The End
Thursday, July 31, 2009 10:03 AM
From every angle you look at it, this summer in Mexico was crazy amazingly cool! With all the uncertainty at the beginning with the swine flu outbreak and other stuff, it actually happened and it was so worth the planning, money and anticipation! This UF/UADY program was so great! The professors knew what they were doing and everything went perfectly.
My Spanish has improved 100%. I would almost say I’m fluent. Like, if there were someone who needed a translator or something, I would volunteer to do it. And I could for sure carry on a good conversation with someone who spoke no English. I mean, I’ve been doing it for about 2 meals a day all month!
The combination of people made everything really fun. The bond we had within ecology and the bond that everyone had was really great! Everyone was different and the same.
The last few days have been kind of nostalgic, as we do our last of everything and say goodbyes. I got all A’s. The classes weren’t really hard, because they would rather have us out exploring the city, experiencing everything, rather than locked in our houses studying.
Monday was a good time with Addison, Tuesday was a good time swimming at Allison’s with the group. Wednesday was a good time after class going to Paseo Montejo. Went again last night. We went to an all inclusive karaoke club called Cantina Mexico. Enough said. It was a lot of fun. Go big and go home.
Yesterday after the closing ceremony with the school where we got our completion certificates, we had one last baby excursion to Dzitza, the same place we went to for the first one. There was an art fair going on yesterday though. Then everyone went to lunch kind of for a last meal. It was sad saying goodbye to Roger and the Mexican boys. Abel made us all a video with music and pictures which was sweet. The Mexican kids told me I was their favorite UFer so my life is complete. It’s always strange to know you won’t see someone again, unless I travel to Merida someday.
Today we are going swimming again at Allison’s, our last time together here. And then at like 4 AM I have to get up to go to the airport. I don’t usually get sad until I’m in the airport, just past security, at that point where there is no turning back. It’s kind of different because we all go to UF so we can hang out if we want, but I will never see my host family or the Mexicans from class again, and I will miss them.
I’m looking forward to going back though. Back to comfort and familiarity. I feel comfort and find familiarity here, but still, it’s not home.
So, lesson learned… um… something I am coming away with that I didn’t know before, besides the obvious. This is difficult. I think I learned that a big reason why Christians are so full of joy, is because we have someone to be grateful to for every beautiful thing around us, mountains, beaches, relationships... Like, when you receive a gift, you act more excited about it than you would if you just bought it, or it was already there. But when you realize that something is given to you, and you are able to value the generosity in that gift, you appreciate everything more.
6:44 PM
Today was a good last day. It was the core: me, Allison, Laura, Addison, Clay, Joe, Heather, Sallie, Kiana and Keilani. We lounged in Allison’s pool and had lunch. I got a little sunburned, so tomorrow mom is going to assume I was burnt the entire time, but the truth is, it just happened today. After that we went to a mall, which was as nice as ones in Tampa and Orlando, and got gelato and walked around. Then, bused back. I’m pretty sure I spent every peso I had left. Haha. 12 hours from now I will be sitting on the plane.
It was sad to leave everyone. Most will be on the flight to Houston tomorrow, but Kiana and Addison, and Hoe are getting back different ways.
I took my key off my wallet when I got back. Just all of these last times, doing the public bus, unlocking the gate, showering. Last night was my last night in the hammock since I packed it up already.
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Grand Finale Excursion
Campeche and Chiapas Weekend
Sunday 7:50 PM July 26, 2009
This weekend consisted of a LOT of traveling. 3 hours in bus Thursday, 6 hours in bus Friday, 2 hours in bus Saturday, 9 hours in bus Sunday. Pretty intense. But it was worth it, because we got to see a lot of different landscapes that aren’t in the Yucatan. It was a rainforest, and the hills looked more like the sites of Dominican Republic, Jurassic parks scenes as I call them.
The most different part of this weekend was being with a huge group. The best part was being able to interact with different people, which was good especially since I had had enough of someone in ecology and had some time to be away and get cool together again. So I liked mixing with different people, but I didn’t like about it how groups form cliques and I tried to bounce around to all the different ones, but it wasn’t the usual bond of nine of us forced together. More people added to more interactions, and more drama to talk about which is entertaining. Everyone knows everything little thing that happens to every one here. It’s pretty fun.
I’ll go chronologically now, starting with Wednesday night. After class, for Joe’s birthday (well, there are two Joe’s. One I call Hoe and one I call Joe, but I am going to spell them the same so you are just going to have to be confused and guess which one I am talking about) and he wanted to go to El Gato Negro. So we did that which is an experience in itself. After that we went downtown and walked around and sat at a restaurant and went in the park again just chilling. And then some guys Joe knew from is host brother came up to us and invited us to a disco club. We a group of about 6 or so of us went to that. Bonded a lot with Heather, my fellow Lakelander, and got so much entertainment watching Clay dance, especially. Got home around 2. Slept. Got to the school by 7:30 for the trek.
Thursday first we went to Edzná ruins in Campeche. Typical ruins, we learned that in it’s day was equivalent to a huge city state like in Greece back around 600-900 AD. Even though I say typical ruins, every time we see a new site, I’m still in awe of how they built the massive pyramids back then! Of course we all joke that they had help from aliens like the legends say, but the Mayans were just so advanced for their time it’s amazing! It would be cool to see what they really looked liked thousands of years ago.
After that went to into the city of Campeche, in Campeche state, where we stayed that night. We had a really, really good lunch. I had a fish with shrimp inside, it was delicious! This was our last really great meal of the weekend, besides breakfasts. I guess feeding 40 is a lot more difficult than 15, so we had to eat a little less creatively.
The city of Campeche is a lot nicer than Merida! The sidewalks are all really nice, and the buildings look nicer, mostly just because they have underground wiring instead of seeing them crossing between all the buildings. I was really impressed with Campeche. We had the afternoon and evening off, so we walked to the gulf and looked at it, played in a playground, napped. At night it was raining, so we just ate pizza in the hotel. Then we had a cake for Joe’s birthday. After that we walked downtown some, but it was rainy, so we just played cards and talked and chilled in the hotel.
Friday morning we went to a museum in a fort in Campeche. It was kind of cool. Pretty St. Augustine-esque. We then drove three hours, had lunch at this sketchy place, where we also we blessed to eat at today for lunch. Both days I just had rice and beans. I was scared of everything else. After that lunch we drove for three more hours until we got to Palenque which is the state of Chiapas. This whole time we’ve been staying at these authentic Mexican hotels, but for our last time we stayed at Best Western. Ironic. Not exactly the same as American Best Westerns, but still, we were a little disappointed by the anticlimactic last hotel.
We walked to downtown Palenque, which is different than Merida in that it is really hilly, and you can see mountains all over the place! Jurassic Park look style. The people of Palenque were a lot less friendly than the ones in Merida, and I could tell that they looked different. The Mexican boys told me that they had different accents too. You could just tell that we were closer to Guatemala, and plus Chiapas used to be a part of Guatemala.
After roaming the city and a market, we swam in the pool for a little bit before dinner. I really enjoyed Friday night, because some of us sat outside, under a palm umbrella around a table, Clay (and sort of Keilani) strumming the guitar, and just playing cards and talking with Joe and Addison until midnight. That’s my favorite thing to do, just make conversation while someone messes with a guitar, outside. They are some of my favorite people here, because we are kind of more nerdy kind of cool than the others. I mean, everyone hear is nerdy, and every one is cool, but it was just a chill group that I liked being part of. Even though I honestly bounced to all the different groups. The cool girls, the goofy kids, the Mexican boys, all of us blending together… Mexico does not take the best friend whore quality out of me.
Saturday was the for sure the best day of the trip. Basically the only day that wasn’t a traveling day for the most part. We went to Palenque national park, which was the coolest ruins site we have been to I thought. First we went on a hike through the rainforest for a few hours. This area was so different because it was an actual rain forest, with tall trees, and streams and little waterfalls, and vines and everything! We even saw a Howler Monkey sitting in the tops of the trees! As we followed the path, we would see un-furbished, un-touched ruins, surrounded and over-grown by plants and trees. It felt like a book or TV show, hiking in the rainforest around and above undiscovered ruins!
