Hello for the final time. I know I said I would be updating as soon as I had gotten home but I've been busy here at home (I don't remember mentioning this earlier but I was only here for two weeks and I am off to Germany soon; tomorrow, actually). So my life has been pretty crazy.
I would first like to talk about the trip we were on, La Ruta Maya. I am not going to go into as much detail as I did for La Ruta de Independencia but I am going to highlight my favorite parts.
Tulum-Is a beautiful set of ruins that are close to the water. Nobody would really be able to find them because they were so deep into the forest and then surrounded by water...truly beautiful.
Los Lagos de Montabella-Were probably one of my favorite stops on this whole trip. We were at this gorgeous lake that was such a deep blue throughout the entire lake and surrounded by mountains. We swam to and island and got to jump off this sort of cliff (it wasn't that deep but still exciting!)
Palenque-Was another set of pyramids that also impressed me. There were lots of natives selling beautiful leather with either the Mayan or Aztec Calenders painted onto them and lots of other little useless but awesome things. I bought some key chains made of beads that I thought were really cool.
Now the other great thing about this trip was just being able to see everyone for the last time. It was a rather set trip in that aspect, but we all survived and are doing well. The last week I was in Puebla went by in a blur: I had to say bye to my three families and all of my friends. One of the hardest things was being in Puebla when most of my fellow exchange students had left...Puebla had changed and although I didn't want to go home, it was time. I can't believe I am already home...nothing had changed except for me. It was really great having my car, house and family back but after being home a few days I can honestly say it felt like I had never left.
I would just like to encourage anyone and everyone reading this blog to do an exchange if they have the divine opportunity to do so. I have come back a changed person, and have memories that cannot be replaced.
Like I had said earlier, I am off to tackle a new adventure, college in Germany. I feel like my life is passing me by in the fast lane but it's okay, I will survive and just have to enjoy the ride. Thank you for reading my blog and sharing my wonderful experience of being an exchange student with Rotary International in Mexico 2011-2012. God Bless.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Final Days..
I am so sorry I didn't write directly after the Ruta Maya! It was a blast, everyone had a good time and I will go more into details in a few days. Right now, I have to pack my suitcase. I leave tomorrow and I still have at least 5 more bags, not incluiding my 2 suitcases..uh oh. I hope they will take pity on the poor exchange student who bought too many items in her exchage year!
This year was fantastic. I had a great time, with my three families, my friends from school, from soccer and of course the exchange students. I am thrilled to have connections world wide, and will most definitaly be using them! I will see you all soon...bye!!!!!!! =D
This year was fantastic. I had a great time, with my three families, my friends from school, from soccer and of course the exchange students. I am thrilled to have connections world wide, and will most definitaly be using them! I will see you all soon...bye!!!!!!! =D
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tercera y ultima Familia
As I had mentioned in my latest post, I had just started my Semana Santa. It was really relaxing as I didn't go anywhere due to the family changes that were supposed to be done in the beginning of Semana Santa. Turns out I didn't switch families until the last weekend, so I unfortunately spent my Semana Santa lounging around my house and Puebla, unlike in Taxco or D.F. like many of the other exchange students. It wasn't all too bad, just extremely chill and relaxing but also frustrating.
I changed families the Friday before we were to go back to school, which was good because that gave me the weekend to get adjusted to everything. I am very, very content with my new family. My new dad, Pepe, runs a cardboard factory close to home. My new mom, Martha, is his assistant (it's a little ironic because it's the exact same situation my real parents are in). I have one brother, Jose Pablo, but he goes to a university in México City so I only get to see him on the weekends. They have two helpers in the house, Don Quete and her daughter Monica, and I get along with them very well. They are so sweet, and with Don Quete I even learned how to make salsa verde y salsa roja. There is another helper, Pablito, but he works for the neighborhood and then lives with us though. I also have a dog, named Dashka, and she is a boarder collie. It has been a huge upgrade from the poodle mixes in my first two families, but I have never been a huge fan of boarder collies but she has a sweet character so we get along well.
On Monday I had to go back to school, and I must say it was very difficult getting up at 6 after staying up late and sleeping in during break. I have art on Mondays and I really enjoy it. We are currently painting our canvases, and I am really enjoying it. I am painting a vintage circus poster with an elephant on it, and a giraffe in neon colors; both should turn out pretty cool. The rest of the day was pretty boring. Then after school I had to go the San Diego School along with all of the other girl exchange students here in Puebla to try on shoes for our dances. I have the Ruta Maya trip coming up in less than a month, and we have to learn dances for the Conference which will be held in Cancun(I will explain more on that in the following blog.), hence the shoes.
