My cold from Mexico has come back with a vengeance. Either this is the SAME cold, or Maddie gave me hers. Either way, I am sick, and unhappy. :-(
And on top of that, our hot water heater is busted or SOMETHING, so no hot showers for me.
Whine, whine, complain.
Here I sit, surrounded by dirty dishes and homework that I haven't done, spending all my energy trying desperately to breathe through my nose. This is a sad state of affairs.
It's the second week of classes, and I'm already missing things. This cold, combined with my new-found senioritis, is becoming a problem.
And I've had so many interesting revelations and cosmic thoughts latley that I was planning on blogging about, but they've been pushed rudely out of my head to make way for snot and a headache.
I hope I get over this soon. Sorry for all the moping. :-S
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
An End And A Beginning
Alright everyone, I'm falling seriously behind. I could theoretically try to backlog and write more about Mexico, but I think I'll just do a quick overview and then give you a look into Spring semester!
So, Mexico was friggin' awesome. After we came back from Acapulco, where we went dancing, swimming in the ocean at 2:30 in the morning and spent hours on the beach, we had one week left. The last week in Cuernavaca was a great mix of intense studying and partying with friends. Finally, it was Friday and we woke up and took our big exam. I felt alright about it, but I won't know how I did for several weeks! I'm betting I got a B in the class, which is pretty darn good for a three week class that covered 12 weeks of information, but we'll just have to wait and see.
The last night was wild. We got out of class at 2, went back to the house to pack and get organized, had our last dinner with our wonderful host family, and then went over to the Frat House (our nickname for the house of the family who was hosting 8 guys, one of them being Kyle). We stayed there for a while, letting everyone gather and get ready to go, and then headed out to Juarez, the dance club in the Zocalo. Many hours later we emerged, starving, and about half of us made our way to a late night pizza place for a little midnight snack. By this time, though, it was 2:30am, and my bus for the Mexico City airport was scheduled to leave at 4:45. After pizza Greta, Jackie, Jannessa and I went back to the house and I sat up for half an hour until my taxi left. Then, to the bus station, then to the airport, then to Dallas, a five hour layover, then to Minneapolis, and then home!
I can't say I miss having to be paranoid about water and food, or the lack of toilet paper in public bathrooms, but I do miss my cute host-mom and her delicious cooking, and the fun of living with Greta and Jackie, and the really nice Mexican people I've met. But now I'm back home, and that feels pretty darn good too.
So here's the down-low on this semester. I'm only taking four classes, and I only have to go to three of them 'cause the fourth is my senior paper! What a relaxing time. And this means I have time to work out every day, and maybe time to get a job. So here's my schedule:
-Religion and Culture - MWF 3:35-4:25
-Philosophic Anthropology - MWF 11:15-12:05
-Sex, Evolution and Behavior - TTh 2:30-3:45
-Lab - T 10:10-11:00
And I'm working out between 4 and 6 every day. Yay, getting in shape!
AND I have a interview on Monday for a server's assistant job! We'll see if I get it!
So, Mexico was friggin' awesome. After we came back from Acapulco, where we went dancing, swimming in the ocean at 2:30 in the morning and spent hours on the beach, we had one week left. The last week in Cuernavaca was a great mix of intense studying and partying with friends. Finally, it was Friday and we woke up and took our big exam. I felt alright about it, but I won't know how I did for several weeks! I'm betting I got a B in the class, which is pretty darn good for a three week class that covered 12 weeks of information, but we'll just have to wait and see.
The last night was wild. We got out of class at 2, went back to the house to pack and get organized, had our last dinner with our wonderful host family, and then went over to the Frat House (our nickname for the house of the family who was hosting 8 guys, one of them being Kyle). We stayed there for a while, letting everyone gather and get ready to go, and then headed out to Juarez, the dance club in the Zocalo. Many hours later we emerged, starving, and about half of us made our way to a late night pizza place for a little midnight snack. By this time, though, it was 2:30am, and my bus for the Mexico City airport was scheduled to leave at 4:45. After pizza Greta, Jackie, Jannessa and I went back to the house and I sat up for half an hour until my taxi left. Then, to the bus station, then to the airport, then to Dallas, a five hour layover, then to Minneapolis, and then home!
I can't say I miss having to be paranoid about water and food, or the lack of toilet paper in public bathrooms, but I do miss my cute host-mom and her delicious cooking, and the fun of living with Greta and Jackie, and the really nice Mexican people I've met. But now I'm back home, and that feels pretty darn good too.