It was really, really hot there. We saw this stream so I splashed my face with the fresh, cool water, and it got my shirt all wet, so I look like I was sweating more than I actually was. So I look like a pig in all the pictures I have from there, but just remember that I splashed water on myself, and it is not ALL sweat.
It was disappointing because we either took too much time hiking or didn’t leave enough time allotted to tour the ruins, so we pretty much ran through them, and they were the most cool, unique ones we had seen! Being built within the hills, and with mountains in the background! I really wish we had had more time to tour what could have been my favorite site.
After that we drove to a river called Misol Há. First we had lunch, I had some delicious shrimp kabobs. Then we walked down to one of the prettiest waterfalls I have ever seen! It was different than water falls I’ve seen in northern USA because of all the tropical plants around, and after the waterfall, it didn’t really flow, just sat in this little lake thing. We all jumped in and swam under the heavy power of the waterfall. It was so beautiful floating in the water, looking up at the waterfall and the sky, having to remind myself that I was really in it, it wasn’t just a postcard picture or something.
God’s creation is so amazingly, beautifully cool! You know how they say some people have their best experiences with God either through people, or song or church, or anything, well, I am for sure a naturalist. I think I have known this, but just being in nature, and seeing awesome landscapes and such just makes me appreciate the realness of God so much more!
Saturday evening we came back to the hotel, napped some, had dinner, and then it was really fun! Mark and Roger had gotten cake and a piñata for Allison and Joe’s birthday! We went outside and some took turns whacking at it. It was just as funny as it was in elementary school, when Roger would yank it up, and the person would hit into thin air. It was a good time. Later we walked downtown to celebrate Allison’s 20, and then we came back and played games and just hung out at the hotel. It was a good time, a good last night together.
Went to bed around 2:30, got up around 7. Lack of sleep was fine today, because it consisted of a 9 hour bus ride. Just stopped at the gross place for lunch and a few bathroom breaks. Today I had a lot of really good conversation, especially with Kiana and Joe. A lot of times in the bus we will just read or listen to iPods, but today I had a few good conversations, and some hilarious rounds of accordion stories.
Got back to an empty house around 6:30. Showered and stuff, and then la Señora came home and I ate and now I’m doing this, with just a tiny bit of Spanish homework to do.
So overall, good last excursion. I wouldn’t say that they saved the best for last, but it was different than the usual for sure. My favorite excursion might have been the Carribean one where we went snorkeling and to Tulum and Cobá. I also really liked caving. And I also really liked the baby turtles last week. This week we saw cool stuff too. IDK.
I keep saying that I’m actually retarded or something, so the world organized my life to be one big Make a Wish Foundation wish for me, without letting me know about it. I’m just so blessed to have been able to do this! I don’t want to leave! If we didn’t so such awesome excursions every week, it probably wouldn’t seem as amazing, but this whole Mexico thing has been the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve learned a lot about southern this area of Mexico, ecologically and culturally, I’ve gotten a lot more fluent in Spanish, I’ve gotten to know a ton of cool and interesting people, I’ve seen tons on Mayan ruins that I never even dreamed of, I’ve seen God in a lot of really cool ways, and I’ve learned about myself.
Looking back a few years ago, I would have never imagined that I would have spent a summer living in Mexico. Ever. It’s the best thing I could have done at this point in my life. Free from a job and other responsibilities. Practice for an entire semester of living abroad. Gaining a whole new perspective, not just of Mexico, but of everything.
We all say that we will have Mexico reunions and we will meet up for lunch together and stuff. But it will be interesting to see how our relationships translate over to the real world. I imagine keeping in touch with a few, but we’ll see what happens when our forced best friendships aren’t forced anymore.
Things to look forward to about being back:
No hot dogs for breakfast, brownies and cookies, air conditioning, knowing what is going on around me, being able to drive, having a phone, being able to exercise, being able to choose what I eat, getting back together with my “
real” friends, seeing the fam, the beach, Gainesville life.
I write way too much, I know. And I know I’m too wordy. oh well.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2921.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2977.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2987.jpg
Sunday 7:50 PM July 26, 2009
This weekend consisted of a LOT of traveling. 3 hours in bus Thursday, 6 hours in bus Friday, 2 hours in bus Saturday, 9 hours in bus Sunday. Pretty intense. But it was worth it, because we got to see a lot of different landscapes that aren’t in the Yucatan. It was a rainforest, and the hills looked more like the sites of Dominican Republic, Jurassic parks scenes as I call them.
The most different part of this weekend was being with a huge group. The best part was being able to interact with different people, which was good especially since I had had enough of someone in ecology and had some time to be away and get cool together again. So I liked mixing with different people, but I didn’t like about it how groups form cliques and I tried to bounce around to all the different ones, but it wasn’t the usual bond of nine of us forced together. More people added to more interactions, and more drama to talk about which is entertaining. Everyone knows everything little thing that happens to every one here. It’s pretty fun.
I’ll go chronologically now, starting with Wednesday night. After class, for Joe’s birthday (well, there are two Joe’s. One I call Hoe and one I call Joe, but I am going to spell them the same so you are just going to have to be confused and guess which one I am talking about) and he wanted to go to El Gato Negro. So we did that which is an experience in itself. After that we went downtown and walked around and sat at a restaurant and went in the park again just chilling. And then some guys Joe knew from is host brother came up to us and invited us to a disco club. We a group of about 6 or so of us went to that. Bonded a lot with Heather, my fellow Lakelander, and got so much entertainment watching Clay dance, especially. Got home around 2. Slept. Got to the school by 7:30 for the trek.
Thursday first we went to Edzná ruins in Campeche. Typical ruins, we learned that in it’s day was equivalent to a huge city state like in Greece back around 600-900 AD. Even though I say typical ruins, every time we see a new site, I’m still in awe of how they built the massive pyramids back then! Of course we all joke that they had help from aliens like the legends say, but the Mayans were just so advanced for their time it’s amazing! It would be cool to see what they really looked liked thousands of years ago.
After that went to into the city of Campeche, in Campeche state, where we stayed that night. We had a really, really good lunch. I had a fish with shrimp inside, it was delicious! This was our last really great meal of the weekend, besides breakfasts. I guess feeding 40 is a lot more difficult than 15, so we had to eat a little less creatively.
The city of Campeche is a lot nicer than Merida! The sidewalks are all really nice, and the buildings look nicer, mostly just because they have underground wiring instead of seeing them crossing between all the buildings. I was really impressed with Campeche. We had the afternoon and evening off, so we walked to the gulf and looked at it, played in a playground, napped. At night it was raining, so we just ate pizza in the hotel. Then we had a cake for Joe’s birthday. After that we walked downtown some, but it was rainy, so we just played cards and talked and chilled in the hotel.
Friday morning we went to a museum in a fort in Campeche. It was kind of cool. Pretty St. Augustine-esque. We then drove three hours, had lunch at this sketchy place, where we also we blessed to eat at today for lunch. Both days I just had rice and beans. I was scared of everything else. After that lunch we drove for three more hours until we got to Palenque which is the state of Chiapas. This whole time we’ve been staying at these authentic Mexican hotels, but for our last time we stayed at Best Western. Ironic. Not exactly the same as American Best Westerns, but still, we were a little disappointed by the anticlimactic last hotel.
We walked to downtown Palenque, which is different than Merida in that it is really hilly, and you can see mountains all over the place! Jurassic Park look style. The people of Palenque were a lot less friendly than the ones in Merida, and I could tell that they looked different. The Mexican boys told me that they had different accents too. You could just tell that we were closer to Guatemala, and plus Chiapas used to be a part of Guatemala.
After roaming the city and a market, we swam in the pool for a little bit before dinner. I really enjoyed Friday night, because some of us sat outside, under a palm umbrella around a table, Clay (and sort of Keilani) strumming the guitar, and just playing cards and talking with Joe and Addison until midnight. That’s my favorite thing to do, just make conversation while someone messes with a guitar, outside. They are some of my favorite people here, because we are kind of more nerdy kind of cool than the others. I mean, everyone hear is nerdy, and every one is cool, but it was just a chill group that I liked being part of. Even though I honestly bounced to all the different groups. The cool girls, the goofy kids, the Mexican boys, all of us blending together… Mexico does not take the best friend whore quality out of me.