On Tuesday school was pretty chill and then afterwards I had to go dancing again, this time with all the exchange students in Puebla, boys included. I ended up dancing with Marco, the Alaskan, and I would say we came in second to the other pure Canadian and Brazilian partners. The Brazilians, Tiago and Ana Paula beat us which doesn't surprise me one bit because Brazilians can dance. After dance I went to a bar for drinks with a friend from Germany which was really good because we barely get to see each other because we go to different schools.
Wednesday was also very chill (I get out early both Tuesday and Wednesday so these two days are always pretty lame). I went home and worked on my canvas, took a nap and then had plans to go see a movie with a friend. We went to his house to drop something off, and I got to see his mom's Boston Terriers seven little babies. They were so adorable and just starting to run so we lost track of time and instead of going to the movies ended up buying art supplies for me and going to Pearl Tea for a drink. This was the first time I had ever eaten Tapioca, which is a very strange element related to the potato with a very slimy texture and interesting taste.
Thursday I had school and my dance classes again and invited a friend to sleepover. It was really fun, but not so much fun getting up on Friday to go to school but we survived. Then Friday afternoon I was supposed to have a soccer game, but due to the currently active Popocatepetl and all the ceniza(ash) traveling many miles to Puebla, it got canceled. I was already at my friends house though, so we took a nap and then dropped me off to where the bus passes to go to my house. I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but George, a friend of a friend of my parents in Chicago, has his store on a street where my bus passes. I saw him standing outside of his store and ran off the bus to go say hi. Turns out carrying four canvases, a backpack and a sports bag is harder then it looks. Anywho I caught up with him, saw his daughter who was home for the weekend from Mexico City, saw the puppies again, got invited to a dinner on Saturday, and then got dropped off. I wanted to do something during the night because it was Friday, and thank goodness two friends invited me. We went to another friends' bar, and then to Suhko, which is a fairly new club that is really cool. Then on Saturday I went to the market with Monica y Don Quete. I love the markets here in México. Then at 6 I had the dinner that George invited me to and it was fabulous. There were some volunteers from Minnesota there who are here on a missions trip. I also got to see Ceci his wife, Gabe, his stepson(he was the one I hung out with on Wednesday) and Jenna, his daughter. The food was all delicious, and I enjoyed everything up until the last bite of Cosco apple pie. Then after the dinner my friend Anna(from the different school) invited me to sleep at her house. We went to Sukho again, but it was really lame consisting of about 20 people, so we went to Cholula to a new club named Glamm, and it was a lot better. I saw a lot of other exchange students, and even some that don't live here but are currently on their Ruta Maya and I guess theirs consists of passing through Puebla. Sunday was really relaxing. I went to mesa, and even though I am not Catholic it was a good mesa because the pope had humor. We then made pizza, which was delicious, and just chilled at her house until the evening.
Today is Wednesday. The past two days were very relaxing, yesterday consisting of dancing and today I have soccer. The rest of the week will be pretty chill, and Saturday we have a lunch with all the exchange students. It's a lunch where all us exchange students have to make something from our country for about 20 people, and then the general crowd has to pay 200 pesos to enter and they are then allowed to eat the food we all made.
I hope all is well in the States, and I would just like to make a quick shout out to my Rotary Club Sheboygan Early Birds for allowing me to have this great experience and that they will see me again soon, as I am due to leave wonderful México in about two months. Thanks!
I changed families the Friday before we were to go back to school, which was good because that gave me the weekend to get adjusted to everything. I am very, very content with my new family. My new dad, Pepe, runs a cardboard factory close to home. My new mom, Martha, is his assistant (it's a little ironic because it's the exact same situation my real parents are in). I have one brother, Jose Pablo, but he goes to a university in México City so I only get to see him on the weekends. They have two helpers in the house, Don Quete and her daughter Monica, and I get along with them very well. They are so sweet, and with Don Quete I even learned how to make salsa verde y salsa roja. There is another helper, Pablito, but he works for the neighborhood and then lives with us though. I also have a dog, named Dashka, and she is a boarder collie. It has been a huge upgrade from the poodle mixes in my first two families, but I have never been a huge fan of boarder collies but she has a sweet character so we get along well.
On Monday I had to go back to school, and I must say it was very difficult getting up at 6 after staying up late and sleeping in during break. I have art on Mondays and I really enjoy it. We are currently painting our canvases, and I am really enjoying it. I am painting a vintage circus poster with an elephant on it, and a giraffe in neon colors; both should turn out pretty cool. The rest of the day was pretty boring. Then after school I had to go the San Diego School along with all of the other girl exchange students here in Puebla to try on shoes for our dances. I have the Ruta Maya trip coming up in less than a month, and we have to learn dances for the Conference which will be held in Cancun(I will explain more on that in the following blog.), hence the shoes.
