Day 84, Week 12

Saturday, November 13

On Saturday, Allison and I woke up early to meet Jenny and Tara at a bus stop to go to the center. We had to take another bus from the center to get to the bus terminal which is in Tlaquepaque, a little outside of Guadalajara. When we got to the terminal, we bought our tickets for Leon which was where Jenny and Tara's "cousin" lives instead of Guanajuato which is about a half hour from Leon and then had a little bit of time so we walked around and found a little taco place so we had a little to eat. I put some kind of salsa on mine that was so hot I was starting to cry and couldn't even taste the tacos anymore! We walked back to the terminal and found our bus after that. They were some pretty nice buses and so I was bound to sleep and get some rest to try to ward off my cold. It took about 3 hours to get to Leon so I knew I'd have lots of time. I woke up when we were getting into the town and it started to get really bumpy and when that happens it's never good because I get car sick pretty easily. At least I know how to time it out for when I get sick so I can just get to the bathroom when I need to. :) When we got to the terminal in Leon, Tara called Marco, the cousin and he came to get us.

We went right to Guanajuato when he picked us up which took about 30 minutes with all the traffic. The two towns are really close to mountains, so they really reminded me of Tucson, AZ when I was there. Guanajuato is SOO beautiful and very colonial-like, placed partially on a hillside. It made me think I was in Italy or something. First, we went to the Museum of the Mummy's from Guanajuato! It was definitely a first time experience for that. It was just a small museum that had mummies that had been extracted from their tumbs and are now being preserved in this museum. There were mummies of people of all ages, including a pre-natal baby and its mother! I couldn't believe how old some of them were and still had hair, eyelashes, and some of the mummy's skin was still well kept without any holes.

After the museum, we drove down into the town so we could walk around. We wanted to walk to the top of the hill to see this statue called "Pipila" so we had to walk up these super steep stairs through the houses for about 15 minutes to get there. It was SUCH a beautiful sight when we got to the top! We could see the entire town! The houses are all different colors and Marco told us that your house color gets chosen by the government and they also paint it too. We took a bunch of pictures up there until it got dark out and then we walked back down to have dinner. We ate at a small restaurant and it took for ever to get our food, but it was pretty good in the end!

After dinner we walked around for a little bit and did a little shopping. We stopped at a candy store where I bought a couple different things for the family to try when I get back. :) We didn't stay in the town very long before we got back to the car and headed back for Leon. Marco lives in a small development in a really nice apartment with another roommate. Us 4 girls got to share 2 bedrooms so it worked out really nice. Marco had a Weimaraner named Lua that was also very excited to share her house with us! Marco went out that night and we stayed home because we were all so tired. It was an awesome day! :)

Day 83, Week 12

Ugh...I believe I am getting sick for the first time here. :( I woke up with a sore throat so I skipped the gym and I have just been feeling like I'm getting a cold. I think it's from the shift in weather to being colder, but I hope it goes away soon. I watched another full movie in my class today, which was super weird and very controversial. I'm still not sure what I'm going to write about it for my analysis for class. After lunch I crashed and slept for a couple hours and tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. Allison and I were just hanging out and trying to get our plans figured out for our trip this weekend. Us two, along with Jenny and Tara are going to Guanajuato this weekend until Monday. We don't have school Monday for the Day of the Revolution so we will be coming back then. We are staying with the other girls' "cousin" there. I think it should be a fun time. Hopefully my sickness with not keep me from having fun there. Jenny, Allison, and I decided to go to a little bar tonight with David after he got done working. It was fun, but I wasn't really in the mood considering we have to get up early to catch a bus for our trip. That's all for today! One more week until mom is here! :)

-Whitney
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Day 82, Week 12

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. I went to the gym and then to class as usual. For my conversation class, we went to this cute little cafe and had hot chocolates and treats while we sat and visited for an hour and a half. It was a really fun class for me because it was more relaxed and just like a get-together, even though my Spanish was off-ha. After class I walked home with Michelle and had lunch. I hung out for a while and then Allison and I went over to Tara and Jenny's house. We all needed to go to Walmart so we found a bus to take us there and we had some fun at Walmart buying the things we needed and some that we didn't. :) When we went back to their house, David picked up Jenny and I for our movie scare-a-thon. He found a little taco stand close to Eddy's house (where we were going to watch the movies) and it was soo delicious! I think they were almost the best tacos I've ever had! The lady working at the stand also gave us a little cup of some kind of bean and cilantro soup that was excellent too. :) We got to Eddy's house and were planning to watch a couple scary movies with some other friends of ours, but the movie they brought was in Chinese with Spanish subtitles, which wouldn't have been that bad, but I didn't really want to have to try to guess what they were saying in a scary movie. So, we decided to watch a funny one that they brought instead. After that one was over, we were going to watch "Hide and Seek" which is scary, but it was skipping too much, so we put in "The Hangover" instead. We were almost finished with it when David wanted to leave so we did and he brought us home. It was a fun night even though we didn't have our actual "Scare-A-Thon." :)

