I had a rocky start mostly because my plane rides were rough, and the layovers were rough as well.
On Wednesday I met my host family, who are very very nice.
Lulu, Jose = Host parents
Jose Luis, Kiko = Host brothers
Paulina = Host sister
However, there is a woman who lives above me, Claudia, and 2 more girls who live here who are on vacation! Also in February there will be another international student from Japan. (I'm not sure how long he'll be here?) Their home is large, and very pretty! It's definitely the traditional style Mexican home with lots of color! (no pictures as of yet)
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| My first meal that my host mother made me: Cantaloupe, ham & cheese sandwich, and a carrot cream salad with raisins and nuts! |
My first night my host family took me to Walmart--yes Walmart, to buy some necessities like shampoo. We also stopped by this wonderful bakery where I got to meet one of the bakers. He uses one the largest brick ovens I had ever seen! I also got to take a "torta," or muffin (that's what it looked like to me)
I got stung by a bee, that was very unpleasant for me. I had never been stung before in my 27 years of life! My host family was nice about it even I was freaking out because one of my siblings is allergic to bee stings.
Then I had my first day of orientation at the TEC on January 9th. This was actually a lot of fun! Some students didn't care for the silly games we played, but I enjoyed them. I was on team "Armarillo" or yellow. There was a little "welcome parade" in which all the departments lined up and welcomed the international students. However there were a few Mexican students included into the orientation--I'm not sure why? Throughout orientation most everyone spoke in both English and Spanish, but with all the other other international students there was French, Portuguese, German, Finnish, Korean, etc.
The 2nd day of orientation was more about getting to know the rules and how classes worked, where to turn in important papers that the school needs, etc. This was also the time to sign up for extra classes, which are more like clubs. So I signed up for a photography class, and Salsa lessons! One of my goals while studying abroad: I need to learn how to do some sort of dance from Mexico. The best part--the classes are free! They have things ranging from volunteering, gym: swimming, boxing, pilates, weight lifting, etc, art: dancing, fine arts, theater, etc. It's great because you can pick as many as you want!
So that night a lot of us went out and were able to see some of the night life. I really want to go to a discoteca even though I can't dance! We were invited to another students home, and the view was amazing! Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, all I had was my phone.
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| Rooftop, left side taken from camera phone |
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| Rooftop, right side taken from camera phone |