On Tuesday school was pretty chill and then afterwards I had to go dancing again, this time with all the exchange students in Puebla, boys included. I ended up dancing with Marco, the Alaskan, and I would say we came in second to the other pure Canadian and Brazilian partners. The Brazilians, Tiago and Ana Paula beat us which doesn't surprise me one bit because Brazilians can dance. After dance I went to a bar for drinks with a friend from Germany which was really good because we barely get to see each other because we go to different schools.
Wednesday was also very chill (I get out early both Tuesday and Wednesday so these two days are always pretty lame). I went home and worked on my canvas, took a nap and then had plans to go see a movie with a friend. We went to his house to drop something off, and I got to see his mom's Boston Terriers seven little babies. They were so adorable and just starting to run so we lost track of time and instead of going to the movies ended up buying art supplies for me and going to Pearl Tea for a drink. This was the first time I had ever eaten Tapioca, which is a very strange element related to the potato with a very slimy texture and interesting taste.
Thursday I had school and my dance classes again and invited a friend to sleepover. It was really fun, but not so much fun getting up on Friday to go to school but we survived. Then Friday afternoon I was supposed to have a soccer game, but due to the currently active Popocatepetl and all the ceniza(ash) traveling many miles to Puebla, it got canceled. I was already at my friends house though, so we took a nap and then dropped me off to where the bus passes to go to my house. I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but George, a friend of a friend of my parents in Chicago, has his store on a street where my bus passes. I saw him standing outside of his store and ran off the bus to go say hi. Turns out carrying four canvases, a backpack and a sports bag is harder then it looks. Anywho I caught up with him, saw his daughter who was home for the weekend from Mexico City, saw the puppies again, got invited to a dinner on Saturday, and then got dropped off. I wanted to do something during the night because it was Friday, and thank goodness two friends invited me. We went to another friends' bar, and then to Suhko, which is a fairly new club that is really cool. Then on Saturday I went to the market with Monica y Don Quete. I love the markets here in México. Then at 6 I had the dinner that George invited me to and it was fabulous. There were some volunteers from Minnesota there who are here on a missions trip. I also got to see Ceci his wife, Gabe, his stepson(he was the one I hung out with on Wednesday) and Jenna, his daughter. The food was all delicious, and I enjoyed everything up until the last bite of Cosco apple pie. Then after the dinner my friend Anna(from the different school) invited me to sleep at her house. We went to Sukho again, but it was really lame consisting of about 20 people, so we went to Cholula to a new club named Glamm, and it was a lot better. I saw a lot of other exchange students, and even some that don't live here but are currently on their Ruta Maya and I guess theirs consists of passing through Puebla. Sunday was really relaxing. I went to mesa, and even though I am not Catholic it was a good mesa because the pope had humor. We then made pizza, which was delicious, and just chilled at her house until the evening.
Today is Wednesday. The past two days were very relaxing, yesterday consisting of dancing and today I have soccer. The rest of the week will be pretty chill, and Saturday we have a lunch with all the exchange students. It's a lunch where all us exchange students have to make something from our country for about 20 people, and then the general crowd has to pay 200 pesos to enter and they are then allowed to eat the food we all made.
I hope all is well in the States, and I would just like to make a quick shout out to my Rotary Club Sheboygan Early Birds for allowing me to have this great experience and that they will see me again soon, as I am due to leave wonderful México in about two months. Thanks!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Ixtapa
Hello Hello!
I have been sun kissed and thoroughly washed by the ocean for about two weeks now and it feels amazing. The US has had their Spring Break a few weeks ago, and lucky me I just started my two weeks this past Monday. I was lucky enough to start it even a week earlier, due to my trip to the beach with Rotex and other exchange students. Friday we spent the majority of the day on the bus. It was a very, very long car ride but we made it to Ixtapa just in time for a delicious late lunch. The rest of the day and following days was spent playing vollyball on the beach, splashing around the pool and drowning in the ocean. It was a nice break from a large city such as Puebla. We went to a Señor Frogs the first night, and some club where only the exchange students were allowed in the following night. We danced the night away, many of the students complaining about their sun burn. Lucky for me, my parents taught me well and I applied enough sun screen to not leave Ixtapa like a lobster. Sunday we only had a little bit of time for the beach and ocean and before we knew it we were all squished on the bus awaiting the dreaded drive back home. We all survived though; arriving late and exhausted at 1 in the morning. The following Monday I didn't go to school for obvious reasons. Tuesday and Wednesday my grade was taking an exam for college so I only stopped by to check in with a teacher and lucky us they canceled Thursday and Friday so we all got an early start to our Semana Santa vacation which I am currently enjoying. The other day I made Tirimisu for my family, as I am getting ready to change into my third and final family any day now. I am both excited and nervous, but as I am learning change is good, so I am looking forward to adapt once again. I hope everyone had a great Spring Break, and I wish you all a Happy Easter!
