The first week has been great. I got to Querétaro, Mexico last Thursday morning and stayed in a hotel until Sunday. I got to my host family on Sunday and got all moved in. My host family has seven and almost eight people in it. There are the Grandparents, Isabel and Raúl, the two daughters Monique and Isabel. Monique is married to Martín and has two kids one is four and one is 10. Isabel has a boyfriend so maybe they will be getting married soon! My family has two dogs and a beautiful three story house.
I have already learned so much on my trip, my Spanish is improving quickly and starting Monday a couple girls and I are doing an all Spanish week. No speaking English allowed! This week was the first week of classes which have been hard because only one professor speaks English and the other two classes are a conversation class and composition class. The professors are more formal here and you have to treat them very respectfully, which is how it should be! I also learned you cannot eat or drink in class unless it is water.
One aspect of the Hispanic culture I have really had to get use to is the sense of time. Everyone here has their own schedule and their own time frame. A lot of times people just will not makes plans but then expect that you all are ready to do whatever. My friends and I always joke that speed limits and red lights are optional here because no one here really follows them. The traffic here is also insane. I have no clue how anyone drives in this place! I take the bus and taxi almost everywhere I go. It is very interesting because in the United States we have very strict schedules and rules and we follow them. Something I really love in the culture here is during the week the mom prepares meals when people are hungry and we usually eat La Comida together. However on Sundays everyone one eats La Comida together and this Sunday we had a BBQ outside with chorizo and carne asada.
I have seen a lot of the Centro area and Colonial areas of Querétaro and I am in love with every part of it! The streets are cobblestone and the buildings are older and colonial looking. After exploring the city we went on our first weekend trip and that was to Mt. Bernal. The elevation is 2510 m tall and I hiked all the way up with my group. The view from the top was breathtaking. Querétaro is so green and beautiful with rolling hills and small cities I could have stayed up there forever. After climbing the mountain we got to explore the city of Bernal and look in some local shops and get ice cream. Next weekend we are going to Mexico City and I am so excited!
Hasta Luego!
Sounds a lot different from Spain! I knew it would be but it’s fun to find out what little things are different besides the way they speak and what they eat. For example at my school the professors insist we use their first names, my Spanish professor physically cringes any time someone accidentally calls him Señior, because he’s not an old man! The timing is much the same though, and the driving I think is very similar. People run right through red lights like they’re being paid to! How is the food? I like Spanish food but I am getting ready to head back to the states and eat American food again (and mexican, or americanized mexican food :)).