A lot has happened since I last updated my blog, here are just some of the highlights...

The biggest highlight of my trip so far has been my excursion to Teotihuacán, the third most important archaeological site in all of Mexico. Teotihuacán, or the "La Ciudad de los Dioses"(The city of the gods), is thought to have been established around 200 BC and at the time was one of the largest cities in all the world. I climbed la Pirámide del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun- the second largest pyramid in Mexico), La Pirámide de la Luna (Pyramid of the moon), saw el Templo de Quetzalcóatl (Temple of the Plumed Serpen), and walked along the "Avenue of the Dead". It was amazing to see the history first hand, it was hard to imagine that I was standing on top of a pyramid that was built 200 years before Christ was born. It was also hard to imagine I was standing on top of the place where they had  practiced human sacrifices!

The day I got back from Teotihuacán, my new room mate, Coralie, arrived. She is only here for a week (leaving this Sunday). She is from Belgium, has been traveling the world since she was 9, and is in Mexico for 3 weeks to visit her Mexican boyfriend who she met in Cambodia before she goes to Costa Rica for a month. Confusing- I know. She knows 6 languages (including English, German, French, Flamenco, Portuguese, and Spanish). She is very interesting to talk to and I am glad I got to know her this past week. We went to a Mexican zumba class monday, walked to the waterfalls of San Antonio Tuesday, and we are planning on going to Taxco, the silver town, on Saturday- another future blog.

It has been raining a lot here. It has rained for 3 days straight- mostly in the evening, but sometimes scattered throughout the day. My host mother, Coco, told me it was because of the Tropical Storm Beatriz off of the Pacific Coast. I was also informed that June/ July are the 2 months that get the most rainfall- which I was never informed of before I decided to come here...


I recently talked to my advisors here, and I have decided to continue to take classes for the entire 8 weeks that I am here. This means that for my last 4 weeks, I will be taking an Introduction to Hispanic Literature class, Advanced spanish conversation class, and grammar class during the day from 8-2, come home for lunch, and then go to my internship sight for the evening. I am so excited to continue to take classes because I feel like I am learning so much each day. I have an interview next week to determine where I will be interning, I'll let you know as soon as I find out.


Today after school today, I took advantage of a cooking class my school offers. Each Thursday, a different host mother takes a group of students to her house, and teaches them how to cook a traditional Mexican meal. Besides improving my spanish, learning how to cook a REAL traditional Mexican meal is next on my list of priorities. We learned how to make agua de Melon, queso crema con jarabe de tamarindo, sopa campesina, enchiladas verdes (muyyyy rica!), and arroz con leche for dessert. Let's not forget the traditional cerveza that washed it all down. I can't wait to get back to the U.S. and cook up some delicious Mexican meals- have your requests ready when I come home!

Well, I should probably get to studying, I have a powerpoint presentation and written test tomorrow. Good thing Friday nights are karaoke nights! 

Tepoztlán

This was my first weekend that I had time to go out and exploring, so a friend and I decided to take a bus to the city of Tepoztlán. It's only about a 30 minute bus ride from Cuernavaca. On the bus ride there, we passed many street vendors selling tortillas, corn on the cob, and fresh fruit juice. We also saw horses in the streets and the mountains of Tepoztlán in the distance.

Temple of Tepozlan

It was a grueling 1.3 mile hike  up hill, but well worth it in the end.

Gorgeous view of the city from the top of the temple.

After our hike, we went to a traditional Mexican restaurant where I ordered calabacitas(zuchinni) rellenas and a ice cold cerveza. Definitely hit the spot!

We wondered around the streets for a while, and ran into a beautiful old church. After I got home, my host mother told me that there was another monastery around the back with a museum with some ancient artifacts, guess I'll have to go back!

Before we left, we decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream from Tepoznieves. They have over 130 flavors of ice cream varying from mango, to lettuce, tequilla,  queso(cheese), corn, burned milk, beet, carrot, cactus, sorbets with chilli, to flower flavored ice cream (which I got) and all the flavors in between. The ice cream was well worth the 1.3 mile hike up the mountain.

We arrived back in Cuernavaca around 7, got lost in a sketchy underground market where they sold pig heads, but eventually found a taxi back to our houses. I had paella for dinner with my host mother and her niece at 10 and headed up to bed. Overall, it was another great day in Mexico. Can't wait for my next adventure!

El Central

Today was my first day to "el central"- the main part of the city of Cuernavaca. We had a bit of a late start due to my host mother throwing a huge family party last night and needing her rest this morning. I randomly woke up at 5:30 this morning, and still heard them outside listening to music, laughing, talking, and drinking cervezas.