I have been sun kissed and thoroughly washed by the ocean for about two weeks now and it feels amazing. The US has had their Spring Break a few weeks ago, and lucky me I just started my two weeks this past Monday. I was lucky enough to start it even a week earlier, due to my trip to the beach with Rotex and other exchange students. Friday we spent the majority of the day on the bus. It was a very, very long car ride but we made it to Ixtapa just in time for a delicious late lunch. The rest of the day and following days was spent playing vollyball on the beach, splashing around the pool and drowning in the ocean. It was a nice break from a large city such as Puebla. We went to a Señor Frogs the first night, and some club where only the exchange students were allowed in the following night. We danced the night away, many of the students complaining about their sun burn. Lucky for me, my parents taught me well and I applied enough sun screen to not leave Ixtapa like a lobster. Sunday we only had a little bit of time for the beach and ocean and before we knew it we were all squished on the bus awaiting the dreaded drive back home. We all survived though; arriving late and exhausted at 1 in the morning. The following Monday I didn't go to school for obvious reasons. Tuesday and Wednesday my grade was taking an exam for college so I only stopped by to check in with a teacher and lucky us they canceled Thursday and Friday so we all got an early start to our Semana Santa vacation which I am currently enjoying. The other day I made Tirimisu for my family, as I am getting ready to change into my third and final family any day now. I am both excited and nervous, but as I am learning change is good, so I am looking forward to adapt once again. I hope everyone had a great Spring Break, and I wish you all a Happy Easter!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Beach time =]
Since the Ruta de Independencia, not much has happened here in Puebla. I have found some new friends that have a boat in Valsequillo (which ia a very large area of terrain where there are lakes and hills). So these last two weekends I was invited to go with them, and I went wakeboarding and swimming. It was really good being on a lake again, considering we live near so many lakes in Plymouth.
School has been the same, nothing much is happening except in my art class, where we are currently working on a pretty cool painting project. Outside of school I've been going to the movies and hanging out with more of the exchange students, which is pretty fantastic I must say. Yesterday we didn't have school, and now I just have 3 days until I go another Rotex trip.
I am super excited because we are going to Ixtapa, which is a beach near Acapulco. It should be three days of fun in the sun, which I, like all of the other exchange students, are thrilled about. We leave Friday morning at 3am, so my French friend Marlen and I are planning on going to the latest showing of The Hunger Games and then killing time before we leave. Should be fun! I will have more to write once I am back.
School has been the same, nothing much is happening except in my art class, where we are currently working on a pretty cool painting project. Outside of school I've been going to the movies and hanging out with more of the exchange students, which is pretty fantastic I must say. Yesterday we didn't have school, and now I just have 3 days until I go another Rotex trip.
I am super excited because we are going to Ixtapa, which is a beach near Acapulco. It should be three days of fun in the sun, which I, like all of the other exchange students, are thrilled about. We leave Friday morning at 3am, so my French friend Marlen and I are planning on going to the latest showing of The Hunger Games and then killing time before we leave. Should be fun! I will have more to write once I am back.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Ruta de Independencia
Take two. As I was writing this blog about an hour ago, I had just finished it and was about to post it when everything got deleted. So here I go again, God help me if it even sounds half as good as it just did.
Before I begin to explain how fantistic this trip was, I would like to thank my parents for giving me this opportunity. I didn't know I was even going until a week prior. So thank you Mapa, muchas gracias Mapa, dankeschoen Mapa!! As a side note, there are some pictures of the trip on the right!
For those of you who have no idea what the Ruta de Independencia is, it is a trip that was organized by my Rotary District. My district is having two big trips, the Ruta de Independencia (which we just had) and the Ruta de Maya which is coming up at the end of May and I cannot wait for it after how this trip turned out.
Morelia 16.2
We left at 6 from the mall in Puebla and made our way towards Morelia. Before we got there though, we made a quick pitstop at a Monarc butterfly santuary. We got off the bus and it was a little chilly. Noone knew we would have to climb mountains to get to these damned butterflies. It was an adventure and really nice to get out of the big city. We practically craweled up these mountain hills and had to walk up and down this long trails only to have to manuver our way down a vegitaded slope to get to these butterflies but it was worth it. I'm not sure if I was extremely grossed out by seeing the sky and trees overflowing with orange and black fluttering wings or amazed. It truely was beautiful but a little scary once I realized I was covered in butterflies and had one staring at my face every few seconds. Once we all had our fullfillment of butterflies we set off for Morelia. We arrived pretty late and just in time for our trolly ride. Personly I did not enjoy Morelia that much as it is similar to Puebla but there is less to do.