Saturday was the for sure the best day of the trip. Basically the only day that wasn’t a traveling day for the most part. We went to Palenque national park, which was the coolest ruins site we have been to I thought. First we went on a hike through the rainforest for a few hours. This area was so different because it was an actual rain forest, with tall trees, and streams and little waterfalls, and vines and everything! We even saw a Howler Monkey sitting in the tops of the trees! As we followed the path, we would see un-furbished, un-touched ruins, surrounded and over-grown by plants and trees. It felt like a book or TV show, hiking in the rainforest around and above undiscovered ruins!
It was really, really hot there. We saw this stream so I splashed my face with the fresh, cool water, and it got my shirt all wet, so I look like I was sweating more than I actually was. So I look like a pig in all the pictures I have from there, but just remember that I splashed water on myself, and it is not ALL sweat.
It was disappointing because we either took too much time hiking or didn’t leave enough time allotted to tour the ruins, so we pretty much ran through them, and they were the most cool, unique ones we had seen! Being built within the hills, and with mountains in the background! I really wish we had had more time to tour what could have been my favorite site.
After that we drove to a river called Misol Há. First we had lunch, I had some delicious shrimp kabobs. Then we walked down to one of the prettiest waterfalls I have ever seen! It was different than water falls I’ve seen in northern USA because of all the tropical plants around, and after the waterfall, it didn’t really flow, just sat in this little lake thing. We all jumped in and swam under the heavy power of the waterfall. It was so beautiful floating in the water, looking up at the waterfall and the sky, having to remind myself that I was really in it, it wasn’t just a postcard picture or something.
God’s creation is so amazingly, beautifully cool! You know how they say some people have their best experiences with God either through people, or song or church, or anything, well, I am for sure a naturalist. I think I have known this, but just being in nature, and seeing awesome landscapes and such just makes me appreciate the realness of God so much more!
Saturday evening we came back to the hotel, napped some, had dinner, and then it was really fun! Mark and Roger had gotten cake and a piñata for Allison and Joe’s birthday! We went outside and some took turns whacking at it. It was just as funny as it was in elementary school, when Roger would yank it up, and the person would hit into thin air. It was a good time. Later we walked downtown to celebrate Allison’s 20, and then we came back and played games and just hung out at the hotel. It was a good time, a good last night together.
Went to bed around 2:30, got up around 7. Lack of sleep was fine today, because it consisted of a 9 hour bus ride. Just stopped at the gross place for lunch and a few bathroom breaks. Today I had a lot of really good conversation, especially with Kiana and Joe. A lot of times in the bus we will just read or listen to iPods, but today I had a few good conversations, and some hilarious rounds of accordion stories.
Got back to an empty house around 6:30. Showered and stuff, and then la Señora came home and I ate and now I’m doing this, with just a tiny bit of Spanish homework to do.
So overall, good last excursion. I wouldn’t say that they saved the best for last, but it was different than the usual for sure. My favorite excursion might have been the Carribean one where we went snorkeling and to Tulum and Cobá. I also really liked caving. And I also really liked the baby turtles last week. This week we saw cool stuff too. IDK.
I keep saying that I’m actually retarded or something, so the world organized my life to be one big Make a Wish Foundation wish for me, without letting me know about it. I’m just so blessed to have been able to do this! I don’t want to leave! If we didn’t so such awesome excursions every week, it probably wouldn’t seem as amazing, but this whole Mexico thing has been the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve learned a lot about southern this area of Mexico, ecologically and culturally, I’ve gotten a lot more fluent in Spanish, I’ve gotten to know a ton of cool and interesting people, I’ve seen tons on Mayan ruins that I never even dreamed of, I’ve seen God in a lot of really cool ways, and I’ve learned about myself.
Looking back a few years ago, I would have never imagined that I would have spent a summer living in Mexico. Ever. It’s the best thing I could have done at this point in my life. Free from a job and other responsibilities. Practice for an entire semester of living abroad. Gaining a whole new perspective, not just of Mexico, but of everything.
We all say that we will have Mexico reunions and we will meet up for lunch together and stuff. But it will be interesting to see how our relationships translate over to the real world. I imagine keeping in touch with a few, but we’ll see what happens when our forced best friendships aren’t forced anymore.
Things to look forward to about being back:
No hot dogs for breakfast, brownies and cookies, air conditioning, knowing what is going on around me, being able to drive, having a phone, being able to exercise, being able to choose what I eat, getting back together with my “
real” friends, seeing the fam, the beach, Gainesville life.
I write way too much, I know. And I know I’m too wordy. oh well.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2921.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2977.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2987.jpg
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY ROSALYN!
Lunes 13 de Julio, 2009 9:58 PM
I don’t think that I have discussed the topic of the stature of the people here. They are all midgets. It would be pointless for them to watch Little People Big World, because they are all little people in a little world. And it’s not even how they are now, when we walk through the Mayan ruins, all of the entryways and tunnels are made for someone who is probably 4’ 10”. Even I, at 5’5” feel like I look down to everyone, including the men. The guys here who are over six feet must feel like freaks of nature.
That was just something I wanted to point out from dwarf land.
Nothing exciting about today. Spanish class. Home. Lunch. Nap. Eco class. Shop. Home. Now I have homework and sleeping. Such a strenuous life.
I’ve been thinking already about studying abroad again! I know, live in the moment, but I’ve just been thinking about it! I think Argentina would be sweet, but I don’t really want to live in a city like Buenos Aires. It’s way too intimidating. Another girl here was talking about how she’s thinking of going to Panama in the spring with FSU. I’ve looked at all the programs. I think I just need to talk with the advisor about experiences he has heard about with the different groups. I kind of picture myself going to Costa Rica, but it feels kind of cliché. I like the ideas of Chile and Argentina, but Costa Rica or Panama seem more conventional. And then there are the others like Peru and Ecuador and stuff. Any suggestions? To go in January, I have to be thinking now so I can apply in the fall!
I’m so beyond grateful to be able to study abroad. Not only once, but hopefully twice! This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I recommend studying abroad to everyone, it’s the best thing to do, ever. Just do it. Nike.
Thanks for the props on the pictures. There will be hundreds to come whenever I have better internet, and time, which may very well be when I’m back in Florida.
Martes 14 de Julio, 2009 4:50 PM
This morning before school, the maid told me that some guy who used to live with them was going to come over for lunch. I thought, “oh, cool! I’ll get to talk to some other kid in my house, sweet.” Well, he and his fiancé were weird and old and boring. He was learning Mayan and taught 7th grade Spanish, so I was scared to speak in front of him because I thought he was correcting in his head every word I say. It’s strange how I get so self conscious speaking Spanish in front of English speakers, but with the people who don’t know English, I just talk away.
I got up from a 1.5 hour nap. So sweet. I’ll probably study some for Spanish and hopefully someone will call me to do something tonight.
Tomorrow is ROSALYN’s birthday! I’m very excited about that even though she is in Bartow and I am here. So, if you even read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSALYN!
This weekend we will be going to Rio Lagartos. I don’t really know what that entails. It’s just three days. It’s our last trip, just as ecology, because the next week everyone is going together to the south. That will be an 8 hour drive. We were talking about movies we need to rent for the drive like Little Princess and stuff. It was so funny having a whole long conversation about that movie a few days back. I’m so scared that I can see the end in 2 weeks and 1 day! But no countdowns. Just think about each day and when it comes it will come.
One thing to look forward to when I get back is getting a new cell phone! It will be weird to be home for a whole week without Kyle around. And then we will go to the beach for a few days, and then back to school. Real school. The kind where I’m stressed and studying all the time. Blahhhh. But then again, it’s the real school where I’m with best friends, and always around people, and it’s fun!
Today I sent out some post cards… I think. So we will see if they get somewhere, or if they forever sit in that box, because I have yet to see a mail carrier, and the box was dusty, and under a stairwell, but we will see. Cross your fingers.
10:41 PM
Two cultural discoveries I have made, but forgot to write about. The favorite subject of my father and dear brother. Toilets. Here, 80% of the time you go to use the bathroom, there are no seats on the toilets. This used to freak me out. I would panic and wouldn’t know what to do and would just wait until I got somewhere else, but now, I forget that that used to be an issue.
