to go to the gym and headed back in the same direction to get to my kickboxing class. I was the only person who showed up tonight so I had my own private class. :) It was pretty intense and the instructor worked me hard! But that's good, I enjoy it.

Tonight after the gym I just relaxed and talked to my friends about our plans for the beach next weekend. I'm so excited to go traveling some more! I'm glad we have them to travel with and that they want to bring us with to show us their country too. :)

Oh the weeks are flying by!
-Whitney

Day 31, Week 5

Today was a great day! In my first class we talked about the future tense and our teacher had us play a game with her "cards" for the future. I went first and picked three numbers. They were: an engagement ring, a wedding, and a baby. haha wow..that's funny. After lunch I took a nice nap and then went to the mall with some friends to get concert tickets for a band called Aventura that I love! I'm so excited for it and the tickets were only around $20. :) The concert is October 8th so it's coming up! This week is flying by, I can't believe it. I signed up for my classes for the next session so I'm going to be taking level 7 and then a Mexican culture class. I can't wait to learn more about the culture. That is one of my favorite things to study. I went to the gym tonight to go to a Zumba exercise class, but there was no instructor that showed up! I really wanted to do it too! So I just did other stuff, but hopefully I'll be able to do the Zumba classes soon. :) I'm really tired and exhausted from the gym so I better get some sleep!

-Whitney

Day 30, Week 5

Hello! This morning our mom told us we will being getting another roommate next week. :) I guess she is from Seattle, but I don't know much else. I had a rough time at school today..it was just so confusing for some reason! But anyway, it's ok. I had a good afternoon just hanging out and took a nice nap. I went to my kickboxing class tonight which was great and got to practice my spanish a lot with the instructor. :) I get nervous a lot when I talk to the locals, but I guess that's the only way I'll learn after all. I'm getting really excited for upcoming plans that I have. I think we're going to Tequila this weekend and then next weekend I'm going to the beach with my guy friends and some girlfriends from school. :) Time to get some rest!

P.S. Greta if you read this, I hope your eye is doing better! And Lauren, I hope you're feeling better! We can't have a sick princess! ;) Love you girlies!

-Whitney

Day 29, Week 5

I had a really good, adventurous day today. My friends and I went to Tonalá, which is a town with a ton of artisans. They have a HUGE open market on Sundays so it was a great day to go. We had a little bit of an adventure before we even started thought. We took the first bus we had to and then crossed the street to get on the second bus, but apparently we shouldn't have crossed the street, because we rode the second route all the way to the end, but in the opposite direction! haha We got to the end and the bus driver says "ok where are you going?" and we told him the town and he told us we needed to be going in the other direction and that it was going to be another hour and a half ride before we got there! He also told us to cross the street to the bus stop and in 15 minutes the bus would pick us up. So we walked across the street, waited for about 5 minutes and then the same bus turned around, stopped, and picked us up! haha Oh it was hilarious. Also, on the way there, I saw some little boys (probably around 7 or 8) wind up to throw something from across the street. Well, it was an apple and he threw it at our bus! haha It reminded me of a story by dad told me about him and his friends throwing apples at cars when they were younger. :) So we got there and had a ton of fun walking through the market and seeing all the neat stuff for sale. I bought some really cool things and can't wait to go back with my mom when she gets here!! We made it back home after a nice long walk and now I'm ready to start my last week in my first session! Final exams are already on Friday!

-Whitney
p.s. my camera died so I couldn't take any pictures today. :(

Day 28, Week 4

Last day of week 4!

Today was a pretty relaxing day. I was at home for most of the day and then I went to the movie "Going the Distance" or "Amor a Distancia" in Spanish. I went with my roommate, Jenny, and Tara to the theater fairly close to our house. It was a great movie, I love it. It was about a long distance relationship, so it really made me think of mine and Brian's relationship right now. :) Tonight I have been doing a little planning with the help of my friend Diego to go to Tonalá tomorrow. It is an artisan town with a great market on Sundays apparently, so I'm excited to go! Hopefully I can find some more jewels! :D

Good night!
-Whitney

Day 27, Week 4

On Friday I went on an adventure to a town called Teuchitlán to visit some very interesting ancient ruins called Guachimontones. They are said to be the only circular ruins in the world!

