getting settled

Hola.

So I arrived here in Mexico on Thursday. I met 19 other students in the airport who I will be spending (and have already spent) a lot of time with. They are all very friendly and equally as interested in Mexican culture as I am.

Mexico City is probably the largest city I have ever seen, it stretches as far as the eye can see and it’s absolutely packed with people and traffic. It’s a crazy mix of very rich people and also very poor…as our director Rob has pointed out there are 2 separate economies here in Mexico, one for those with educations, jobs and money, and another for those selling hand made goods on the streets with very little money.

We are living in Cuernavaca now, and we will be in school here for 3 weeks taking intensive Spanish courses. Can’t wait! Actually my Spanish is better than I thought so I feel pretty confident about talking to people and practicing....classes start tomorrow.

The past couple of days have been spent exploring the city as a group, and Rob has told a little about the history of the city. There are lots of statues and very old buildings, also there are Christmas decorations still up….a giant Christmas tree in the center of town and giant snow flakes hanging from the capital building (Cuernavaca is the capital of the state of Morelos). There are flowers all over the place, growing out of every wall and patch of grass. Also, every house is painted a different color…and I think this is to brighten up the cement because that’s what everything is built out of. The food is great; I’ve had fresh fruit every day for breakfast so far.

We've had several talks about health and safety, so many of the students are a little anxious, however I hope that once they have settled in with their host families they will feel better. We just need to be smart.

we moved in with our host families today, which was pretty exciting. My address is very close to the school which is nice and also very close to a little internet café. It was nice to finally unpack and stop living out of a suitcase….and I can shower more now since i have my own bathroom...which is nice for those around me. There are 2 other girls living in this house from the US, they are leaving at the end of the week. Tonigth the 3 of us went into the center of town and there was lots of music and dancing, street venders every 5 feet....as soon as my immune system has had a chance to adapt ill be all over that steet food...it just smells amazing.

Classes start tomorrow…..