Second interesting thing about the toilet what I thought would bother me. No flushing of toilet paper. I though that this would freak me out, like putting used paper in the trashcan to sit for days until it gets changed, and at the beginning, I would accidentally, instinctively drop it down the toilet, but now, like when we are places like hotels where it’s OK to flush, we panic, not knowing how to handle the situation.
This week I have been having more positive feelings about my Spanish capabilities. Besides getting all intimidated by that Spanish-teacher-boring-guy who had lunch here today, I feel like I talk a lot at the house, and the Señora told me that she can tell I’m becoming for fluent. I feel like when I’m conversing, I don’t have to think of an answer in English and translate it, it just comes to me in Spanish! Another weird and sometimes annoying thing, is that when I am listening to my ipod, my mind translates the song into Spanish words while I’m listening to it. It’s crazy.
Thank you to all who have been complementing my writing. Thank you to those who actually read these, even though they are forever long. Even if you were lying, and just told me that it was entertaining because you thought I spent a lot of time on it, or really don’t read them but still tell me you liked them, thank you for the thought. That is what counts. I am also sorry that it takes years to read each novel long entry. They probably just seem good because I have extremely fun things to write about!
I have no intentions of publishing my writing, although isn’t putting it on the internet already making it public access? But I have a dozen or so journals or diaries and letters, over the past four years, which are less public, but I would like to make it known now, that when I die, or maybe I’ll decide just when I’m a little older, I would like them to be able to be read by friends and family or whoever is interested. It’s not that they are full of super secret spy stuff, it’s just that it feels like a lot of it is still happening, so it’d be weird to have current events be read like an autobiography of the past. To be honest, at the font of the journals I have written who was dominant during that time in my life in each notebook, so that that person can get around to reading it someday if they so desire. Put that in my will.
I’m not going to keep blogging when I get back home, that’s just too emo/livejournal. But when I hopefully study/live abroad again, I promise I’ll keep a tab for those who what to hear.
Miercoles 15 de Julio, 2009
Another blasted hot dog for breakfast. I'm outie to the west coast I think. Back on Saturday evening.
I don’t think that I have discussed the topic of the stature of the people here. They are all midgets. It would be pointless for them to watch Little People Big World, because they are all little people in a little world. And it’s not even how they are now, when we walk through the Mayan ruins, all of the entryways and tunnels are made for someone who is probably 4’ 10”. Even I, at 5’5” feel like I look down to everyone, including the men. The guys here who are over six feet must feel like freaks of nature.
That was just something I wanted to point out from dwarf land.
Nothing exciting about today. Spanish class. Home. Lunch. Nap. Eco class. Shop. Home. Now I have homework and sleeping. Such a strenuous life.
I’ve been thinking already about studying abroad again! I know, live in the moment, but I’ve just been thinking about it! I think Argentina would be sweet, but I don’t really want to live in a city like Buenos Aires. It’s way too intimidating. Another girl here was talking about how she’s thinking of going to Panama in the spring with FSU. I’ve looked at all the programs. I think I just need to talk with the advisor about experiences he has heard about with the different groups. I kind of picture myself going to Costa Rica, but it feels kind of cliché. I like the ideas of Chile and Argentina, but Costa Rica or Panama seem more conventional. And then there are the others like Peru and Ecuador and stuff. Any suggestions? To go in January, I have to be thinking now so I can apply in the fall!
I’m so beyond grateful to be able to study abroad. Not only once, but hopefully twice! This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I recommend studying abroad to everyone, it’s the best thing to do, ever. Just do it. Nike.
Thanks for the props on the pictures. There will be hundreds to come whenever I have better internet, and time, which may very well be when I’m back in Florida.
Martes 14 de Julio, 2009 4:50 PM
This morning before school, the maid told me that some guy who used to live with them was going to come over for lunch. I thought, “oh, cool! I’ll get to talk to some other kid in my house, sweet.” Well, he and his fiancé were weird and old and boring. He was learning Mayan and taught 7th grade Spanish, so I was scared to speak in front of him because I thought he was correcting in his head every word I say. It’s strange how I get so self conscious speaking Spanish in front of English speakers, but with the people who don’t know English, I just talk away.
I got up from a 1.5 hour nap. So sweet. I’ll probably study some for Spanish and hopefully someone will call me to do something tonight.
Tomorrow is ROSALYN’s birthday! I’m very excited about that even though she is in Bartow and I am here. So, if you even read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSALYN!
This weekend we will be going to Rio Lagartos. I don’t really know what that entails. It’s just three days. It’s our last trip, just as ecology, because the next week everyone is going together to the south. That will be an 8 hour drive. We were talking about movies we need to rent for the drive like Little Princess and stuff. It was so funny having a whole long conversation about that movie a few days back. I’m so scared that I can see the end in 2 weeks and 1 day! But no countdowns. Just think about each day and when it comes it will come.
One thing to look forward to when I get back is getting a new cell phone! It will be weird to be home for a whole week without Kyle around. And then we will go to the beach for a few days, and then back to school. Real school. The kind where I’m stressed and studying all the time. Blahhhh. But then again, it’s the real school where I’m with best friends, and always around people, and it’s fun!
Today I sent out some post cards… I think. So we will see if they get somewhere, or if they forever sit in that box, because I have yet to see a mail carrier, and the box was dusty, and under a stairwell, but we will see. Cross your fingers.
10:41 PM
Two cultural discoveries I have made, but forgot to write about. The favorite subject of my father and dear brother. Toilets. Here, 80% of the time you go to use the bathroom, there are no seats on the toilets. This used to freak me out. I would panic and wouldn’t know what to do and would just wait until I got somewhere else, but now, I forget that that used to be an issue.
Second interesting thing about the toilet what I thought would bother me. No flushing of toilet paper. I though that this would freak me out, like putting used paper in the trashcan to sit for days until it gets changed, and at the beginning, I would accidentally, instinctively drop it down the toilet, but now, like when we are places like hotels where it’s OK to flush, we panic, not knowing how to handle the situation.
This week I have been having more positive feelings about my Spanish capabilities. Besides getting all intimidated by that Spanish-teacher-boring-guy who had lunch here today, I feel like I talk a lot at the house, and the Señora told me that she can tell I’m becoming for fluent. I feel like when I’m conversing, I don’t have to think of an answer in English and translate it, it just comes to me in Spanish! Another weird and sometimes annoying thing, is that when I am listening to my ipod, my mind translates the song into Spanish words while I’m listening to it. It’s crazy.
Thank you to all who have been complementing my writing. Thank you to those who actually read these, even though they are forever long. Even if you were lying, and just told me that it was entertaining because you thought I spent a lot of time on it, or really don’t read them but still tell me you liked them, thank you for the thought. That is what counts. I am also sorry that it takes years to read each novel long entry. They probably just seem good because I have extremely fun things to write about!
I have no intentions of publishing my writing, although isn’t putting it on the internet already making it public access? But I have a dozen or so journals or diaries and letters, over the past four years, which are less public, but I would like to make it known now, that when I die, or maybe I’ll decide just when I’m a little older, I would like them to be able to be read by friends and family or whoever is interested. It’s not that they are full of super secret spy stuff, it’s just that it feels like a lot of it is still happening, so it’d be weird to have current events be read like an autobiography of the past. To be honest, at the font of the journals I have written who was dominant during that time in my life in each notebook, so that that person can get around to reading it someday if they so desire. Put that in my will.
I’m not going to keep blogging when I get back home, that’s just too emo/livejournal. But when I hopefully study/live abroad again, I promise I’ll keep a tab for those who what to hear.
Miercoles 15 de Julio, 2009
Another blasted hot dog for breakfast. I'm outie to the west coast I think. Back on Saturday evening.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
This is the coolest thing I've ever done!
Two thoughts frequently go through my head periodically when I catch myself spelunking in Yucatan caves, speaking Spanish to get around, and climbing ancient ruins:
1. This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!
2. This is the real Mexico!
The cool factor, I don’t even have to go into detail with, just telling stories and showing pictures already makes the entire thing a coolest thing ever!
