This last month has been pretty busy, taking buses all over the southern part of this huge country. From Morelia we left at four in the morning to take a bus to Mexico City, and from there about eight hours to Oaxaca city. The first classes buses here are more like airplanes, airconditioned and comfortable, with bathrooms and movies and everything. In Oaxaca City we stayed in an awesome hostel owned by two rock climbing brothers, and we met all sorts of people, which was a fun introduction into the traveling world. We visited some ruins, went salsa dancing (only [View Full Entry]

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Palenque, Coba, Chichen Itzá, and Tulum. All wonderful spots. Palenque, in the jungle, all original structures being reclaimed by nature, full of energy. The jungle itself cured me of all ills, rejuvenating me with its hypnotic energy. The first night sleeping in a hammock beneath a thatched roof with a wild rain and lightning storm raging around me made me feel more alive than ever. I saw Coba and Chicen Itzá the same day. Chichen Itzá was a little Disneylandish, but one of those things I was too close to miss, and still very impressive. And then Tulum, today, original buildings [View Full Entry]

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Hey all, college graduate speaking! Besides some complications with the tired immune system, the end of the term went pretty smoothly. All those projects that I waited until the last two weeks to start seemed to come together miraculously (I could have studied more for my Spanish test and presentation), but I think I managed to pull off some low A´s nonetheless, finally finishing my first chunk of school. Just some catch up of the last couple weeks. Our last excursion was a three day weekend to Mexico City, which many people call D.F. (pronounced Day Effay) for District Federal. [View Full Entry]

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Alright, much to catch up on. Finally, the photos of Guanajuato, and a few from our trip to the beach. We all skipped a Friday of school and piled into our friend Antonio's mini-van and a rental car (9 girls and 3 boys total), and drove the 5 hours to Ixtapa. We opted for the cheapest lodging possible and found ourselves in the "less touristy" town of Zihuatanejo in a beautiful house with two floors and about 10 rooms. There were communal balconies and "sitting" rooms with a chair or two, and the rooms each had two double beds with [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend we took a trip with the program to a small city in the state of Guanajuato. Being the capital city, it was also named Guanajuato. It was about three hours on a cushy charter bus, then we stopped off at our hotel at the top of a huge hill. I got in a couple hours of sleep before our three and a half hour tour started. This city has amazing history and architecture. Tons of tourists, I felt like I was in Disneyland, but it made sense, considering all the attractions. The city was originally found by the [View Full Entry]

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Just a few more pics of my house here. Things are going really well. We went to the orphanage on Wednesday. Pretty poor, but not sad, because the kids have formed a pretty happy community together. I didn´t get to go inside however, so I don´t know what their rooms and stuff are like. I think we´re going to try and bring games and stuff next time, and maybe try and teach the older girls English, since that´s what they want from us. I went Salsa dancing the other night until about four in the morning. Super fun, live music, [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone...the first week here felt like it took a long time because there was so much new input from every direction, but I really feel like I am settling in and pretty content, learning the city and already have some pretty good friends with the other students. No Mexican friends yet, but tonight I might go out with my host sister, so we´ll see. We went to el Centro the other day for a tour, and saw all these neat churches and old buildings that are now schools. One of the coolest parts, though, was afterwards when the girls [View Full Entry]

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Whelp, I´m here in Mexico. I arrived in Guadalajara at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday and had about 12 hours to wait before my shuttle to Morelia arrived, so I took a taxi to the city where my driver took me to a hotel barato (cheap), so I could stash my stuff and sleep a little. I think that I ended up being ripped off because of my ignorance, but I´m sure I´ll learn the ways of the country soon. I walked around Guadalajara a bit, but it was a huge city, very dirty with lots of people, and [View Full Entry]

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