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.

I realize that it is well past week 3 at this point, but I will post anyway. I am definitely very comfortable here in Mexico at this point. I have kind of gotten into a rhythm and Queretaro almost feels like home now. Some people in the group have gotten homesick, but honestly I still feel great to be here. Other students have been craving hamburgers and they have been organizing hamburger outings, but honestly I don´t crave American food in the least bit. The food here is so much better than the food in the states, I can´t see myself ever getting tired of it. But I never really loved hamburgers that much anyway, so maybe that´s the reason why I don´t miss them.

We took a trip to go see Mexico City and the pyramids at Teotihucan, which was pretty awesome. The pyramid of the sun at Teotihuacan is apparently the biggest pyramid in the world (not the tallest, just the most massive). There are pyramids in Mexico City, but not much is left of them because the Spaniards used them to build cathedrals. It´s amazing to think that the City of Mexico is built on top of an ancient civilization. And that civilization was in turn built upon a different, older one. Things seem so much older here than back in the states. There aren´t really any ancient cities in the US.

Teotihuacan

These are the ruins in Mexico City. I like this picture because it shows the old and the new. In the back you can see the big cathedral built from the stones of these ruins.

My first week in Mexico has been great. I am now feeling pretty comfortable and settled in here. Sometimes I even catch myself thinking in spanish at the end of the day. The city is really nice, and quite different from Eugene. The city has a very colonial feel to it, with cobblestone streets and lots of beautiful churches. The sidewalks are also really skinny here, and it is often not possible for two people to walk side by side.

This is a view at one of the main plazas in town. As you can see, the buildings are also much more colorful than in Eugene. Walking around, you see lots of reds, pinks and yellows. Also, some of the streets are made of red stones. I learned that this is because they come from a quarry near the city in which all the stones are red.

My spanish is going quite well. I talk with my host-mom everyday in spanish for a couple of hours, which is really good practice. Most of the other Oregon students don´t want to speak in spanish, but I made a few Mexican friends that I am able to speak spanish with. This was one of my goals before coming, and I have already done well with it. Before coming, I told myself that I wouldn´t just hang out with the other Oregon students; I wanted to meet Mexican friends and step outside of my comfort zone a bit. All in all, it has been a great week!

I actually arrived in Mexico last Thursday night, but I haven´t had much chance to get online until now. My arrival at the airport was fairly easy. Having been to Mexico before, the change to spanish- was not nearly as difficult as the first time. The hostel I stayed at was really nice. It was situated downtown at the main square of the city. Everyone there was really nice, and I felt very comfortable there.

This was the view from the terrace of the hostel.

Walking around the city, I could already tell that I was in a different country. Other than the fact that everyone was speaking spanish, the city had a very different feel than any US city that I have been to. We don´t have giant cathedrals in the US like the one in the above picture. Additionally, while walking around the city I found a lucha libre randomly going on in the park. They had set up a stage, and there was a big crowd gathered around to watch.

This is so Mexican — I love it!

The lucha libre really sealed the deal; At this point I knew that I was for sure in Mexico.