So here's the down-low on this semester. I'm only taking four classes, and I only have to go to three of them 'cause the fourth is my senior paper! What a relaxing time. And this means I have time to work out every day, and maybe time to get a job. So here's my schedule:
-Religion and Culture - MWF 3:35-4:25
-Philosophic Anthropology - MWF 11:15-12:05
-Sex, Evolution and Behavior - TTh 2:30-3:45
-Lab - T 10:10-11:00
And I'm working out between 4 and 6 every day. Yay, getting in shape!
AND I have a interview on Monday for a server's assistant job! We'll see if I get it!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Mexico: Parte Tres
Well, there's no way I'm going to be able to update day by day, or even week by week, so here's an update of life organized by topic. :-)
Health:
I'm sick. Have been since New Year's. I woke up New Year's morning with a terrible stomach ache that's come and gone for the past two weeks. At first I thought it was because I'd had too much to drink New Year's Eve. Then I thought it was because I'd accidentally drank some unpurified water. Then I thought it was because I'd eaten something weird. Long story short, last weekend was the final straw and I went to see the school doctor yesterday and asked for some long overdue help. He prescribed antibiotics and pain meds for my tummy, and now I'm feeling a lot better as long as I remember to pop my pills on time. Those of you who know how I hate taking medicine will understand the severity of this two week long stomach pain that caused me to go get help. Yuck.
So now my stomach is much better, but because of this ten-year-record-breaking cold snap that appears to be worldwide (or at least in the Western Hemisphere), I now have a cold. Greta got it first, then Kyle, then Jackie, and now Jackie is getting over it and I've got it. Blech. It all comes of having classes outdoors in 45 degree weather. Comparatively, I've got it better than those back home in Minnesota, but they've got heat! There's no heating in Mexico! We shiver our way through classes for hours starting at 8:30! It's rather miserable. This morning I wore five layers and every long sleeve thing I brought with me.
Anyway, enough complaining! I'm in Mexico and it's cool!
Travel:
The two major excursions we've made in the last two weeks are to Teotihuacan and to Acapulco. Teotihuacan was amazing, and if you want to know more about the history you'll have to ask me when I get home. We took a sweet tour of the place (it's the oldest city in the New World, built before the Mayans by a people simply called the Teotihuacans who we don't know much about), and then climbed part way up the Pyramid of the Moon, and then all the way up the Pyramid of the Sun. Here are a few pictures!
That was the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd. Last weekend, the 9th and 10th, pretty much everyone in the Minnesota group went to Acapulco. We bought bus tickets and headed out Friday right after classes, reaching Acapulco around 8pm in the middle of a record-breaking rainstorm which flooded all the streets. Jackie, Greta, Kyle and I had decided to wing it and not make any hotel reservations because we weren't sure where we wanted to stay, but when we saw the way it was coming down we decided to follow part of the Minnesota group who was going to a hotel called the Calinda Beach. We took a cab through the streets, floating more than driving, and arrived at the hotel soaking wet. At first the guy at the desk attempted to swindle us out of a bit more money than we were prepared to pay, but after walking away to talk about it in private three times they brought the price down and we ended up getting better rate than the people that had pre-booked! We payed 24 American dollars per person for two nights! A heck of a deal. Here's the view from our deck.
But now I've gotta run! Greta and I are off to do some studying, but I'll be posting more about Acapulco soon!
Health:
I'm sick. Have been since New Year's. I woke up New Year's morning with a terrible stomach ache that's come and gone for the past two weeks. At first I thought it was because I'd had too much to drink New Year's Eve. Then I thought it was because I'd accidentally drank some unpurified water. Then I thought it was because I'd eaten something weird. Long story short, last weekend was the final straw and I went to see the school doctor yesterday and asked for some long overdue help. He prescribed antibiotics and pain meds for my tummy, and now I'm feeling a lot better as long as I remember to pop my pills on time. Those of you who know how I hate taking medicine will understand the severity of this two week long stomach pain that caused me to go get help. Yuck.
So now my stomach is much better, but because of this ten-year-record-breaking cold snap that appears to be worldwide (or at least in the Western Hemisphere), I now have a cold. Greta got it first, then Kyle, then Jackie, and now Jackie is getting over it and I've got it. Blech. It all comes of having classes outdoors in 45 degree weather. Comparatively, I've got it better than those back home in Minnesota, but they've got heat! There's no heating in Mexico! We shiver our way through classes for hours starting at 8:30! It's rather miserable. This morning I wore five layers and every long sleeve thing I brought with me.
Anyway, enough complaining! I'm in Mexico and it's cool!