My friends Jenny, Tara, and I took a bus ride there. It was really interesting because every time the bus made a stop, someone would hop on and try to sell the passengers something. Usually it was homemade potato chips or peanuts. It's so much different that something you would see in the states. But we made it there and then took a taxi to see the ruins. They were definitely really cool, but I expected them to be quite a bit bigger. We walked back down the hill into the town again and stopped at some jewelry vendors, where I bought some really neat things...for cheap!! We had lunch at a little taco stand and made a new friend, Reuben, who had lived in Atlanta for 10 years with his brother working construction and loved it. haha He also asked us when we were coming back because he wanted to take us for a cruise--hmm weird. But we got back on the bus which we thought was to head back to GDL. It turns out it did go to GDL but just not the same terminal we started at, so we were a little lost. We ended up finding our way through 2 more bus rides!

At night, we went over to our friend Edi's house and hung out with some of our friends. It was a great way to spend a vacation day!

It was so beautiful out, I got sunburnt! I think it was around 82!

-Whitney

Day 26, Week 4

On Thursday everyone just rested. It was Independence Day here so not many things were open, so I just hung out at home. I took a nap, talked with Brian, mom, and some other friends, and made plans for Friday. We're going to Guachimontones which are the only circular ancient ruins in the world! I can't wait! :) I'll be sure to post some pictures up for Friday's blog.

-Whitney

Day 25, Week 4

Wednesday was lots of fun. In my first class, my teacher shared some Mexican sweets with us as we used the grammar that we have been working on. They were extremely sweet and sugary, but just not my thing. My second teacher let us out 10 minutes early, so that too was really nice! Now we can start the long weekend!

I had lunch and just hung out for most of the afternoon and soaked up some rays. :) I met my friends Jenny and Tara at school at night and we took a bus and then a taxi ride to our friend Diego's house. He lives in a very beautiful private neighborhood about 25 minutes out of town. It definitely seemed like a mansion out of a movie! We made him give us a grand tour. :P He had a really big fiesta for the celebration of the 200 years of independence and 100 years since the revolution that I have been talking about. There were tons of people there, but I only knew about 1/4 of them..maybe not even that! He had the party out in his guest house/terrace so it was amazing. He has a wonderful view of all the city right in his backyard. I was feeling very spoiled to have gotten invited. :) He also had tons of tacos and other snacks for everyone, so it was just an all around great time.

How lucky am I to have gotten to celebrate this great holiday with my wonderful Mexican friends!?

-Whitney

Day 24, Week 4

OH MY GOODNESS today I had one of the craziest experiences in Guadalajara thus far.

First off, school went well because it was basically like a Thursday for me since tomorrow is our last day of the week. After school I came home and had lunch and then hustled to the gym. I was so exhausted!

After the gym I came home and talked to Brian for a little bit and then met my friends at a salon that is close by to get pedicures. I can definitely tell you that I'm very spoiled with Diva Nails back home! It just isn't the same. I think next time I'll just do it myself-haha. We took a bus to the center of the town where many crew members are getting the town ready for the independence festivities. It's going to be crazy down there this weekend! We had dinner at nice restaurant and learned that "papas fritas" which normally is french fries, was literally fried potatoes a.k.a. potato chips! At least now I know!

We walked to a not-so-nice-at-night part of town where I encountered said "crazy" experience. I went to my first Lucha Libre. Lucha Libre is something like WWE wrestling in which the fighters wear very colorful outfits and masks and the audience yells very vulgar things. It was super busy in the arena and everyone was so full of energy. An usher escorted us to our seats, walking about 10 feet from the ring, when all of a sudden the fighters fell out of the ring and right onto my feet!!! I fell into some woman sitting in the front row and at this point I was SO EMBARRASSED, had sweat from the "luchador" on my leg, and everyone was chanting something in Spanish at me! OH MY GOD I was shaking and thinking, this could only happen to me-haha. I quickly ran away from the fighter and back to where half of my friends were still waiting to cross when no one was in the way. I think I probably made it onto the big screen in the whole arena, and everyone had recognized me. Oh well. It was a very interesting thing to watch, and PROBABLY won't go again unless you're interested Mom? haha. It was very fake and synchronized but even the littlest of kids were there screaming, giving the fighters the bird, and shaking their hands at the end. Holy cow...what an experience.

