After having been in Mexico for more than three weeks, I feel like I am becoming a lot more familiar with my surroundings and a lot better at communicating. I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with my Spanish language skills, but in addition to that I feel like I’ve become more proficient when it comes to using nonverbal communication and roundabout explanations to express myself when I don’t know how to say something in the language. I feel like this is especially valuable to help me with my continued learning and future career. It has also become very interesting to observe other peoples’ routines in a different culture; because I have a consistent class schedule, I often find myself seeing the same people as I walk to the university campus, and I feel like some consistency in my observations has been beneficial to my understanding of the culture.

On Friday, I went to the Summer International Jazz Festival in La Plaza de Armas. It was a very interesting experience, and very different from any of the concerts that I’ve been to in the U.S.. There was no admission fee, and the seats filled up quickly even before the music had started. The music was much more engaging than I had expected, considering I don’t usually seek out jazz music, and there were several familiar English songs thrown in as well. The festival is stretched out over many days, so we were only able to see one band (the head singer was very talented when it came to tap dancing), but participating countries included the U.S., Cuba, and Canada. I would love to revisit on a different night and see a different band if I have the time.

My señora spontaneously took me to a theater over the weekend as we were walking back from a pharmacy. There was a play in progress that had recently begun, and we were able to just walk in and sit down in the crowded theater. Like the jazz festival, it was completely free and nobody minded that we were walking in partway through. The play was largely nonverbal, but I still felt just as lost and confused as I might have if it was all in Spanish. It was part of the Cultural Festival celebrating the founding of the city, and there were continuing events throughout the week that I was unable to go to due to time conflicts.

My favorite place that I have discovered throughout my entire time in this city is Café RenovArte, a nice little café with great Internet very near to the main college campus. It’s one of the few places where the staff is consistently friendly to us even though we are clearly not from around here, and they are happy to hold conversations with me even though my Spanish conversational skills are very much a work in progress. I’ve found it very interesting how much English music is played everywhere in the city; just walking down the streets I can hear it blasting from various stores and restaurants. Café RenovArte is one example; they always have loud music in English, mostly from the United States, playing throughout the day. It is hardly beneficial to my language skills, but it is certainly familiar and comforting as well as being very interesting in a cultural sense.

Now that I have passed the halfway-point of my time here in Mexico, I feel like everything is going by very quickly, and I hope I am able to make the most of my remaining time here and not miss out on too many experiences.