The second one, I can explain just by saying that I’m getting the whole package. I mean, it’s cool to learn about the Yucatan and the Mayans in school, and I always learn about the places I go to when traveling, and I thought I was immersed in new culture during missions trips, but actually living the life of the locals and seeing every aspect of it all shows me the big picture of everything. Like, I see tourist spots on vacations and I see slums on missions trips, but here, I see it all! Mark takes us to all of these ruins and places that are famous, but most of the places we go to have NO ONE there, like they are some secret treasure! And then walking through cities, and villages… I’m just getting the whole picture of the real Mexico, not just the cool tourist attractions or the impoverished needy areas. It’s so cool!
OK. So now let me get on to the daily breakdown.
Thursday we met early in the morning, we went south to a village called Maxcanu to see kitchen gardens. In the DR, we saw things similar to these, but here we for sure got a very in depth lesson of what each medicinal plant does and how the honey bees are kept. How we got to these home gardens was a story in itself: Our bus couldn’t make it through the neighborhoods to get to the house, so we got off downtown and then got on these motorcycles or bikes with seats on the front and a Mexican guy would deliver you to the location, like a bike taxi. So everyone got on one and I was with Laura and we started going and then realized that everyone took off on their motorcycle taxis and we had a 12 year old kid, panting on a bike. We felt so bad, like we looked like these diva gringas making this poor kid pedal us up hills, eventually we got out and walked. Later, we found out that the kid didn’t know where to go so we went around in a circle and then he saw another guy with a motorcycle taxi and we finally made it to this house. It was quite the adventure.
After that we went to a very gross bathroom and I just remember me and Laura and Allison laughing and something about floaters… haha. Anyways.
Next we went to this town called Cochholoch and we got out of the bus and went down into this little cave where these little ladies were making straw hats! The were like the habana jack or whatever it’s called kind and we could get them for just 50 pesos! It was awesome! The craziest part was for sure going into the little cave to find the little ladies making the hats.
After that, it was so random! A bunch of kids who were in the village were bored, so they got on our bus and came with us to these ruins that we went to called Oxkintok. It was kind of cramped having an exra dozen people on the bus, but it just added to the experience. We picnicked at the ruins and it was so crazy that yet again we were the only ones there! There are so many times that the bus is going down some long dirt road and we are just like, whatever Mark, we’ll see where we end up!
After that was the coolest thing we’ve done on the entire trip so far! We went to Calcehtok cave. We had to climb a latter to get in and we were full out spelunking with head lights and flashlights and all! We got so dirty, covered in bat poop. At one point we were admiring the vampire bats flying around and studdenly Mark says, “wait, those are vampire bats! We have to get out of here.” And started going really fast. That was an adventure. When we got out of the cave it was raining and it was cool to see the water falling in from the top. So we waited for a while for the bats to suddenly fly off, but they never really did, so we climbed out and they all swarmed out at us from the top. It was awesome!
By this time it was around 9 at night, so we went to the place where we were going to eat and stay which is another adventure in itself. We got there, and as usual, we were the ONLY ones around. The place didn’t have soap in the bathrooms and there was an empty swimming pool, and a random toilet seat on the ground. So we had dinner and went to our huts. While we were eating, we noticed that they had turned a hose on in the pool, so we felt like we had to swim or else it would be rude, so we all got into this random swimming pool, with only two feet of water in it at the time. It felt so good though after sweating all day!
The huts were… an experience. The anthropology kids stay in nice hotels every night, but Mark lets us ecology kids rough it. The hut had two beds, but there were three of us, so they put in a hammock. I started in the hammock, but it wasn’t as nice as my one at home so I ended up in Laura’s bed with her. We laughed a lot that night about flesh eating moths, other bugs that would land on us while we laid in bed, the sketchy windows and doors of the place. And there was not soap and no towels. We played cards and bonded. But the building it self was really cool! Cement walls and floors and palm roofs!
Friday we established as our “nice day.” We all harass each other a lot, like we’ve been friends since we were born, and come Thursday night, we decided that we needed a nice day, so we didn’t kill each other. It was just really funny to me when someone would make a comment and the other person one turn to them seriously and say, “hey, it’s nice day.” We will probably have to establish a lot of those.
One good thing that came out of this weekend, besides everything, was that we really bonded with the three Mexican boys in our class. We never really knew how much English they spoke and they didn’t know each other, but this weekend they we all talked and they are cool and part of us for sure now. Our traveling troupe is three girls, 6 guys, 2 teachers and a driver. Lots of fun. We got assigned our project groups. Each has one girl, and American guy and a Mexican guy.
Friday we went to a lot of ruins. The more touristy one we went to was called Uxmal. I like to pronounce it Ox-mall even though it is like ush-mul or something ridiculous. We went to a lot of sites that day. All Mayan ruins, all really cool, all hot, all fun.
That afternoon we go to the hotel where the anthro kids were staying as well. They were working hard on presentations. They seem to have a lot of busy work, while we explore things and experience things, like actually staying in those intense huts. I like a lot of the anthro kids though so it was fun to have more interaction besides ourselves.
Another adventure happened there, in the city of Ticul. We had a couple hours before dinner so we just walked around the town, just us eco kids. And so we found out that the only cool thing in the entire city is this tall hill you can climb up and see the whole city. So we followed a million directions to get to this place. The other two girls had to turn around before we got to far for something, so later is was just me and the 6 guys. We walked through really different kinds of areas, like the city with shops, to urban homes that reminded me of the “mountain” of the DR. We saw the hill and on the top of it was a restaurant. We went to the top right as a storm was coming in and it was so cool to see the clouds some and surround the city. Soon it started storming! And palms were falling from the roof and stuff, but later we got a taxi back to the place and had dinner at a pizza place.
That night we just hung out with some anthros and got to know the Mexican kids in our class a lot more. At the hotel these Mayan historians played us real Mayan music. That was interesting, with instruments like turtle shells and wood and stuff!
Today we got up early as usual and had breakfast at the hotel. We went to this private reserve called Kaxil Kiuic. I really liked this place, because usually we just kind of roam around the ruins, but the guy in charge of the place spoke English and described all the buildings to us. It was really interesting. Later we climbed up to this hill with a really high tower on top. It was scary and fun to climb to the top! We had lunch there, kind of picnicking and then we drove and would stop in random towns along the way. In one of the towns, we saw the cathedral where the guy burnt all the papers of the Mayan religion once a long time ago. That was kind of interesting, but when I write about it, it sounds like I know nothing of what I’m talking about.
Much of the day was spent in the car, and when we got home we had no energy to celebrate to celebrate the 4th.
Awesome excursion! Really tired though! Happy independence day USA! Tomorrow is the Mexican election! Here's three links:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2579-1.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2624.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2646.jpg
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!
1. This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!
2. This is the real Mexico!
The cool factor, I don’t even have to go into detail with, just telling stories and showing pictures already makes the entire thing a coolest thing ever!
The second one, I can explain just by saying that I’m getting the whole package. I mean, it’s cool to learn about the Yucatan and the Mayans in school, and I always learn about the places I go to when traveling, and I thought I was immersed in new culture during missions trips, but actually living the life of the locals and seeing every aspect of it all shows me the big picture of everything. Like, I see tourist spots on vacations and I see slums on missions trips, but here, I see it all! Mark takes us to all of these ruins and places that are famous, but most of the places we go to have NO ONE there, like they are some secret treasure! And then walking through cities, and villages… I’m just getting the whole picture of the real Mexico, not just the cool tourist attractions or the impoverished needy areas. It’s so cool!
OK. So now let me get on to the daily breakdown.
Thursday we met early in the morning, we went south to a village called Maxcanu to see kitchen gardens. In the DR, we saw things similar to these, but here we for sure got a very in depth lesson of what each medicinal plant does and how the honey bees are kept. How we got to these home gardens was a story in itself: Our bus couldn’t make it through the neighborhoods to get to the house, so we got off downtown and then got on these motorcycles or bikes with seats on the front and a Mexican guy would deliver you to the location, like a bike taxi. So everyone got on one and I was with Laura and we started going and then realized that everyone took off on their motorcycle taxis and we had a 12 year old kid, panting on a bike. We felt so bad, like we looked like these diva gringas making this poor kid pedal us up hills, eventually we got out and walked. Later, we found out that the kid didn’t know where to go so we went around in a circle and then he saw another guy with a motorcycle taxi and we finally made it to this house. It was quite the adventure.
After that we went to a very gross bathroom and I just remember me and Laura and Allison laughing and something about floaters… haha. Anyways.