-Whitney
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Day 81, Week 12

What a fun day! Except for the fact that I woke up last night completely freaked out because of cockroach nightmares, I had another successful day at the gym this morning but I did see a cockroach there too. At school, my movie class was super boring because we just sat and listened to our professor talk the whole time. We did get to see a couple scenes from the movie "Singing in the Rain" which was pretty good. I'm hoping we get to watch another full movie soon! My second class was a lot more fun. We got to sit out in the sun today because it was a little chilly. We talked more about cultural things and about games we played when we were younger. We played a game called "lotería" which is very similar to bingo, but instead of calling numbers you call out words that have coordinating pictures on the cards. The game that my teacher had was a little different. It had black and white pictures and the words were represented a little differently. I would like to find one of these games to bring home! :) My teacher's voice is so calming though that I was getting soo tired in the sun listening to her! When I came home after, I had a nice lunch and had to take a little nap. Allison and I went to Starbucks in the evening to meet Jenny so we could study for a little while for our movie class. We were there for a little while and then David picked us up and we went to our friends' house for a little get-together. It was pretty fun; we sat outside on his little porch-type thing and listened to music and talked. After we left his house, we went to the little hamburger/hot dog stand on the corner near his house and got one of the best hamburgers I've ever had. Allison and I split the "chingadera" which had yellow and white cheese, ham, pineapple, and chorize (mexican sausage). It was wonderful! David brought us home and I talked to Brian and some friends for a little while.

-Whitney
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Day 80, Week 12

Wow, it was weird to say day 80 for some reason..the time is getting closer and closer. Overall I had a fun day. I hit the gym again this morning before class and had a good workout. I got another birthday card in the mail from Grandpa and Grandma Madison which was a pleasant surprise. Thank you for that-I love you! :) It was freezing in my cinema class again and in my conversation class we talked about gestures that are used in different cultures and the differences in the same gestures used between Latin American countries and the US. It was so fun for me to learn those different things. You wouldn't even imagine how the same thing can have such an opposite meaning to it! After class we had lunch and then Megan and I went with our host mom to visit the lady that her boyfriend and my mom with be staying with. She was SUCH a sweet lady and is very excited to be hosting them. The bedroom was really nice and they get their own bathroom too. We were a little jealous after seeing where they will be. :P I took a small nap after we got back only to be woken by up little Chiara screaming, which is an everyday occurrence. (boy will I NOT be missing that back home!) I was very glad when I talked to Jenny on the internet and she asked if I was up for doing something because I needed to get out of the house! I can only take a VERY small portion of little girl shrieking before it gets to me. Allison and I took the bus to her house and we got some treats and watched a little pickup game of soccer in the park next to her house. We talked to one of the guys for a while who kept trying to convince us to play with them. When the game was done, we walked to a little restaurant and each had a flavored michelada (kind of like a bloody mary with beer instead of liquor). They were pretty good, but very big. I had a shrimp and cheese taco that was great! I think I want to add that place to the list of restaurants I want to take my mom. I sure hope she's ready for them all! :) We took the bus back home after and I hung out talking to Brian for a little while. :)

-Whitney
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Day 79, Week 12

Today was a good day! I woke up somewhat early to go to the gym with Allison before class. It was freezing outside on the way there, but I had a good workout! We made perfect timing to get back, shower, have breakfast, and get to school. I think it was a little too close for my liking though, so we're going to try to shoot for a little earlier tomorrow morning. In my cinema class we watched a black and white romantic comedy from the 40's. I'll be honest, I did fall asleep for a couple minutes during the movie and it was so freezing in our classroom I had to leave to get a hot chocolate! I was awake for the rest of it though and it turned about pretty good. After every full movie that we watch we have to write a one page summary/analysis about it. That was pretty easy to do! In my conversation class we learned some tongue twisters and our teacher taught us how to say this town's name: Parangaricutirimícuaro! I'm still working on it so I can impress my Mexican friends. :) We had a little discussion about the drug problems in our countries and what our opinion was on the legalization of marijuana. We were all in the same boat, but it was difficult to talk about and especially in Spanish! But overall, it was a good day at school.

After school we had a nice lunch and we were going to visit the Señora that my mom will be staying with, but we still never made it there. Instead, I just hung out in my room and eventually took a nice nap all cuddled up in my bed. It's getting colder and colder all the time and with the whole house being tile, it doesn't help much. Jenny and I had plans to go to "Paranormal Activity 2" with David and anyone else that wanted to come. I told Eddy to come with us too, so it was us four that went after dinner. Oh man it was scary! I screamed quite a bit and I'm not a very big fan of scary movies either. I think it was a lot better than the first one too. Apparently, the plan in the making is to have a scary movie marathon at Eddy's on Thursday night, so we'll see if that happens or not!

Not sure what tomorrow brings, but I'm sure it'll be good.
-Whitney
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Day 78, Week 12

Week 12 is here!

I did some more adventuring with my friends today. :) I even set my alarm because I thought we would be meeting by 11, as planned, but my friends have sure gotten accustomed to Mexican Standard Time. ugh! haha Jenny, Tara, and Johnathon (another guy from school) walked over to my house and met my host mom and then we all took a bus right near my house to the Santa Teresita Tianguis (it's a market for "fashion" with lots of clothes). It's really close to our house and just like all the other markets I've been to but this was mainly just clothes, and lots of them! I found another pair of jeans to add to my collection of 2 now! Now I just need to find some warm tops/a sweatshirt until my mom comes and saves me with my own clothes from home. There was so much stuff there but not very much that caught my eye. We had lunch at a little restaurant there and then caught the bus back to our house. We got back around 3 and I didn't have much of anything to do the rest of the day, which turned out to be very boring. I did edit a couple pictures though from my stay here that turned out to be really cute. :) We should've done something else after lunch! Tomorrow Allison and I are going to start going to the gym before school since we have so much time. :)

-Whitney
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