The pictures are of some of the fighters I saw, but cameras weren't allowed so they aren't pictures I actually took.

Hopefully I can sleep tonight!

-Whitney

Day 23, Week 4

Today was a little boring, but overall good. I think I had a case of the Monday's in school today because I could hardly make it through my second class. It's difficult sitting in class for 1 hour and 40 minutes when I'm used to only 50 minute classes. :/ But I got my tests back today...87 and 95 percent. :) Not bad! I was pretty impressed actually. Now I just have to take my final exams for this session in 2 more weeks.

After school I came home and had a good lunch and took a nice nap! I did my homework and then went to the gym and had a nice workout. I hadn't been there in a while, so it was nice to get back into it.

Tonight I've just hung out and talked with Brian and my mexican friends about this week's plans.

Today's weather was wonderful! Bright and Sunny! :)

-Whitney

Day 22, Week 4

Oh my goodness it's already week 4!

Today has been a definite day of rest and recooperation. My roommate and I have been sleeping and relaxing all day. :)We didn't get to Tonalá today for their artisan market they have on Sundays, but I have plenty more Sundays left to get there.

We finally went downstairs tonight for a good dinner and now I'm ready to get to sleep and be ready for class tomorrow. These mexicans are too wild for me!

This week will be a short week for school. We have Thursday and Friday off for the celebration of the bicentennial of independence and lots more festivities!

-Whitney

Day 21, Week 3

Oh yesterday was a good day!

My friends and I went to the cultural market in Guadalajara and roamed around there for a while. It mainly consisted of selling heavy metal music or accessories, something to do with the hobby of smoking marijuana, other clothes, or jewelry. I didn't find anything there but it was super cheap! We left the market and went to a town south of Guadalajara to Tlaquepaque. It was a very beautiful town that had streets filled with shops and food vendors. It reminded me a lot of Mazamitla, but nicer and more expensive. I bought a beautiful painting from an artist that only uses a metal spatula. It was very neat to watch him as he worked on another picture. We were there for around 3 hours and got caught in the rain too. It's nice that when it rains, it's usually only for a half hour so we just waited inside a shop. We took a bus back to the center and then my friend Lindsay and I took a cab back to our school and I walked home.

At night, we were invited to our new friend's house for a party. We all got ready and met at the school to "mexipack" several people into a car. That was definitely a funny experience! We all had so much fun, probably a little too much fun, but it was a wonderful time. :)

-Whitney

Day 20, Week 3

I'm a little late on this post again...oops.

Yesterday, Friday, was a pretty fun day. I had my 2 midterm exams for school. They were both pretty easy, but we'll see just how easy when we get our grades on Monday. After our tests, some of us from school went out for lunch to a pretty cheap, good restaurant with Mexican food. We all went to a dessert shop after lunch to find something delicious. Megan and I found this shop on our walk home Thursday night when we were lost and it looked scrumptous! One of the friends from school has a girlfriend from Guadalajara and they both were with us, so they invited to come with them to a Cuban restaurant/bar after to try their authentic Cuban Mojitos. I didn't like it, but most of the people did. This was a really interesting restaurant because it's a chain called "La Bodeguita Del Medio" and it actually owned by the Cuban government. They also have live cuban music and the musicians are hired by the government and are "shipped" to the restaurants and their families are paid to prevent them from escaping. It was a very interesting situation. :)

Later on, my friend Jenny and I met up and we met some of the others at a Lebanese restaurant, where our German friend was going to be belly dancing. She was great! The Lebanese food was also pretty good. :) Jenny and I left later to go find bar/restaurant to hang out at. We found one and sat down and talked for a while before this guy came up to us and started talking. Him and his friend both sat with us and we all played a game of pool together. It was definitely difficult to get out of there with just ourselves because they both were very into my friend-haha. But we made it! :)

It was an eventful night for sure.

-Whitney

Day 19, Week 3

I had a very adventurous, interesting day today.