The following day we visited a church and a library that had an interesting mural painted inside. It was very large but I'm not sure if it was the history of Morelia or of Mexico; I didn't quite understand. We then took a boat over to the Island of Janitzio. This is an adorable island. There is one main street leading up to the statue of the island, and this street is filled with little stores where you can buy so much schnick schnack (I'm not sure if this is a phrase, but I use it to describe little unimportant but necesary things). My friend Anna and I were so caught up in these little stores that we didn't even make it up to the statue. After the Island we ate at a typical Mexican restaurant with good food and then visited the little town of Tzin Zun Tzan. This is a town full of leather stores and I did not enjoy it very much. I would have much rather stayed on the little island longer. After the leather town we went back to the hotel and straight to bed because we had a long day ahead of us.
Guadalajara 18.2
We left very early and made another pitstop in a small artists city called Tlaquepaque about 20 min from Guadalajara, and it was truely beautiful. It had georgeous beaded jewelery, stitched table blankets and little birds that told your fortune. It was really cute and I had a great time; especially drinking my sugar cane juice (although I prefer eating the sugar cane, sucking out the juice and spiting out the remainds) and eating my liter of raspberries. Again we were in this little town way to short for my liking, and were soon off to the city of Guadalajara. We first stopped by the hotel to drop off our luggage and to everyones delight it was a major upgrade compared to the hotel in Morelia. Squishy beds, carpeted floors, nice large bathrooms...we quickly changed to match the heat in this city and were all bedazzeled by the beautiful architecture of the city in the downtown area. It really was beautiful, and it was cool to see the entire city later on in a carriage ride. I felt bad for the horses, as I always do with animals put to work, but then again I felt special being pulled along in a carriage in a mondern city. The trip took us past a bunch adorable little bars, cafés and restaurants, old houses and mansions, and a lot of bridal shops. You would have to spend weeks here if you wanted to see all the bars and cafés. Once we finished the carriage ride it was already dark so we headed off to our compfy beds and slept so we would be prepared for the Tequilla Express in the morning.
The following day we had to be ready at 730 and not to anyones surprise my room was late. Lara and I had to shower and she sprang out of bed so fast and into the shower all I could do is jump up myself and get my clothes ready. I then hoped in the shower and I swear only 3 minutes had passed once I started pulling my clothes on. We all rushed downstairs and even had time to spare waiting for the bus. The Tequilla Express was pretty cool. A train ride took us the the plantation where we were then guided through the process of how our beloved tequilla is made. It was very interesting and informative and was followed by a lunch and dance contest. Natan, a brazilian and Raita, a finnisch girl won. While I was watching it on a slight buzz (don't worry, we were allowed to drink some tequilla haha) I could have sworn it was a clip from dirty dancing. But they did deserve it. After the train ride back and a trip to the mall, we were all pretty exhausted and crept once again into those heavenly comforters.
Guanajuato 20.2
We left Guadalajara with our destination being Guanajuato. Once again we made another pitstop to the small leather city of Leon, which did not tickle my fancey one bit. It is not a pretty city, nor is it filled with good leather stores. They said that all the leather found in this city was real, but if you can't smell the leather on the product and it looks like plastic, I am going to have to trust my instincts. Finally we arrived at Guanajuato. We made our way to the hotel to drop off our stuff and were then off to visit the mummy museum. It was pretty gross yet fascinating seeing the corpses of these dead people and reading the history behind them. After leaving the museum we climbed the streets and we greeted by a fabulous few. The city is very cluttered-looking, since the houses are so close together and some are stacked on each other but it was a sight to see; all the pretty colors and the collage of houses. The rest of the night and the following day kind of blurred together. We roamed the city a lot, went to see the university, danced around the city with a bunch of young men playing instruments and singing songs until we reached the 'Calle del Beso' which apparently, if you kiss someone on will bring you good luck. We went to a museum of Don Quiote, saw a beautiful theater with the 9 muse's on, and visited a statue overlooking the city. We returned both nights to our cute hotel with rock hard beds.
