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