We reviewed for our exams tomorrow in class and talked about inventions that we didn't have when we were younger. That was really funny to listen to our teacher talk about. :)

I came home and was really tired so I ate and then took a little nap. We went to the orphanage today, but could only stay for about a half hour before it started to rain. The area is outside that we play in, so we had to leave right away. The little guys were so cute though and remembered us pretty well. :)

We took the bus back to where we started, or where we thought we started. Megan and I got off at a different spot than the other two girls, but it turns out we had no idea where we were-haha. We were walking, in the rain, without umbrellas, with 1 peso short of 2 more bus tickets, and no cell phones for 3 hours. :) It was quite an adventure to say the least, but we finally made it home. I was so exhausted. We ate a good dinner and then I studied for my exams tomorrow.

I'm going out with our new mexican friends tomorrow night, so I'm pretty excited about that! I can't believe it's already Friday tomorrow again!

-Whitney

Day 18, Week 3

Today was a very uneventful, boring day. (haha) It was very rainy and gloomy all day. We got our first ride in the car today, because our mama brought us to school since it was raining. We've walked in the rain before, but today she just didn't want our legs to get wet. ? haha. So that was interesting!

In school we are preparing to take our midterm exams on Friday in both of my classes. I don't think they will be too difficult but I spent most of the afternoon/evening doing some studying.

Dinner was actually mexican food! (haha) Usually our mama makes lots of Italian dishes because she grew up in Italy. But we had gorditas, which is fried dough made of corn and beans in the middle, and we also had these quesadilla-like things that I forgot the name, but it is two tortillas with cheese and ham in the middle of it. :) They were both pretty good.

I'm not sure what's in store for tomorrow, but I'm off to bed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME COUSIN LAUREN IRENE! :D

-Whitney

Day 17, Week 3

I had a great day today! :)

Except for the fact that I woke up early to take a shower and waited for 15 minutes to get warm water, which never arrived. But school was nice, it rained really hard during my first class but then the rest of the day was pretty decent. I had a hot chocolate today from the little store in our school. Oh my goodness was it good! They add cinnamon to it and it just makes for the perfect combination.

After school we had lunch and then I met up with my friends Jenny, Tara, and Annina at the big fountain here and then we took a bus to meet our friend Diego from last weekend. He drove us to Las Plazas Outlet Mall. It was a really nice mall, but it wasn't anything like the outlet malls in America, as far as discounted prices go. There really wasn't anything I was willing to spend almost the full price on. It was a good experience though. He brought us back to a bus stop and we took the bus back to the fountain and then I took another taxi back to my road. It's a great experience to ride on the buses with the locals. There were people selling music, playing music, and selling different ointments that supposedly were to cure EVERYTHING!

Dinner tonight was little but tasty. We had a hunk of mozzarella cheese with a cilantro sauce on it and then bruschetta. Since our mom grew up in Italy she makes wonderful Italian food. :) (Works out nice!)

My new friends from last weekend, along with my other friends from school, and I are planning some festivities in the upcoming days so I'm pretty excited! It's great to have Mexican friends, huh? ;)

Tomorrow we are visiting a hospital to volunteer like we did at the orphanage. That should be pretty fun.

Buenas noches,
-Whitney

Day 16, Week 3

Good Morning!

I forgot to write my blog last night, so I will this morning before school. Yesterday was a pretty good day. Even though it was a Monday, my classes seemed to go by pretty fast. After school I came home and took a nap and then met up with my friend Lindsay to go downtown to fix my phone and she needed internet. That was pretty interesting to be in a big phone store with tons of people just staring at you. But...not my phone works! :) If you want to use it, I think it will be +52 (33) 3198-7643. I'm not sure how much everything costs, so use it at your own risk. :P

After downtown, I was so tired and my hip was really bothering me so I wanted to just relax. I was finally able to talk to Brian since Friday, so that was definitely a good thing. :) We were both busy this weekend (he went to visit at River Falls to see his buddies) and I was in Mazamitla, and I really had missed him over the weekend. But now I'm back and ready to go!

We had a really good dinner and I just did homework after. We have our first midterm tests this Friday, so I probably should be looking over my stuff too. :P I got to talk to my mom on skype for about a half hour, which was very nice! I was texting MJ and she was telling me how the girls had the 1st day of school jitters, oh cute! I hope my little chicas Lauren, Katy, and Greta have a great first day of school today! :) aand it's almost Lauren's birthday!

Well I better get going. Hopefully a busy day today if all goes as planned!