Next we went to this town called Cochholoch and we got out of the bus and went down into this little cave where these little ladies were making straw hats! The were like the habana jack or whatever it’s called kind and we could get them for just 50 pesos! It was awesome! The craziest part was for sure going into the little cave to find the little ladies making the hats.
After that, it was so random! A bunch of kids who were in the village were bored, so they got on our bus and came with us to these ruins that we went to called Oxkintok. It was kind of cramped having an exra dozen people on the bus, but it just added to the experience. We picnicked at the ruins and it was so crazy that yet again we were the only ones there! There are so many times that the bus is going down some long dirt road and we are just like, whatever Mark, we’ll see where we end up!
After that was the coolest thing we’ve done on the entire trip so far! We went to Calcehtok cave. We had to climb a latter to get in and we were full out spelunking with head lights and flashlights and all! We got so dirty, covered in bat poop. At one point we were admiring the vampire bats flying around and studdenly Mark says, “wait, those are vampire bats! We have to get out of here.” And started going really fast. That was an adventure. When we got out of the cave it was raining and it was cool to see the water falling in from the top. So we waited for a while for the bats to suddenly fly off, but they never really did, so we climbed out and they all swarmed out at us from the top. It was awesome!
By this time it was around 9 at night, so we went to the place where we were going to eat and stay which is another adventure in itself. We got there, and as usual, we were the ONLY ones around. The place didn’t have soap in the bathrooms and there was an empty swimming pool, and a random toilet seat on the ground. So we had dinner and went to our huts. While we were eating, we noticed that they had turned a hose on in the pool, so we felt like we had to swim or else it would be rude, so we all got into this random swimming pool, with only two feet of water in it at the time. It felt so good though after sweating all day!
The huts were… an experience. The anthropology kids stay in nice hotels every night, but Mark lets us ecology kids rough it. The hut had two beds, but there were three of us, so they put in a hammock. I started in the hammock, but it wasn’t as nice as my one at home so I ended up in Laura’s bed with her. We laughed a lot that night about flesh eating moths, other bugs that would land on us while we laid in bed, the sketchy windows and doors of the place. And there was not soap and no towels. We played cards and bonded. But the building it self was really cool! Cement walls and floors and palm roofs!
Friday we established as our “nice day.” We all harass each other a lot, like we’ve been friends since we were born, and come Thursday night, we decided that we needed a nice day, so we didn’t kill each other. It was just really funny to me when someone would make a comment and the other person one turn to them seriously and say, “hey, it’s nice day.” We will probably have to establish a lot of those.
One good thing that came out of this weekend, besides everything, was that we really bonded with the three Mexican boys in our class. We never really knew how much English they spoke and they didn’t know each other, but this weekend they we all talked and they are cool and part of us for sure now. Our traveling troupe is three girls, 6 guys, 2 teachers and a driver. Lots of fun. We got assigned our project groups. Each has one girl, and American guy and a Mexican guy.
Friday we went to a lot of ruins. The more touristy one we went to was called Uxmal. I like to pronounce it Ox-mall even though it is like ush-mul or something ridiculous. We went to a lot of sites that day. All Mayan ruins, all really cool, all hot, all fun.
That afternoon we go to the hotel where the anthro kids were staying as well. They were working hard on presentations. They seem to have a lot of busy work, while we explore things and experience things, like actually staying in those intense huts. I like a lot of the anthro kids though so it was fun to have more interaction besides ourselves.
Another adventure happened there, in the city of Ticul. We had a couple hours before dinner so we just walked around the town, just us eco kids. And so we found out that the only cool thing in the entire city is this tall hill you can climb up and see the whole city. So we followed a million directions to get to this place. The other two girls had to turn around before we got to far for something, so later is was just me and the 6 guys. We walked through really different kinds of areas, like the city with shops, to urban homes that reminded me of the “mountain” of the DR. We saw the hill and on the top of it was a restaurant. We went to the top right as a storm was coming in and it was so cool to see the clouds some and surround the city. Soon it started storming! And palms were falling from the roof and stuff, but later we got a taxi back to the place and had dinner at a pizza place.
That night we just hung out with some anthros and got to know the Mexican kids in our class a lot more. At the hotel these Mayan historians played us real Mayan music. That was interesting, with instruments like turtle shells and wood and stuff!
Today we got up early as usual and had breakfast at the hotel. We went to this private reserve called Kaxil Kiuic. I really liked this place, because usually we just kind of roam around the ruins, but the guy in charge of the place spoke English and described all the buildings to us. It was really interesting. Later we climbed up to this hill with a really high tower on top. It was scary and fun to climb to the top! We had lunch there, kind of picnicking and then we drove and would stop in random towns along the way. In one of the towns, we saw the cathedral where the guy burnt all the papers of the Mayan religion once a long time ago. That was kind of interesting, but when I write about it, it sounds like I know nothing of what I’m talking about.
Much of the day was spent in the car, and when we got home we had no energy to celebrate to celebrate the 4th.
Awesome excursion! Really tired though! Happy independence day USA! Tomorrow is the Mexican election! Here's three links:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2579-1.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2624.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c261/jcsmartblonde/IMG_2646.jpg
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!
Friday, June 26, 2009
The First Travel Day
Right now I’m laying the hammock that my mom gave me and hung up in my room today. I hope she lets me keep it! Last night it took a while to fall asleep again because I was hot, so hopefully this hammock will be AWESOME!
You know it’s bad when you think in Spanish. I find myself translating my thoughts from Spanish to English even when talking to the other Americans. It’s so strange! I feel like I learn more words all the time.
So, today, well, before we even got started, I over slept. Story of my life. We had to leave the house at 7:00 to catch the bus to get to the school at 7:30. My mom and the little woman came in at 6:53 when I awoke to “Julie! Julie! Su viaje hoy!” But of course, here, my name sounds like you-lee. I jumped out of bed, popped in my contacts, grabbed my stuff and ran down the stairs! Stuffed some toast and watermelon down my throat and we went out to the bus stop. Another guy’s parents saw us so gave us a ride to the place. And at the end of the day, it was such a relief that the same kid’s parents gave me a ride home!
So, our excursion for the day: We did so much, it’s hard to remember! Our group consists of 6 UF students (3 guys, 3 girls), one UF professor, one Yucatan professor, two guy Mexican students, and our driver. Everyone is laid back and cool. No wet blankets at all.
We started in this place that we got out of the bus and walked down this dirt road. We saw these really dirty sink holes, and a pig farm (Swine flu anyone?) haha. Here the sink holes are called cenotes. After that we stopped at this place where we saw this guy making things out of wood. The kind of tree was weird though, like, the inside was dark brown but suddenly it turned light brown. After that we went to a place where they were making stuff out of limestone. We saw a dead puppy next to where we parked.
Then we went to this place called Dzibilchaltún. At first it was a museum we walked through. After walking through the museum, we saw some pyramids of the Mayans. We walked around them and climbed them. It was cool because there were no other toursists around at the time at all! Then we walked on to another cenote. It was so hot, so we all jumped in, even though it looked dirty on the top. In the water, there were all these little fish, who we were told are related to paranas were biting at us! Even though it was hot, we didn’t stay in the water for too long because of the little fish.
After that was the best part! We went to Progreso, which is the closest beach town. It was the same Gulf of Mexico, but there were bigger waves. We ate at a restaurant on the beach and the food was so good! I had shrimp and rice, plus we had a ton of appetizers. My new favorite drink is, well, I forget what it’s called, but it’s white and it is basically rice juice and water. I love it! The sweet tea was different, it wasn’t sugary sweet, but limey sweet. It was really good. In the restaurant, venders kept stopping in to try to sell us stuff which was so different than in the US. We had fun sitting in the restaurant and talking and eating.
After that we went to a place with a high over look where flamingos usually are. We climbed to the top of the tower and could see so far! After that we kind of pulled into the driveway of an abandoned house on the beach and jumped into the water. It felt so good! Then we sat on the back porch or the house in the swing and just talked and stuff.
After that, we just came back! We were talking about going out on the town tonight. But I don’t know, since we have to meet again at 7 tomorrow and it’s hard to contact people to meet up. We talked about meeting up tonight on the bus on the way back, but it was raining then so we decided not to, but it’s beautiful now, so I don’t know. We’ll see.
