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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.

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.

One week has passed!

June 30, 2009 Tuesday 9:28 PM

I’m so frustrated right now. Two nights in a row I have had an epic bus saga. Well, I think that both nights I did the same wrong thing, but both nights I blamed them on something else. In both cases, I missed my stop, and took an extra hour to go through the whole route. You see, there are two buses that I take downtown and back. They approach my neighborhood from different locations so the place where I get off looks different than when I take the other bus. To make a long story short, I am looking for my stop on the wrong bus both times. Last night was more epic because the driver went all the way out to the gas station! Tonight, I was just frustrated for making the exact same mistake twice. I just feel so dumb when I do that!

I think my least favorite thing about Mexico is looking different than anyone else. The diversity of races makes me appreciate America. But here, I have never seen a black person or an asian person, and pretty much all the white people I see are tourists. I feel like when I walk around or ride the bus or anything every one just stares at me like they’ve never seen a white person in their life! The people here are all reeeeeally nice, and if I’m ever lost or something, or ask something to a stranger they are always really helpful, but when they just see me on the street, I catch people staring at me! I wish I didn’t look different so I wouldn’t feel like an alien.

Today we had our second day of Spanish class. We only have ecology on Mondays and Wednesdays so we had a free afternoon so about 8 of us found out how to take the bus to the beach in Progresso. It was pretty fun, and figuring out how to get there was an adventure! It was five of us Eco kids, and 4 Anthro kids. It was fun to integrate a little bit more for sure! The only group who is alienated is the Lombardi’s, but they give us something entertaining to joke about.

Spanish is Spanish. It’s all in Spanish. It’s going to be harder than my last Spanish class I think. I didn’t understand what my teacher said yesterday so I didn’t do all of my homework, so now I have even more for tonight. It’s not like it’s a ton or anything, but I’m just tired and don’t want to think. That class is so draining, like calculus or something because I have to think so hard and the teacher speaks less English than I speak Spanish I think. She’s nice, but in the echo-y room it’s hard to hear what she’s saying and I just zone out sometimes.

I will not be surprised if I have lost a lot of weight when I get back home. I rarely feel hungry here, and when I do eat, it’s not a lot. Usually breakfast is something like a sandwich and fruit or something. Lunch is the biggest meal. Like chicken with tortillas and black beans or some other meat instead of chicken. If I have dinner, it is usually something small, like a sandwich or a bowl of cereal or fruit or something. All the food is good, but I guess maybe because of the heat or something I never have much of an appetite.

I think I’ve gotten used to no A/C. Even last night in my hammock, I was actually cold and had to turn the fan down!

I love the Señora and the maid! They are so sweet and patient listening to my Spanish and helping me with my bus issues.

July 1, 2009 Wednesday 2:26 PM

Siesta time! Today I got home from class, and the maid had made soup, watermelon juice, and a whole fish for me. They feel like I never eat enough, and that I’ll get home and mom will ask if they starved me or something. So anyways, the maid made this piece of fish that was fried and was the size of an entire fish. It was really delicious, but by the 23423234th pound, I was just sick of eating it and they were watching me, chanting for me to eat it all. So now I lay in my hammock stuffed with the entire left half of a whale probably.

Spanish class was better today. I had done all my assignments and we did a play of Cinderella, which was entertaining.

In a little bit I have ecology class. I’ve missed the six of us being together! Yesterday Joe didn’t come to the beach because he was sick and we felt off balance. Like too many girls or not enough macho or something. Haha.

Tonight a bunch of people want to go to this club called Mambo Café. I think I’ll go if everyone else is going, but I feel like I haven’t had any downtime. That’s OK though, but it’s just tiring, especially on the days where I spend an extra unnecessary hour on the bus, ha. Also, tomorrow we leave early for our excursion so if I’m out late I’ll be tired. I shouldn’t be complaining though, I should just be trying to get the most out of everything I guess.

Tomorrow we leave for our first over night excursion. The anthro kids said that last week they stayed at a luxury resort during their trip, so we’ll see if Mark has us camping in the huts of local tribes or something. It is a very Mark thing to do, plus it would be really cool even though I doubt we would do that.

Let me explain Mark. Any other professor would be called Dr. Brenner, but he’s Mark. Every day he wears light knaki pants, a white long sleeve button down shirt, a huge brimmed safari hat with a tie under his chin. He accessorizes with a fanny pack, knife on his belt, camera on his belt, and a safety pin on his left pocket- to prevent pickpocketers of course. Huge glasses and he used to have huge hair but today he got a Mexican hair cut. He has a little earing on his left ear. We all adore him! He is CONSTANTLY smiling and never has anything negative to say, and no matter what he tells us about ecology, we just believe him.

9:35 PM

I’m so tired on not being able to take the bus from downtown to home! Tonight was saw the bus that I usually get on incorrectly and I asked the driver if he was going to my neighborhood and he said no, made me pay him the fare and get off! There was this little old lady that tried to direct me to where I needed to go, but I was on this road I was not familiar with and I was just like, whatever I’m done. So I waved down a taxi like a coward and gave up. Monday afternoon there is a celebration for the 25 years of the UADY program with UF, and la Señora will be there, so afterwards we can ride home together, and then I will know.

I just got an e-mail from some friends of the Stephens aka Olivia, and we are going to meet up on Sunday, that should be cool. I bet they know a lot of people from church from the good ol’ days.

Eco class was entertaining. Ripped up a lot of papers and put them on Addison. We all tried not to laugh.

Went to a guitar concert for a little bit.

Tomorrow at 7:30 we are leaving for 3 days and we are going to see some stuff in the south of the state. I’m told we are going to see home gardens and tomorrow night we are going to be staying in a traditional mayan house. But of Friday night we are staying in a hotel with air conditioning! What a treat! Haha. We’re all looking forward to it.

One kids said the transportation situation perfectly in his facebook status: "is back in middle school, no car, no phone, one hour bus ride, cant stand any of my classmates." (completely sarcastic about the last part of course!) Besides getting mad at myself for not being intelligent enough to use public transportation, everything is awesometasmic!

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.

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.

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