Travel:
The two major excursions we've made in the last two weeks are to Teotihuacan and to Acapulco. Teotihuacan was amazing, and if you want to know more about the history you'll have to ask me when I get home. We took a sweet tour of the place (it's the oldest city in the New World, built before the Mayans by a people simply called the Teotihuacans who we don't know much about), and then climbed part way up the Pyramid of the Moon, and then all the way up the Pyramid of the Sun. Here are a few pictures!
That was the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd. Last weekend, the 9th and 10th, pretty much everyone in the Minnesota group went to Acapulco. We bought bus tickets and headed out Friday right after classes, reaching Acapulco around 8pm in the middle of a record-breaking rainstorm which flooded all the streets. Jackie, Greta, Kyle and I had decided to wing it and not make any hotel reservations because we weren't sure where we wanted to stay, but when we saw the way it was coming down we decided to follow part of the Minnesota group who was going to a hotel called the Calinda Beach. We took a cab through the streets, floating more than driving, and arrived at the hotel soaking wet. At first the guy at the desk attempted to swindle us out of a bit more money than we were prepared to pay, but after walking away to talk about it in private three times they brought the price down and we ended up getting better rate than the people that had pre-booked! We payed 24 American dollars per person for two nights! A heck of a deal. Here's the view from our deck.
But now I've gotta run! Greta and I are off to do some studying, but I'll be posting more about Acapulco soon!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Mexico: Parte Dos
Hola, amigos y familia!
I thought about writing this whole post in Spanish, but as that would be lame for most of you, I won't. I'm sorry I haven't been posting more often, but life is just so busy and interesting here I don't get on my computer much. However, I will now try to update you on life for the last two weeks!
Mainly, I've been in school or doing schoolwork or out partying (nothing too crazy, don't worry) with my Mexican amigos, but we've had some pretty cool cultural experiences in the last two weeks, so I'm just going to give you the highlights.
But first, I better give you the cast of characters. Primero, there's Greta (who we all call "Greta Dawwwn" with a southern accent, as her middle name is Dawn, and it sounds like she should be a country singer), who's a pretty awesome, chill, hippy chick with a lot of cool out-door knowledge and experience. This is Greta on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan (pronounced "Tay-o-tee-wa-con")!
Next there's Kyle, who's a fun dude who has a critical mind and likes good books along the lines of Hunter S. Thompson. Generally, he's an English major all around, and we all love him, but Greta most of all (I've had SUCH a hard time not teasing her about him!). Here's Kyle and Greta chilling at the beach in Acapulco, were we went just this last weekend.
And then there's Jackie, who is the life of the party pretty much all the time; who's done and seen so many more things than me that I'm occasionally blown away by my general lack of knowledge about some things in life. She's part Palestinian, and she has a lot of opinions about social change that I've never heard before. This is her sitting with Joe, another dude from the trip, when we went out in the first week.
So the four of us hang out in our little group and study and have a good time, and more often than not we join up with parts of the rest of the group (there are around 30 of us from the U), usually Kyle's roomates (he lives with seven other guys. I do not envy their host-mom's kitchen and cleaning jobs). Here are the four of us together on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan!
And now that I've finally got the scene set up, I have to go to bed. I'm mighty tired from our trip to Acapulco, but I'll get online again soon and post more pictures from our adventures.
Later days!*
*This is for Julia, who I didn't get to talk to on her birthday. Happy B-day, pipsqueak! I'll bring you a cool present from Mexico!
I thought about writing this whole post in Spanish, but as that would be lame for most of you, I won't. I'm sorry I haven't been posting more often, but life is just so busy and interesting here I don't get on my computer much. However, I will now try to update you on life for the last two weeks!
Mainly, I've been in school or doing schoolwork or out partying (nothing too crazy, don't worry) with my Mexican amigos, but we've had some pretty cool cultural experiences in the last two weeks, so I'm just going to give you the highlights.
But first, I better give you the cast of characters. Primero, there's Greta (who we all call "Greta Dawwwn" with a southern accent, as her middle name is Dawn, and it sounds like she should be a country singer), who's a pretty awesome, chill, hippy chick with a lot of cool out-door knowledge and experience. This is Greta on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan (pronounced "Tay-o-tee-wa-con")!
Next there's Kyle, who's a fun dude who has a critical mind and likes good books along the lines of Hunter S. Thompson. Generally, he's an English major all around, and we all love him, but Greta most of all (I've had SUCH a hard time not teasing her about him!). Here's Kyle and Greta chilling at the beach in Acapulco, were we went just this last weekend.
