Getting Comfortable!

So upon arrival to Guadalajara, Mexico the lady at customs only spoke Spanish. Apparently I did not fill out the sheet to enter their country right, so I am sitting there not having heard any Spanish in a good 7 months, trying to fix what I did wrong. Finally, she just let me go, I still have no idea if I am now going to be able to leave this place, but o well! Luckily, I found my friend Christine and her friend Mary, so we all shared a cab to our host families houses. After being lost for 30 minutes I was welcomed into this beautiful house with big loving arms and a familiar face, my good friend Courtney. My senora and my new hermana are wonderful! So much fun! Maris, mi hermana, is 25, speaks very good English, and is so good about driving us all over the city and introducing us to all the local spots as well as all of her friends. Mi senora, is soo nice, she doesn't speak any English, she cooks and cleans up after us like we are Princesses and gives us plenty of kisses on the checks as well as hugs! Also living with us is her son who is 27, he is not around too much because he has a really good job and a serious girlfriend who is very cute. He also drives a BMW! haha And, a boy named Ricky lives with us as well, he is 23, and has been living with Senora for 2 years while he studies at a Universidad here. Our house is very nice, Courtney and I share a room with 2 twin beds, plenty of walking space, 2 closets, a balcony and a good size bathroom! Our senora's sister also lives down the street and she has two kids Evet, 20, and Santiago, 19, and two USD girls are living with her Tina and Melissa!! So we hang out with them lots and lots! The meals are really good, but definitely need some getting use to. Lots of ham, jalapenos, queso, tortillas, and leche. It is ridiculously hot and dry, but unlike Denver, it does not cool down much at night, so my best friend has become the ceiling fan. Our school, ITESO, Guadalajara's Jesuit Universidad, is really bonita, with mas largo trees and fountains!

Daily Schedule: We get up for school Monday through Thursday at 7 am to catch the USD bus at 8 to start class at 9. My first class, Organizational Behavior (Business MGMT 300) goes till 10:35 and is pretty interesting. The professor, Jose, is a teacher at ITESO. We have already had one business come talk to us about what they do and we visited another. My next class is Photography and that is from 11:25 until 1. This class is incredible boring right now, but will hopefully get better soon. Then I was taking a Salsa class, but since I can not be taught rhythm, I was not feeling that whole thing so instead I have been going to the gym (and doing a spinning class on M and W) until the end of school bus comes at 2:45. We get home around 3:20 to have lunch with the whole family then take a siesta. Next we normally do some homework before getting ready to go out for the night. And that is my day.

Mexicans are absolutely crazy!! My senora is 58 years old and she goes out as much as we do and some nights she stays out even later than we do. Fiesta days are Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, and Sat here. I am going to get home and sleep for a week! At night we have been going to lots of local clubs (one of which we saw all the program directors at!! haha), a few bars, and some "invitation only parties" that Maris hooks us up with. For example, we went to this restaurant opening on Tuesday where our names had to be on a list, and last night we went to a party at this enormous beautiful place that is only used for differente fiestas. It was a fashion show (runway), with a red carpet and everything! Tonight we are going to some other special restaurant that is celebrating an anniversary of a magazine.


Last week we went on tour of downtown Guadalajara where we visited the Cathedral, first Opera house in Mexico, the Governer's house (since Guadalajara is the capital city of the state of Jalisco), and the city of Tlaquepaque. We also went to the grande outdoor marcado, which was kinda like a huge flee market where they sell everything you can think of, my mom would love it! We also saw Sex in the City 2 for 50 pesos (so less than 5 U.S. dollars!) And we went to Sam's Club with our Senora! O, and Maris works at this outdoor, really fun, chill seafood place so we have gone to visit her there a few times! All I really like to eat there though is guacamole, but, yes I like Mexican guac!! ha Well, I think that pretty much sums it up, our days are really packed especially because whatever we do is a process, Mexicans are never in a big hurry, unless they are driving, then you better hold on for dear life because there are absolutely no rules on the road. You start, stop, park, speed, and turn where you want to! It has been an amazing 10 days! I am excited to see what else they throw my way and my spanish is slowly getting better.

Cathedral

Tlaquepaque