My roommate, Diana, and I began our 30 minute walk to el central at around 11. We walked around the many markets that sold lots of jewlery, mexican food, balloons, las calaveras- colorful skulls that are very popular on the day of the dead-, and lots of other hand made crafts. After wondering around the markets for a while, we went to el Palacio de Cortez, a 16th century fort that was once the palace/ home of Hernan Cortez. It had a lot of historical artifacts and a collection of Diego Rivera's murals. I guess watching a movie on Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo every year for about 5 years finally paid off!

On our way to our next stop, we did a quick tour of la Catedral de la Asuncion, or the Cathedral of the Asencion. There wasn't much to see, as there was a mass going on while we were there. From what I know, it was built in the 16th century by a group of indigenous craftsman and is considered one of the oldest churches in the Americas. It might be worth going back on another day to check out the inside.

Out next stop at la Jardin Borda was by far my favorite. It is a beautiful garden that was developed in the 18th century and were once owned by Emperor Maximilion. There was an organic food festival while we were there- loved it! There were vendors with a ton of organic food and samples. Diana and I got mango on a stick with salt, lime juice, and chili pepper (except I was a wimp and skipped the pepper- I'm working on it). There was also a band there, "Casa Verde" (greenhouse), a reggae band. LOVED THEM!

We wondered around the markets a little bit longer, saw a parade, watched traditional dancers by the market, and finally made it back to our host mother's house. We were both extremely thirsty and hungry and were offered orange juice and Domino's pizza. Yummm

Well, It's my first day of school tomorrow. I have class from 8-2 and am taking a salsa dancing class after. Hope you enjoyed reading about my exciting Sunday. Hasta luego!

Mi primer dia

My first day in Cuernavaca...

     Today couldn't have gone any smoother than it did. I said good bye to mom and dad at O'Hare at about 4 a.m. this morning and walked right to my terminal. Before I knew it I was in North Carolina boarding my connecting flight to Mexico City. At this point I was getting a little nervous because I could already tell that things were getting less and less "American".

    God must have been listening to my prayers because he seated me right next to another college student who was traveling with her mother for a business trip. Her mom was Mexican and her father, Chilean, which meant she was fluent in spanish (I also found out she was fluent in Portuguese, French, and of course English). We talked about school, spanish, and she gave me a few pointers about Mexico. After a 3 hour plane ride (which I slept most of) I woke up to look out my window and see the coast of Mexico followed by mountains peaking through the clouds, winding rivers, cities, farmland, towns, etc. I could definitely tell that I was no longer in Wisconsin, or the U.S. for that matter. Before I got off the plane, I exchanged e-mails with my new friend, Maria, and got a business card from her mother who said to call or stop by at any time if I ever needed anything. 

   I ended up following Maria y su madre to the baggage claim, customs, and they even waited with me until I found my driver, Javier. We went our separate ways and I followed Javier to his silver volkswagen, and off we were. 

  Driving through Mexico city was crazy! I saw 3 people piled onto a tiny yamaha motorcycle(all in winter coats- it was 90 degrees when i got here) , people hitchhiking on the freeway, a mexican army convoy, people almost getting hit on the freeway trying to sell snacks to people in their cars, and everything else in between. Oh and of course plenty or McDonalds. The drive to Cuernavaca didn't take as long as I thought, but I also didn't think I would be going over 100 miles per hours the whole way there. Oh well!

   I arrived at my host family's home and was greeted by my host mother, Maria, who told me to call her "Coco" and her little white dog. She welcomed me with a big kiss on the cheek and helped me carry my things up 3 flights of stairs to where I would be staying. Not soon after, were were sitting in her kitchen with freshly made juice that she called 'agua'. We talked for a while, I went to unpack, and was called down to eat around 3:30. Her son-in-law and niece- who is 10 and extremely adorable- joined us and from what I understood,  they join Coco for lunch every day, which will be fun. We sat down, watched Harry Potter in Spanish, and had a veggie soup, rice dish, salad, and a tuna and cheese pie. It was all delicious!

  She wouldn't let me help clean up so I went back to unpacking, took a cold shower, managed to almost flood the shower, and here I am now sitting at the kitchen table.

   Tomorrow I have my orientation at the Universidad Internacional, where I will be studying. It includes a tour of the university, placement testing, and a tour of Cuernavaca. There's also another student living at my house for her last week abroad that I will meet tomorrow. Well, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to get some sleep since I got about a total of 3 hours in the last 24 hours. Talk to you soon, miss you already!- Just kidding! Coco just came into my room at 9:30pm and asked if i wanted to have dinner with her... guess sleep will have to wait!

view from the top of the stairs by my bedroom 2 stories below. Pretty fountain and plants, but don't quite understand the huge stuffed bear sitting in the chair?

cool picture on her wall

My humble abode. I get the whole room to myself and my own bathroom :)