And then there's Jackie, who is the life of the party pretty much all the time; who's done and seen so many more things than me that I'm occasionally blown away by my general lack of knowledge about some things in life. She's part Palestinian, and she has a lot of opinions about social change that I've never heard before. This is her sitting with Joe, another dude from the trip, when we went out in the first week.So the four of us hang out in our little group and study and have a good time, and more often than not we join up with parts of the rest of the group (there are around 30 of us from the U), usually Kyle's roomates (he lives with seven other guys. I do not envy their host-mom's kitchen and cleaning jobs). Here are the four of us together on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan!
And now that I've finally got the scene set up, I have to go to bed. I'm mighty tired from our trip to Acapulco, but I'll get online again soon and post more pictures from our adventures.
Later days!*
*This is for Julia, who I didn't get to talk to on her birthday. Happy B-day, pipsqueak! I'll bring you a cool present from Mexico!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
I'm In Mexico!
Get ready, 'cause this is gonna be a picture heavy post!
So, I flew from Minneapolis to Dallas to Mexico city yesterday, and it was a long time to be on planes, but not as long as Scotland. Here's a picture of Mexico from the plane!
<--------------- So I got off the plane in Mexico city, got through customs, and realized I'd missed the group bus to Cuernavaca because my plane was an hour and a half late. I called the number of one of the people from the school and she told me to withdraw some pesos and take the bus. This freaked me out a bit as I was suddenly thrown into a world where only one in ten people speaks English and I needed to communicate a lot to get money and get on the right bus. I went to an ATM and got out some money (I really had no idea how much as I didn't know the exchange rate. Yet another example of poor planning for this trip. I was so much more prepared for Scotland!), and then started walking towards the buses when I came upon a nice man named Charlie holding a U of M sign for the school! How lucky was I! So I found Charlie and then we went and found a few other latecomers and piled into a minivan type thing for our hour and a half ride to Cuernavaca. Along the way we saw fields and fields of oats which had been grown and harvested by hand and stood in old fashioned "shocks." Needless to say, besides the mountains, these were the thing I was most excited to see. Unfortunately we were driving so fast this is the best picture I could get.
---------->
So we finally got to the school, but it was dark so I couldn't see much, other than the fact that it's mostly made up of outdoor gardens. Say hello to outdoor class almost every day! We quickly got split into our host family groups and I was driven to the house of Maria Louisa Vences, who is my host mother. Or actually, she's more like a host grandmother. She's the matriarch of a HUGE clan of kids who have other kids and there are always nieces and nephews and cousin running around that I have to remember. Maria Louisa's grown up daughter, Magdalena, is basically in
charge of us, and she's really nice. I arrived and met two of the three other girls who are staying here, Greta and Jackie (the third girl, Janessa, arrived this morning after a night in the airport), and had a big dinner which was really good. Maria Louisa and Magdalena even made me extra veggies as they know I don't eat meat. They're very nice about it and are always offering me fruit! So along with Maria Louisa, Magdelena, and the grandfather (who is very quiet, and who's name I forget), there is also a HUGE talking parrot and a wienerdog named Chisto (short for some word in Spanish that means "sausage"). <--------- So, that's my host family. I'll try to get a picture of them together later, but for now you'll just have to deal with some pictures of my room! First, here is my bed which has an AWESOME wool blanket. Next is our sort of living room which is sort of like a half-covered courtyard. The ceiling is open in places and last night you could see the moon while sitting inside! Way cool. 
<----- Room
So last night was gross and I was homesick, but this morning I got up and had pancakes with the other girls and the family and Magdalena took us to the school on the bus. First of all, check out the HUGE cross in this bus.
Secondly, I'm putting up a few pictures of the school, just so you can see how awesome it is. Yeah. See that table there in the trees? That's a classroom.
So after we did some orientation we came back for the big meal of the day at 2, and then Janessa, Greta, Jackie and I went out and explored the Zocalo, which is the town square, and I bought a really cool small handmade book make out of handmade paper for about a dollar. It's really pretty, and says "Cuernavaca" on it. I'll probably have a picture of it later.
But for now I'll stop uploading pics and go get some work done! I've got classes starting tomorrow, and I want to know what's going on!
Hasta luego, amigos!
