In week 5 I remember feeling weird that I only had one week to my Mexican friends and family and leave. I will still be able to talk to them on facebook, but it is still sad to be leaving even though I’ve only been here a few weeks. Still, it’s cool that I will have people I can talk to in spanish online every now and then to my spanish up. I really like the city and I have loved living here in Mexico.
On the weekend, we took a trip to San Miguel. The town was a cool colonial town, but the most unique thing about it was the number of white people walking around. Apparently it’s known for having a large ex-pat community from the US. It was weird walking down the street and seeing other americans around; I’ve gotten so used to being the minority here. I think it will be a culture shock when I get back to the US just to be surrounded by white people speaking english again.
We went to a soccer game as a group, which was pretty fun. I was under the impression that the crouds at soccer games were really wild in latin america, but they were fairly mellow at this one. I think it’s because the Queretaro team doesn’t have a very big or crazy fanbase. One thing that shocked me at the game was that the couple sitting in front of me was giving their baby beer. The baby was pretty little, and they couldn’t get him to stop crying so they gave him some sips of beer. The baby was very mellow after that. They only gave the baby a few sips, so I don’t know if it was really that bad for the baby, but it was so strange to see.
Forming connections with people in other countries that you can continue after your program is one of the best things about studying abroad. And there always is a sense of sadness on leaving these people.
Yes, in the US, you likely wouldn’t see parents giving a baby beer to quiet him, but even though this shocked you, you didn’t judge–a sign of becoming a true multicultural person.
Michele
Even though while in Italy I didn’t fully learn the language, I reached a point to where the language was normal to me and having to take the time to understand simple things such as signs wasn’t odd to me. Coming back home and being able to understand everyone’s conversation and being able to be understood easily was very odd to me and I almost didn’t like it.
When I was in Mexico, I made a bunch of friends and I was in the session right before you! I was really sad that I wouldn’t be able to see them anymore but I hoped we would communicate on Facebook or Skype! It’s been about 2 months since I’ve been back and we still keep in touch! Hopefully, you’re friends will too so you can keep up with Spanish like I am!
-Ayat