San Miguel de Allende/Queretaro 22.2
San Miguel de Allende. I cannot even begin to describe how I feel about this city. I felt like God had another child and named it San Miguel de Allende. It was so beautiful and adorable. The shades of orange and yellow and red covering the city was a sight for the eyes. The church was beautiful as well. I usually don't like the churches here because they are so overwhelming to look at. Most of the churches here are Catholic, so they are filled with wonderful structures of gold and angels and beautiful arcitecture and murals, but my eyes just can't handle them. This church was different. Unlike being greeted with a fabulous ceiling college I was greeted by bricks. This was the first church I had seen without having its' ceiling painted and I was in awe. I really enjoyed its simplicity. The restaurant that we ate in was so warm and beautiful as well. It had plants and trees and sun umbrellas and good food. The soup...ahh. After having indulged in this lovely little city that's only downfall were all the tourists, we made our way to Queretaro. Once we got to our hotel we had to hurry to catch our final trolly ride. It was fun seeing all the little areas of Queretaro but at this point we were all pretty exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Once we got back into our rooms, I was very happy. This was the second best hotel room we had had, being a mix of the hotel in Guadalajara and Austria. We enjoyed it very much.
La peña de Bernal/Teotihuacan 23.2
After a long and uneventful bus ride we reached the rock we came to visit. That's right, a rock. I know what you guys are thinking, you guys went to visit a rock? How lame..but no not just any rock! The third biggest rock in the world. 'Ooohhh Ahhhh...' Yea. My thoughts exactly. To me it just looked like a mountain with lots of rocks on it but who knows. The city was little and cute and we didn't stay there too long so it was okay. We then made our way to Teotihuacan to visit the pyramids. It was really cool to see all the old rocks and architecture and most of all to climb the Sun pyramid. I thought I would be cool and have a friend video tape me while I blew everyone away and ran up it but to my disappointment I was doing great until the second part where I died, and had to almost crawl up the third part to reach the top. I'm sure it gave everyone a good laugh though. We didn't have time to climb the Luna pyramid but that was okay because we were all exhausted anyways. On our way to the exit we were swamped by natives trying to sell their necklaces, blankets, rocks, and trinkets. Me, being intruiged by all these things would always stop and admire their work before explaining that I had no money thus, couldn't purchase their items. One women in particular, who was selling necklaces, asked me to buy something. I once again told her I had no money but that didn't stop her. No, she took one look at my running watch and said 'It's okay, give me your Rolex and you can pick something out.' To my utter shock I had trouble hiding my smile as I explained to her very politly that I needed this watch to run, and then muttered under my breath how with this watch I could buy her entire collection of necklaces. I ended up just walking away, not knowing how to continue that conversation. Once everyone had been collected, we were off to Puebla.
Rimex was going on when we got back home, which is a weekend full of Rotary activities. That night I ended up going to a concert consisting of young children playing in an orchestra, exhausted as I was. The following day in the morning we had a meeting with a bunch of important Rotarians and the furute Rotary presidant (he's from Thailand) followed by a Gala Saturday night. Sunday I was a little sick from the lack of sleep and now I have school again this week.
Once again I would like to thank my parents, and cannot wait for the next trip! I am really glad I was able to broaden my areas of Mexico I have visited and am excited to see more.
Before I begin to explain how fantistic this trip was, I would like to thank my parents for giving me this opportunity. I didn't know I was even going until a week prior. So thank you Mapa, muchas gracias Mapa, dankeschoen Mapa!! As a side note, there are some pictures of the trip on the right!
For those of you who have no idea what the Ruta de Independencia is, it is a trip that was organized by my Rotary District. My district is having two big trips, the Ruta de Independencia (which we just had) and the Ruta de Maya which is coming up at the end of May and I cannot wait for it after how this trip turned out.
Morelia 16.2
We left at 6 from the mall in Puebla and made our way towards Morelia. Before we got there though, we made a quick pitstop at a Monarc butterfly santuary. We got off the bus and it was a little chilly. Noone knew we would have to climb mountains to get to these damned butterflies. It was an adventure and really nice to get out of the big city. We practically craweled up these mountain hills and had to walk up and down this long trails only to have to manuver our way down a vegitaded slope to get to these butterflies but it was worth it. I'm not sure if I was extremely grossed out by seeing the sky and trees overflowing with orange and black fluttering wings or amazed. It truely was beautiful but a little scary once I realized I was covered in butterflies and had one staring at my face every few seconds. Once we all had our fullfillment of butterflies we set off for Morelia. We arrived pretty late and just in time for our trolly ride. Personly I did not enjoy Morelia that much as it is similar to Puebla but there is less to do.
The following day we visited a church and a library that had an interesting mural painted inside. It was very large but I'm not sure if it was the history of Morelia or of Mexico; I didn't quite understand. We then took a boat over to the Island of Janitzio. This is an adorable island. There is one main street leading up to the statue of the island, and this street is filled with little stores where you can buy so much schnick schnack (I'm not sure if this is a phrase, but I use it to describe little unimportant but necesary things). My friend Anna and I were so caught up in these little stores that we didn't even make it up to the statue. After the Island we ate at a typical Mexican restaurant with good food and then visited the little town of Tzin Zun Tzan. This is a town full of leather stores and I did not enjoy it very much. I would have much rather stayed on the little island longer. After the leather town we went back to the hotel and straight to bed because we had a long day ahead of us.