So, I flew from Minneapolis to Dallas to Mexico city yesterday, and it was a long time to be on planes, but not as long as Scotland. Here's a picture of Mexico from the plane!<--------------- So I got off the plane in Mexico city, got through customs, and realized I'd missed the group bus to Cuernavaca because my plane was an hour and a half late. I called the number of one of the people from the school and she told me to withdraw some pesos and take the bus. This freaked me out a bit as I was suddenly thrown into a world where only one in ten people speaks English and I needed to communicate a lot to get money and get on the right bus. I went to an ATM and got out some money (I really had no idea how much as I didn't know the exchange rate. Yet another example of poor planning for this trip. I was so much more prepared for Scotland!), and then started walking towards the buses when I came upon a nice man named Charlie holding a U of M sign for the school! How lucky was I! So I found Charlie and then we went and found a few other latecomers and piled into a minivan type thing for our hour and a half ride to Cuernavaca. Along the way we saw fields and fields of oats which had been grown and harvested by hand and stood in old fashioned "shocks." Needless to say, besides the mountains, these were the thing I was most excited to see. Unfortunately we were driving so fast this is the best picture I could get.
---------->So we finally got to the school, but it was dark so I couldn't see much, other than the fact that it's mostly made up of outdoor gardens. Say hello to outdoor class almost every day! We quickly got split into our host family groups and I was driven to the house of Maria Louisa Vences, who is my host mother. Or actually, she's more like a host grandmother. She's the matriarch of a HUGE clan of kids who have other kids and there are always nieces and nephews and cousin running around that I have to remember. Maria Louisa's grown up daughter, Magdalena, is basically in
charge of us, and she's really nice. I arrived and met two of the three other girls who are staying here, Greta and Jackie (the third girl, Janessa, arrived this morning after a night in the airport), and had a big dinner which was really good. Maria Louisa and Magdalena even made me extra veggies as they know I don't eat meat. They're very nice about it and are always offering me fruit! So along with Maria Louisa, Magdelena, and the grandfather (who is very quiet, and who's name I forget), there is also a HUGE talking parrot and a wienerdog named Chisto (short for some word in Spanish that means "sausage"). <--------- So, that's my host family. I'll try to get a picture of them together later, but for now you'll just have to deal with some pictures of my room! First, here is my bed which has an AWESOME wool blanket. Next is our sort of living room which is sort of like a half-covered courtyard. The ceiling is open in places and last night you could see the moon while sitting inside! Way cool. 
<----- Room
So last night was gross and I was homesick, but this morning I got up and had pancakes with the other girls and the family and Magdalena took us to the school on the bus. First of all, check out the HUGE cross in this bus.Secondly, I'm putting up a few pictures of the school, just so you can see how awesome it is. Yeah. See that table there in the trees? That's a classroom.So after we did some orientation we came back for the big meal of the day at 2, and then Janessa, Greta, Jackie and I went out and explored the Zocalo, which is the town square, and I bought a really cool small handmade book make out of handmade paper for about a dollar. It's really pretty, and says "Cuernavaca" on it. I'll probably have a picture of it later.
But for now I'll stop uploading pics and go get some work done! I've got classes starting tomorrow, and I want to know what's going on!
Hasta luego, amigos!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
All I Do Is Complain About Work
Just a quick update, as I have a lot to do, and we're getting ready to decorate the tree!
List of things I have due this week:
-Senior Project proposal
-Spanish Oral Exam
-Cultural Anth take home essay exam
-6 Page comparative transcript essay
-Two part Spanish written exam
-Geology final exam
-10-15 page Linguistics essay
So. I feel squished by stress, as usual.
BUT, the good news is that after this week of no sleep and constant stress and my face breaking out terribly, I'LL BE DONE WITH MY MOST STRESSFUL SEMESTER EVER!
If things work out right, I'll only have to take four classes next semester, so I just need to make it through this week.
List of things I have due this week:
-Senior Project proposal
-Spanish Oral Exam
-Cultural Anth take home essay exam
-6 Page comparative transcript essay
-Two part Spanish written exam
-Geology final exam
-10-15 page Linguistics essay
So. I feel squished by stress, as usual.
BUT, the good news is that after this week of no sleep and constant stress and my face breaking out terribly, I'LL BE DONE WITH MY MOST STRESSFUL SEMESTER EVER!
If things work out right, I'll only have to take four classes next semester, so I just need to make it through this week.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Lorelai:
The crazy thing is I am ready to get married. I’m ready to start the next phase of my life. I want another kid and I don’t wanna wait anymore. I don’t want to be patient. I’ve been patient long enough. I’m not happy and I feel crappy all the time and I just think I’ve had it.
So what’re you going to do? Only you can make you wait. Nobody else can. You need to decide what you want and what you’re willing to give up to get it, and then you’ve gotta be ok with that. Or you have to be ok with waiting.
I feel like Peter Pan. I'm never going to grow up.
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