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Published: August 19th 2006
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My Mujeres Class
I'm the frumpy one all the way on the right. I held off on writing another blog for two reasons: a lot of things were still in process and subject to change so I wanted to wait until I had some solid material to write about before I excited anyone. Also, I haven't had access to my camera charger until this afternoon and I didn't want to leave you without photos! And don't worry, I have seen more than just the campus it was just easier to take these photos this afternoon. More city stuff later.
My second week of Mexico was rough. My third, was consumed with recovering from the second, getting adjusted some more while overcoming some hurdles. I don't want to dwell on the bad things so I'll just say that I started off with "el gripe" (flu) but managed to figure out how to deal with a doctor and I even got medication. To prevent regressing, I have been living without air conditioning. I am quite used to it now. And apparently my intestines disagree with Mexican milk more than American milk. I'm just going to end the week's trouble with that.
I dropped International Marketing and Latin American Contemporary Literature. Let's just say they
ducks crossing a bridge
If you aren't able to tell by the load of animal photos, I do highly enjoy that we have animals on campus. weren't for me and anyway my Internship will count to fulfill my Global Business Certificate so I don't need marketing. To fill in my time I picked up two non-credit classes: a Salsa class and a Mexican cooking class. I feel it was a good swap- dropping essay writting and marketing for dancing and eating!
Collin, my internship buddy, and I went to the American Consulate to meet our boss in person for the first time. It was good to finally meet the people I have been talking to on the phone and emailing. Our internships count as government jobs so we had to fill out stacks of paperwork about our families, all the places we have lived, credit, etc. Our background checks are still floating around in D.C. Turns out, if for some random reason D.C. doesn't OK my paperwork then I am out of an internship. So I'm "unofficially" working for them. Our first assignment was to translate an article in Spanish about Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering business developments in Nuevo Leon, the report comes later.
In order to counter the potential loss of school credit down to part-time, I picked up two more credit classes
deer
the elusive male deer ...
He scares me. I've heard attack stories. (translated*): Photography and The Social and Cultural History of Latin America. They are both in Spanish, just like everything else. I have the best selection of classes that I have ever had in one semester. Sure it is a lot, but that's good because if I have any difficulties I can afford to drop two since we have until the end of September to do so.
I now have 18 hours, classes (translated*):
The Professonal Competitive Woman (We're mostly consider Latin American women)
Culture of Mexico
Internship- 10 hours a week
International Business Environment
Photography
Social and Cultural History of Latin America
After meeting our boss, Collin and I went downtown to see a shopping area. Neither of us left with anything but it was a cool scene. The main shopping area is composed of these walkways with stores and authentic restaurants on both sides. I plan on returning, don't worry. And I'll take photos.
I decided that my schedule wasn't filled with enough activites and classes so I now have (free) Tennis lessons, too. I spent the hottest 30 mins of my life playing tennis against another amataur to prove my skills. I tested into
garden
a garden by the library the highest level class they offer. A good thing about being in the highest level class is that we get to play later in the day where the court-surface temperature is more like 100 degress instead of 115. It is co-ed, I'm only 1 of 5 women out of 30 people total. I have had two lessons so far. It feels great to be playing against people at and above my level since I haven't had a chance to do so for such an extended period of time.
Last Sunday I went to a market in Barrio Antinguo with another international student. It was untouched by tourists and it makes sense since as my friend said, the city is mostly a business hub. We have no beach, but many mountains and waterfalls!
This past Wednesday I took a trip downtown to MARCO, Monterrey's Modern Art Museum. Bridget and I visited the modern museums of nearly every country and town we visited in Europe so i've seen a fair share of them... and really... this one was the best designed architecturally. Entrance is free every Wednesday so the next time I go I'll take some photos. The exhibit was
ducks
they posed for me photography of architecture from all over the world. And there were smaller exhibits of short films in black and white that told great stories.
I've been spending a lot of time working on my student Visa. I need to have it complete and turned in within about a week. Hopefully I will get it in time to leave the country for winter break. If not, you might all have to visit me for the holidays!
Meanwhile, two leading candidates for Illinois' Governor (Blogojevich, Topinka) are both just as homophobic as Justin Timberlake and despite the fact that transracial adoptions have gone up in the USA in the past few years, racial minority students are doing poorer on tests now than they were years ago in New York. And to find calm from all this hate, I like to sit at a picnic table in a calm part of campus and stare up at the mountains while enjoying a can of JuMex and rediscovering Salt N Peppa.
Alex
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awesome
non-member comment
i don't know what you're talking about... there's plenty of tennis skill right here. ha