Guadalajara 18.2
We left very early and made another pitstop in a small artists city called Tlaquepaque about 20 min from Guadalajara, and it was truely beautiful. It had georgeous beaded jewelery, stitched table blankets and little birds that told your fortune. It was really cute and I had a great time; especially drinking my sugar cane juice (although I prefer eating the sugar cane, sucking out the juice and spiting out the remainds) and eating my liter of raspberries. Again we were in this little town way to short for my liking, and were soon off to the city of Guadalajara. We first stopped by the hotel to drop off our luggage and to everyones delight it was a major upgrade compared to the hotel in Morelia. Squishy beds, carpeted floors, nice large bathrooms...we quickly changed to match the heat in this city and were all bedazzeled by the beautiful architecture of the city in the downtown area. It really was beautiful, and it was cool to see the entire city later on in a carriage ride. I felt bad for the horses, as I always do with animals put to work, but then again I felt special being pulled along in a carriage in a mondern city. The trip took us past a bunch adorable little bars, cafés and restaurants, old houses and mansions, and a lot of bridal shops. You would have to spend weeks here if you wanted to see all the bars and cafés. Once we finished the carriage ride it was already dark so we headed off to our compfy beds and slept so we would be prepared for the Tequilla Express in the morning.
The following day we had to be ready at 730 and not to anyones surprise my room was late. Lara and I had to shower and she sprang out of bed so fast and into the shower all I could do is jump up myself and get my clothes ready. I then hoped in the shower and I swear only 3 minutes had passed once I started pulling my clothes on. We all rushed downstairs and even had time to spare waiting for the bus. The Tequilla Express was pretty cool. A train ride took us the the plantation where we were then guided through the process of how our beloved tequilla is made. It was very interesting and informative and was followed by a lunch and dance contest. Natan, a brazilian and Raita, a finnisch girl won. While I was watching it on a slight buzz (don't worry, we were allowed to drink some tequilla haha) I could have sworn it was a clip from dirty dancing. But they did deserve it. After the train ride back and a trip to the mall, we were all pretty exhausted and crept once again into those heavenly comforters.
Guanajuato 20.2
We left Guadalajara with our destination being Guanajuato. Once again we made another pitstop to the small leather city of Leon, which did not tickle my fancey one bit. It is not a pretty city, nor is it filled with good leather stores. They said that all the leather found in this city was real, but if you can't smell the leather on the product and it looks like plastic, I am going to have to trust my instincts. Finally we arrived at Guanajuato. We made our way to the hotel to drop off our stuff and were then off to visit the mummy museum. It was pretty gross yet fascinating seeing the corpses of these dead people and reading the history behind them. After leaving the museum we climbed the streets and we greeted by a fabulous few. The city is very cluttered-looking, since the houses are so close together and some are stacked on each other but it was a sight to see; all the pretty colors and the collage of houses. The rest of the night and the following day kind of blurred together. We roamed the city a lot, went to see the university, danced around the city with a bunch of young men playing instruments and singing songs until we reached the 'Calle del Beso' which apparently, if you kiss someone on will bring you good luck. We went to a museum of Don Quiote, saw a beautiful theater with the 9 muse's on, and visited a statue overlooking the city. We returned both nights to our cute hotel with rock hard beds.
San Miguel de Allende/Queretaro 22.2
San Miguel de Allende. I cannot even begin to describe how I feel about this city. I felt like God had another child and named it San Miguel de Allende. It was so beautiful and adorable. The shades of orange and yellow and red covering the city was a sight for the eyes. The church was beautiful as well. I usually don't like the churches here because they are so overwhelming to look at. Most of the churches here are Catholic, so they are filled with wonderful structures of gold and angels and beautiful arcitecture and murals, but my eyes just can't handle them. This church was different. Unlike being greeted with a fabulous ceiling college I was greeted by bricks. This was the first church I had seen without having its' ceiling painted and I was in awe. I really enjoyed its simplicity. The restaurant that we ate in was so warm and beautiful as well. It had plants and trees and sun umbrellas and good food. The soup...ahh. After having indulged in this lovely little city that's only downfall were all the tourists, we made our way to Queretaro. Once we got to our hotel we had to hurry to catch our final trolly ride. It was fun seeing all the little areas of Queretaro but at this point we were all pretty exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Once we got back into our rooms, I was very happy. This was the second best hotel room we had had, being a mix of the hotel in Guadalajara and Austria. We enjoyed it very much.