Tomorrow we got on another trip. This time we go to the west instead of to the north. We see what it has to offer. And we’ll see how a sleep in the hammock tonight! ☺
Here are some pictures, one of my house, one of my room. My mom and the little lady didn’t want a picture taken today, but tomorrow they will be dressed for the occasion. Haha. Also is a picture at Dzibilchaltún. Click on the pictures to see the entire thing. They don't load quite right on here.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
I Can't Believe I'm Here!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 11:05 PM
I can’t believe I’m here. That is exactly what I said a few minutes ago when I was left in my bedroom to unpack and go to bed.
OK. I’ll start from the beginning. Mom and Dad and Kyle dropped me off the airport with all of Kyle’s college stuff. I have been thinking about Kyle and even am right now as he’s probably getting ready for bed in his first night in his dorm. Haha. Unless he’s going out on the town! Haha. IDK.
Anyways, when I got to the gate, I recognized a kid, Joe, from the other meetings, so I sat next to him and that was good. At least I knew that I was at the right place. So we sat for a couple hours and then we saw other people start to show up, including one of the professors, Allan Burns.
So then there was the plane ride to Houston! When we got there, we met up with pretty much everyone else. I feel like I’ve gotten to everyone besides the “Lombards.” The Lombards is this group of new freshman who are very important apparently and got some scholarship and they all know each other and they keep to themselves while the rest of us normal UF kids have to meet people for ourselves. But the people I’ve met seem cool! And the professors too.
Then was the flight to Merida. I got a jump start on my Spanish language talking to the lady next to me. Just a little warm up for the real thing.
By the time we got to the airport, everyone was pretty anxious about meeting their families and being in someone’s Mexican house alone, in a place we’ve never been, alone, in a language we don’t speak all too well. Even though we had only spent a couple hours together, we didn’t want to leave each other just for the fear of being alone with someone, not with another student who related with everything.
So we went through customs and there was my Mom, holding a sign with my name! She gave me a huge hug and welcomed me! She was with her daughter-in-law and we took her daughter in law’s van to the house. As we drove tthough the city they were talking and I was half trying to catch a few words and half staring out the windows. Kyle- It does not look like Redemption or that other place. It actually looks kind of like Lakeland, except for not. But driving through the street looked similar to South Florida near Southgate or downtown, but different. I attempted to carriy conversation with the two women. We discussed a few things, the weather, Lakeland, Merida, High School Musical. Haha. The daughter-in-law’s six year old daughter loves high school musical so maybe she can be my friend. Haha. So we got out of the minivan (nicer than ours, with automatic doors and everything) and were at the house. It’s two story with a gate in front. I guess similar to the nicer houses in the DR- the place we go the first night (you know). There was another woman there. I do not know how she is related to my mom, but she lives here, and she is nice.
So they brought me up to my room, and I gave them their gift. Mom and Dad- they thought the Mickey thing was cute. Kyle- my Mom said you were “guapo” in the picture, and mom- she said you looked really young. And they brought me to my room. Tile floors, double bed, TV, windows. I can see the hooks where a hammock would go! ☺ Oh, and another highlight…. NO air conditioning!! I saw in the car the it was between 27 and 30 degrees celcius on the way here so you can translate that to F. Yeah, no AC. Sweaty. I took a shower. Unpacked all my stuff in the drawers, set up a few pictures of some of my lovely favorites by my mirror. I need to sleep now. I’m getting up at 7.
Kyle would love the lovely fan to attempt to keep me cool. I’ve heard word that there is a possibility of swimming with whale sharks, for real. I may not survive that. Haha. But I’ll try. Alrighty. Good Night! I can’t believe I’m here.
Thursday June 25, 2009 2:53 PM
I feel like so much has happened since I got here! Definitely thrown into constant Spanish, at least at home. I will for sure get a ton of practice and they say you come back a lot more fluent. I can feel like I already improved!
I’ll start with last night. Sleep was a little rough. It was one of those nights where you lay there, sweating, look at the clock and 5 minutes pass, look at the clock 30 minutes pass, look at the clock an hour passes. I just kept telling myself that it was like camping, but at least I have a bed!
I got up at 7:30. I found out that the other lady that lives here works for my “mother.” I’ll just call my mother the Señora because that is what I call her. The Señora is tall, with really thick makeup. Reminicent to that of Mrs. Fite of Lakeland, if that helps you get a mental picture. Mrs. Fite, but Mexican. The maid is what you could imagine as this typical, short and sweet lady. Kind of reminds me of Lisa Gilbert, but Mexican, and even shorter. The second lady doesn’t say too, too much, but she and the Señora seem to have a good relationship. I really don’t think they speak a lick of English. Someone told me that all the host families know English, but aren’t allowed to use it unless there is an emergency or something, then these ladies must be really good actors! I really don’t think they know any English at all.
So, I walk down the stairs and at the table is toast, and my favorite food in the whole wide world, watermelon! They taught me what it is called in Spanish- Sitria or something, I cannot even remember. After that la Señora helped me take the bus to the school. I was trying to pay attention as much as I could, and wrote down every street, because I’m so scared that I’ll get lost!
We made it to the school, and met up with everyone else. It was great to see the other students. Even though we all just met yesterday, I think that we feel really comfortable around each other since it’s all we have besides the host families and teachers and all. Don’t get me wrong, the teachers from UF and the teachers here are all really nice, and I feel like they genuinely want to help us, but it’s great to talk to the people our age.
So, at the University we all got our pictures taken for our school ID, which is so cool! Besides the fact that my names is spelled Julie Champean. But still, being able to whip it out and show off will be cool and Kyle will hate me for it.
Then I traded some dollars for some pesos and we all got into these vans to go to the other campus to take our Spanish exam and have the orientation. There were already too many of us squeezed into this bus, and we got about half way there and the clutch of the van broke. We all just sat in the van for a while, not knowing what to do since it was just us and the driver, who didn’t speak English. Eventually, we got out of the van, and squeezed into another one and got to the other campus.
The Spanish exam wasn’t too bad. At the orientation, we got a lot of papers and a schedule of everything we will do and hats and stuff. Plus they taught us all about washing our hands every five seconds to prevent swine flu and other sicknesses and just general stuff about the program and just living in Merida.
After that la Señora was there and we took the bus back to the house. The little lady had made lunch. Fried chicken, beans and rice, tortillas, some juice that I have no clue what it was, and salad. It was good, but a ton! And I felt bad when I couldn’t finish my plate, but the ladies were nice about it.
My biggest concern today is directions and location. I am just scared I’ll get lost! La Señora wrote down directions on what bus to take and how to get to the bus stops and where to get off and stuff, but I just really wanted a map so I could get a mental picture of everything. The Stephens gave me one right before I left, but I am so dumb, I forgot it at home! I remembered another paper they gave me, but I forgot the map. Perfect. Haha. So the little lady walked with me down to a little store, where I was going to buy a map and a phone card. They had neither! So I guess I’ll try to get one later. Some people are getting a cell phone here, but I didn’t want to spend the money.
La Señora told me that there is free internet at a park I can walk to, and I was hoping to go right now, but instead opted for siesta. It’s so hot out! Hopefully, I’ll learn where it is, or else sometime when there’s free time I can use the computers at the school or something.
So at 6 we are all meeting for a tour of downtown I think. And tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM is our first excursion! We are going tomorrow and Saturday, but it’s not over night because we are going to two different places. I don’t really know much, but if you want to google, they are called sierrita de Ticul, Uaymitún, Progreso, and Celesún. The anthropology kids are going to the Carribean for two days, lucky! But we will have our time. I heard that tomorrow and Saturday we will need our bathing suits and bug spray. And that we will see flamingos. But that’s all I know.
Much love.
I can’t believe I’m here. That is exactly what I said a few minutes ago when I was left in my bedroom to unpack and go to bed.
OK. I’ll start from the beginning. Mom and Dad and Kyle dropped me off the airport with all of Kyle’s college stuff. I have been thinking about Kyle and even am right now as he’s probably getting ready for bed in his first night in his dorm. Haha. Unless he’s going out on the town! Haha. IDK.