-Whitney

Day 15, Week 3

Today I woke up at 9:30 and got ready to start an adventurous day!

There were 9 of us students from CEPE (my school) that went so we all walked to a little store right next to our cabana to get some food. There were guys already selling tacos at 11 a.m.! It's pretty serious business around here-haha. There are tons of little stores everywhere that sell pretty much the same types of convenient store things. After our little breakfast, we got ready to go to the waterfall. :) We all took a 45 minute trip on horseback to the top of this waterfall and hung out for a while. Of course, being the clumsy girl I am, I slipped on the rocks trying to walk closer and got my tennis shoes soaked! (Already asked mama if she could wash them for me) ;) It was so beautiful and reminded me almost exactly of the waterfall in Costa Rica that we visited. We rode another 30-45 minutes back to the top where we started. Our horses were trotting a little more which made it really funny to watch my friend Tara who had never rode before. :P My horse decided to get into some water on the way and was kicking at it, so my shoes got even more wet!

After the waterfall, we went back to our cabana and then to the center again to have some pizza before heading back to Guadalajara. I bought a really cute replica Coach bag in the center that I really had to have. ;) It's big enough to fit my books in so I think I'm going to use it like a book bag.

We just had a little dinner and now I'm going to hang out for the rest of the night!

-Whitney

Day 14, Week 2

I'm writing this blog about Saturday on Sunday because I didn't have internet access on my trip yesterday!

So,we woke up early to leave for our trip to the little town of Mazamitla. We were going to meet our friends at a park near their house and then walk to the fountain where the vans were going to pick us up, but we got lost on the way. We ended up taking a taxi for a 30 second trip to the fountain (La Minerva) and met up with the others there. The ride was about 2 hours long and we stopped at a little town to get these drinks our guide was telling us about. It was a mixture of juices, squirt, and tequila and then put it in a little bag (reminded me of what they put fish in at the pet store) and tied a straw into it. It was very interesting and tasted pretty good.

When we got to Mazamitla, we found the cabanas that we were staying at and then went to a restaurant in the middle of the town to eat. Another lady that was in our van, sat with a couple of us at our table and was preaching about God and some of her testimonies. It was very interesting to say the least, because she was obviously speaking in Spanish and it was quite difficult to understand. This wonderful lady's name was Sandra. After lunch we were free to do whatever so we walked around the town for 4 hours and visited many little stores. I bought some pretty cool candles there. :) We met back up with the rest of the group at the cabanas and had carne asada tacos and beans and Corona! The people here in Mexico definitely like their coronas and tequila. It was a very good dinner. Everyone was so tired from the day and was about to crash when the guide came in and asked "Do you want some tequila?!" So we started to play some games with him and another friend and the night began. We had so much fun and ended up going to the cabana right next to ours to party with some other Mexicans from Guadalajara that came. What a fun night! (They didn't go to bed until 7 a.m. they told us!)

The rest of the weekend trip will be continued on the next blog ;)

-Whitney

Day 13, Week 2

I had a great day today. :)

School was decent and we got to vote on an extra day off for the celebration of the bi-centennial of independence. The holiday is on the 16th of September, but there are celebrations throughout this whole month apparently. We are getting the 17th off too so we'll have a 4 day weekend. :)

I bought my tickets for Cancún today! I am going to visit Abraham on my birthday, October 22 and come back to Guadalajara the afternoon of that Sunday the 24th. I'm pretty excited and know it will be a blast!

I didn't do a whole lot today, but tonight I met my new friend Mario and his friend Rubí. I don't know if it's his girlfriend or not but they were awesome. They were both so nice and funny and I already learned a lot from them. We went to the mall to get my cell phone all ready to go, so now I have to just register it and I will be set! After the mall we went to a restaurant to have a drink and we talked about everything and anything for a couple hours and I walked back home. We are going to meet again next Tuesday to practice more Spanish/English.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for a little town called Mazamitla with 10 other friends from school. We are camping out there and staying over and coming back Sunday night. I'm pretty excited for that too.