La peña de Bernal/Teotihuacan 23.2
After a long and uneventful bus ride we reached the rock we came to visit. That's right, a rock. I know what you guys are thinking, you guys went to visit a rock? How lame..but no not just any rock! The third biggest rock in the world. 'Ooohhh Ahhhh...' Yea. My thoughts exactly. To me it just looked like a mountain with lots of rocks on it but who knows. The city was little and cute and we didn't stay there too long so it was okay. We then made our way to Teotihuacan to visit the pyramids. It was really cool to see all the old rocks and architecture and most of all to climb the Sun pyramid. I thought I would be cool and have a friend video tape me while I blew everyone away and ran up it but to my disappointment I was doing great until the second part where I died, and had to almost crawl up the third part to reach the top. I'm sure it gave everyone a good laugh though. We didn't have time to climb the Luna pyramid but that was okay because we were all exhausted anyways. On our way to the exit we were swamped by natives trying to sell their necklaces, blankets, rocks, and trinkets. Me, being intruiged by all these things would always stop and admire their work before explaining that I had no money thus, couldn't purchase their items. One women in particular, who was selling necklaces, asked me to buy something. I once again told her I had no money but that didn't stop her. No, she took one look at my running watch and said 'It's okay, give me your Rolex and you can pick something out.' To my utter shock I had trouble hiding my smile as I explained to her very politly that I needed this watch to run, and then muttered under my breath how with this watch I could buy her entire collection of necklaces. I ended up just walking away, not knowing how to continue that conversation. Once everyone had been collected, we were off to Puebla.
Rimex was going on when we got back home, which is a weekend full of Rotary activities. That night I ended up going to a concert consisting of young children playing in an orchestra, exhausted as I was. The following day in the morning we had a meeting with a bunch of important Rotarians and the furute Rotary presidant (he's from Thailand) followed by a Gala Saturday night. Sunday I was a little sick from the lack of sleep and now I have school again this week.
Once again I would like to thank my parents, and cannot wait for the next trip! I am really glad I was able to broaden my areas of Mexico I have visited and am excited to see more.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Hello beautiful world!
So again I send my apologies for not having updated in awhile, but these few weeks have been crazy.
Two weeks ago I visited Aliza from New York in Tehuacan, a city about two hours from Puebla. It was really fun, because I got to see about 4 other exchange students that live there as well.
Valent-Hungry
Lenny-Germany
Cecile-France
Andresa-Brasil
I went to my first Quincenera while there, and it was a lot different than what I had expected. Granted we came a little late and it was not in a salon it was at their house. I think the highlight of my time there was just being with Aliza, eating about 20 quesadillas and everthing else in their house, and going to the gym..but only once!
Then this following weekend I visited my friend from Canada who lives across the city. It was also a very chill weekend filled with going to a superbowl party. Turns out Mexico loves football!!School starts again this week, and for those of you who would like to know about my school schedual, I have a new one:
Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays I have school from 7 until 2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have from 7 until 1130. Then every day I have soccer from 3 to 5.
To my sponsering club, I would just like to thank you all for this special opportunity. As one of my fears of coming here, I am also signing into the University of BUAP to swim, so I can work off some of this extra exchange student weight I have, unfortunatly, gained. But it's okay, because the food here is so good!! =D
If anyone has any questions or comments about anything, please feel free to contact me. God Bless!
So again I send my apologies for not having updated in awhile, but these few weeks have been crazy.
Two weeks ago I visited Aliza from New York in Tehuacan, a city about two hours from Puebla. It was really fun, because I got to see about 4 other exchange students that live there as well.
Valent-Hungry
Lenny-Germany
Cecile-France
Andresa-Brasil
I went to my first Quincenera while there, and it was a lot different than what I had expected. Granted we came a little late and it was not in a salon it was at their house. I think the highlight of my time there was just being with Aliza, eating about 20 quesadillas and everthing else in their house, and going to the gym..but only once!
Then this following weekend I visited my friend from Canada who lives across the city. It was also a very chill weekend filled with going to a superbowl party. Turns out Mexico loves football!!School starts again this week, and for those of you who would like to know about my school schedual, I have a new one:
Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays I have school from 7 until 2. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have from 7 until 1130. Then every day I have soccer from 3 to 5.
To my sponsering club, I would just like to thank you all for this special opportunity. As one of my fears of coming here, I am also signing into the University of BUAP to swim, so I can work off some of this extra exchange student weight I have, unfortunatly, gained. But it's okay, because the food here is so good!! =D
If anyone has any questions or comments about anything, please feel free to contact me. God Bless!
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