Anyways, when I got to the gate, I recognized a kid, Joe, from the other meetings, so I sat next to him and that was good. At least I knew that I was at the right place. So we sat for a couple hours and then we saw other people start to show up, including one of the professors, Allan Burns.
So then there was the plane ride to Houston! When we got there, we met up with pretty much everyone else. I feel like I’ve gotten to everyone besides the “Lombards.” The Lombards is this group of new freshman who are very important apparently and got some scholarship and they all know each other and they keep to themselves while the rest of us normal UF kids have to meet people for ourselves. But the people I’ve met seem cool! And the professors too.
Then was the flight to Merida. I got a jump start on my Spanish language talking to the lady next to me. Just a little warm up for the real thing.
By the time we got to the airport, everyone was pretty anxious about meeting their families and being in someone’s Mexican house alone, in a place we’ve never been, alone, in a language we don’t speak all too well. Even though we had only spent a couple hours together, we didn’t want to leave each other just for the fear of being alone with someone, not with another student who related with everything.
So we went through customs and there was my Mom, holding a sign with my name! She gave me a huge hug and welcomed me! She was with her daughter-in-law and we took her daughter in law’s van to the house. As we drove tthough the city they were talking and I was half trying to catch a few words and half staring out the windows. Kyle- It does not look like Redemption or that other place. It actually looks kind of like Lakeland, except for not. But driving through the street looked similar to South Florida near Southgate or downtown, but different. I attempted to carriy conversation with the two women. We discussed a few things, the weather, Lakeland, Merida, High School Musical. Haha. The daughter-in-law’s six year old daughter loves high school musical so maybe she can be my friend. Haha. So we got out of the minivan (nicer than ours, with automatic doors and everything) and were at the house. It’s two story with a gate in front. I guess similar to the nicer houses in the DR- the place we go the first night (you know). There was another woman there. I do not know how she is related to my mom, but she lives here, and she is nice.
So they brought me up to my room, and I gave them their gift. Mom and Dad- they thought the Mickey thing was cute. Kyle- my Mom said you were “guapo” in the picture, and mom- she said you looked really young. And they brought me to my room. Tile floors, double bed, TV, windows. I can see the hooks where a hammock would go! ☺ Oh, and another highlight…. NO air conditioning!! I saw in the car the it was between 27 and 30 degrees celcius on the way here so you can translate that to F. Yeah, no AC. Sweaty. I took a shower. Unpacked all my stuff in the drawers, set up a few pictures of some of my lovely favorites by my mirror. I need to sleep now. I’m getting up at 7.
Kyle would love the lovely fan to attempt to keep me cool. I’ve heard word that there is a possibility of swimming with whale sharks, for real. I may not survive that. Haha. But I’ll try. Alrighty. Good Night! I can’t believe I’m here.
Thursday June 25, 2009 2:53 PM
I feel like so much has happened since I got here! Definitely thrown into constant Spanish, at least at home. I will for sure get a ton of practice and they say you come back a lot more fluent. I can feel like I already improved!
I’ll start with last night. Sleep was a little rough. It was one of those nights where you lay there, sweating, look at the clock and 5 minutes pass, look at the clock 30 minutes pass, look at the clock an hour passes. I just kept telling myself that it was like camping, but at least I have a bed!
I got up at 7:30. I found out that the other lady that lives here works for my “mother.” I’ll just call my mother the Señora because that is what I call her. The Señora is tall, with really thick makeup. Reminicent to that of Mrs. Fite of Lakeland, if that helps you get a mental picture. Mrs. Fite, but Mexican. The maid is what you could imagine as this typical, short and sweet lady. Kind of reminds me of Lisa Gilbert, but Mexican, and even shorter. The second lady doesn’t say too, too much, but she and the Señora seem to have a good relationship. I really don’t think they speak a lick of English. Someone told me that all the host families know English, but aren’t allowed to use it unless there is an emergency or something, then these ladies must be really good actors! I really don’t think they know any English at all.
So, I walk down the stairs and at the table is toast, and my favorite food in the whole wide world, watermelon! They taught me what it is called in Spanish- Sitria or something, I cannot even remember. After that la Señora helped me take the bus to the school. I was trying to pay attention as much as I could, and wrote down every street, because I’m so scared that I’ll get lost!
We made it to the school, and met up with everyone else. It was great to see the other students. Even though we all just met yesterday, I think that we feel really comfortable around each other since it’s all we have besides the host families and teachers and all. Don’t get me wrong, the teachers from UF and the teachers here are all really nice, and I feel like they genuinely want to help us, but it’s great to talk to the people our age.
So, at the University we all got our pictures taken for our school ID, which is so cool! Besides the fact that my names is spelled Julie Champean. But still, being able to whip it out and show off will be cool and Kyle will hate me for it.
Then I traded some dollars for some pesos and we all got into these vans to go to the other campus to take our Spanish exam and have the orientation. There were already too many of us squeezed into this bus, and we got about half way there and the clutch of the van broke. We all just sat in the van for a while, not knowing what to do since it was just us and the driver, who didn’t speak English. Eventually, we got out of the van, and squeezed into another one and got to the other campus.
The Spanish exam wasn’t too bad. At the orientation, we got a lot of papers and a schedule of everything we will do and hats and stuff. Plus they taught us all about washing our hands every five seconds to prevent swine flu and other sicknesses and just general stuff about the program and just living in Merida.
After that la Señora was there and we took the bus back to the house. The little lady had made lunch. Fried chicken, beans and rice, tortillas, some juice that I have no clue what it was, and salad. It was good, but a ton! And I felt bad when I couldn’t finish my plate, but the ladies were nice about it.
My biggest concern today is directions and location. I am just scared I’ll get lost! La Señora wrote down directions on what bus to take and how to get to the bus stops and where to get off and stuff, but I just really wanted a map so I could get a mental picture of everything. The Stephens gave me one right before I left, but I am so dumb, I forgot it at home! I remembered another paper they gave me, but I forgot the map. Perfect. Haha. So the little lady walked with me down to a little store, where I was going to buy a map and a phone card. They had neither! So I guess I’ll try to get one later. Some people are getting a cell phone here, but I didn’t want to spend the money.
La Señora told me that there is free internet at a park I can walk to, and I was hoping to go right now, but instead opted for siesta. It’s so hot out! Hopefully, I’ll learn where it is, or else sometime when there’s free time I can use the computers at the school or something.
So at 6 we are all meeting for a tour of downtown I think. And tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM is our first excursion! We are going tomorrow and Saturday, but it’s not over night because we are going to two different places. I don’t really know much, but if you want to google, they are called sierrita de Ticul, Uaymitún, Progreso, and Celesún. The anthropology kids are going to the Carribean for two days, lucky! But we will have our time. I heard that tomorrow and Saturday we will need our bathing suits and bug spray. And that we will see flamingos. But that’s all I know.
Much love.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
It's time!
So, after all the questionable status with swine flu and all, tomorrow I'm actually going to Mexico! I'm going to try to update this site whenever I can so that family and friends know what I'm up to and all since I won't have a phone. I will have a computer though so I'll have e-mail and facebook and skype. I'll let you know what my mailing address is whenever I find out so that you can send me things via snail mail if you like.
I leave tomorrow afternoon, flying out of Orlando with a layover in Houston before arriving in Merida. Merida is in the Yucatan, near the Gulf of Mexico. The map gives you an idea of where it is. The weather will be similar to the weather in Lakeland, if not hotter. I'll be staying with a host family, which I do not know much about. I suppose they will meet me in the airport. The group from UF has 22 students and 2 professors, or maybe 6 professors? As you can probably tell, I don't really know a ton of details, I'll just find out! I don't know any of the other Florida students going, but I'm sure I'll know them well by the end.
The program has two groups, anthropology and ecology, which we got to choose. I think there are 16 anthropology kids and 6 ecology kids. I'm chose ecology. Part of the program is that two or three days a week we are in the class room learning the stuff, and then the other days in the week we go around the Yucatan, sometimes overnight, actually seeing the ecosystems and anthropological sites. I think this includes Mayan ruins and coral reefs, but I don't really know that much specifically. The other class I'll take is Spanish, which I've always liked learning.
I leave tomorrow, I get back August 1st. Now you know about as much as I know, so here comes excitement!
I'm soooo excited!!!! :)
Much love
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