All finished with Week #2~
-Whitney

Day 12, Week 2

Happy Thursday! :)

I think I was starting to get run-down today because I could hardly stay awake in class today. My head hurt and my eyes were really heavy and my teachers could tell I didn't feel good. I was supposed to start my dance class today, but I decided to go home and take a nap instead. It was definitely what I needed to get better. :)

After lunch I hung out for a while and then we went to run some errands. We went to the mall again and I tried to buy a cell phone but the lady working talked SO fast I couldn't understand her. She told us to go to a different store, so I'm going to attempt that soon.

My Mexican friend finally called today! His name is Mario and I'm meeting him tomorrow at 6 at school. Maybe he will help me find a cell phone too!

Tonight we went out to this club called the Mambo Cafe. It's a salsa club that offers lessons for an hour and a half before the club opens. There were 6 of us and the beginners were separated and then paired with the men who were beginners. It was lots of fun! We went out to a bar called Bananas after for a while. :)

It's almost Friday!
-Whitney

Day 11, Week 2

Ahh today was another fun, busy day!

Class was normal, I guess. Our teachers always end up talking about really funny or different subjects, but it's fun just to listen and learn. After class, 8 of us friends from the school went up for lunch at a restaurant that had a train station theme. While we were there, two different people came up to our table trying to get us to give them money or buy fruit from them. It was a really different experience for me, but they got shoo'ed out of the place.

When we were finished, we walked to the Centro Magno, which is a big mall near our school to go to a movie. They are half off on Wednesdays and are only 40 pesos (a little less than $4) so we thought it'd be a good idea. Another different in the culture: During the advertisements before the movie, there are governmental and political ads, which you don't see in the states. The movie was called Una Compuesta Atrevida, A Bold Proposal, and it was one of the weirdest movies I think I have ever seen! I was so tired all day today from going out last night, so like usual, I fell asleep for a little while during the movie. :P

My roommate, Michelle, and I walked back to our houses and later my roommate and I or went to the gym for our kickboxing class. It was really fun and we had a new instructor, who was definitely gay, but SUPER nice! It's so fun to be immersed in the language while doing things you enjoy. :)

We came home for dinner and we thought we were going to eat with the whole family for once, because Andy, the former MSU student that was over the other night, had plans to come for dinner. Apparently he was going to be later than expected, so Megan and I just ate alone.

Week 2 is half way done! Oh my goodness. Next week we already have midterm tests!

I posted some pictures of the orphanage on yesterday's blog for anyone who would like to see them. There are also more on my facebook page. :)

I start my Mexican dance classes through the school tomorrow! Whoo!

Buenos noches
-Whitney

Day 10, Week 2

Wow! Today was an awesome day. :)

School went well like usual. It's really fun to talk about the differences between the different countries and cultures that are represented in my class. After school, we had lunch and I took a nap because I wasn't feeling well. The nap was very refreshing so after we went to the gym for a while. We didn't have a lot of time because we were going to the orphanage at 5 o' clock.

On our walk to the school for the orphanage, we passed by the car wash where the older man is always talking to me. He came up to me right away and gave me a kiss on the cheek which is the normal Mexican salutation, but just very different from what I'm used to. We took a bumpy 30 minute bus ride to the orphanage which was on the outer part of Guadalajara with the main guy at my school, Javier. The orphanage has 80 very energetic boys ages 4-12! It was one of the best experiences I have EVER had. These little boys just wanted to be hugged and held and talked to. They loved it when we gave them piggy-back rides and swung them around circles! I took a ton of pictures there but will post them up soon. (my camera is dead!) They Loved my camera and all wanted to take pictures of everything. It was so great to talk to them in Spanish and be able to understand them. I think we are going to go every week to hang out for a little bit. Javier told us about different projects they have done there and would like us to think of something we can do for them. Any suggestions?

We hustled back from the orphanage to have dinner, because it was our friend Tara's birthday and we made plans to go out. We talked with our mamá for a while after dinner and then I got ready to leave. It was pouring out so we were soaked by the time we got to the school to meet. We waited and waited but neither Tara nor her roommate Jenny showed up so we started walking home. We were on our street when we heard people yelling our names. It was the girls with Tara's Mexican friend from school! We got in the car with them and went out for drinks and tacos. It was SO much fun talking with Fernando, the friend, and enjoying everyone's company.

Tomorrow we're going to some museum after school so I'm exited for that!

SUCH A GREAT DAY!
Buenos noches,
-Whitney