Blogs from Merida, Yucatán, Mexico, North America - page 21

So yesterday I was sick. I didn´t go to classes because my tummy hurt. Pooey. But I´m better now, no worries. Also, I´m finally able to tell you guys my REAL classes! I know, I´ve told you all them like five times before, but none of those were for real, because it´s changed. So now I´m taking: Spanish (ends March 15. Awesome). Introduction to Mayan Culture Mayan Postclassic Archaeology Contemporary Historic Novel (I get to read the General and his Labyrinth!) Colonial Indigenous Literature (I get to read the Chilam Balaam, the Popol Vuh and some other similar items. W00t!!! Umm...this weekend it Carnaval, so you guys will probably get some interesting information afterwards because it should be really exciting. Umm....... Yeah. I really don´t have more to say. I hope you all enjoy your weekends. ... read more

So, besides the copying thing which we already went over, classes here are weird. So, take the three classes I´ve been to so far. This is how they grade us: Contemporary Mayan Literature: You have to do a presentation and at the end, because the teacher doesn´t want to read 25 essays, you do a group essay that´s 7 pages. (What? Who does a GROUP ESSAY? How do you even grade that? Hmm....I think that Silvia deserves a B and Samantha deserves a C? Or does everyone get the same grade regardless of how much work they do? Or what? What is that?) Postclassic Mayan Archeology: Tests. Ok, no so weird. You still have to do a presentation on a reading. Half the readings for this class are in English. Guess what. For some reason, I, ... read more

Hey...San Miguel was just what I needed . I was on overload for a bit ,so I spent my time there just hanging out.I confess I even left the Lonely Planet at the hostel when I went out !!I lucked out with the hostel I was staying in . Not only did I have an apartment but I had a BATHTUB! I also had a great owner who was happy to share information and help with travel arrangements . San Miguel de Allende has been a gringo enclave for many decades, since after the WW2 .. It is a pleasant town of cobbled streets and a zocolo jardin flanked by a church ,(the Paraquoia photo was in the last blog) and the homes of the silver barons of the 17th century. I am learning the history ... read more

Ok, so it´s been a while since I´ve posted. Well, I suppose not too long, but a little bit. There´s a reason. And that reason is that I haven´t been doing anything interesting until yesterday. All week we´ve been in orientation all day (which, as fun as it sounds, is not.) That would be the first boring part. Seriously, we sat in the same room for hours doing one of two things: listening to a lecture that told us nothing new (We literally had a two hour lecture that said that rich people care more about their social status and poor people care more about feeding themselves.) Or Spanish class. Now, nothing against Spanish class or grammar excercises or anything of that nature, but sitting in a room for three hours with 6 other girls and ... read more

Ok, so, where did I leave off? I think it was two days ago. So yesterday, I was at the school (also known as antropologia) in the morning for a really long time. We had a few students come in to talk about the differences between academics here and in the united states and the requirements for the school and the program and all that. Then the students told us about which teachers were hard and easy and good and bad, but they only knew literature and anthropology, which wasn't too useful, because I wanted to take archaeology and history classes too. (There's a class about the history of pirates in America, but I can't take it because it's at the same time as Spanish. ARRGGH!!!). But I've basically decided on my schedule, though I don't ... read more