Week One

I wrote this yesterday, and now I'm posting it:

"This first week was great. Overall, I have been very happy and content here. I had so many nerves for no reason. I fully expected the beginning to be very hard, but it has been surprisingly easy for me to acclimate to everything here. I think I really do need to get a phone card soon though, so I can call home (sorry, Mom and Dad, I really do want to talk to you).

Right now, I’m sitting in a hotel restaurant studying with Hilary, the girl from Oberlin who came on our program. I’m so happy she’s here. She seems like the person I will get along with best here. We’re pretty similar in personality; quiet, no-drama, calm. This morning though, we spent an hour looking for this restaurant we really wanted to go to that had waffles. Cuautla is so much bigger than I thought it would be; it’s a legit small city, definitely way bigger than Danbury, for example. When we FINALLY found it, we discovered it was closed Saturdays. How lame. Oh well, this hotel is nice, and there’s no one here, so we can study quietly. We have the test Monday on history and geography, so there’s a lot to prepare for.

Last night was really fun. A bunch of us went out for dinner (pizza), and then went back to my house to watch a movie. My mom is great because she has the perfect balance of motherly-concern, and understanding that I am an adult, and I’m going to go out at night and I can be independent. She was totally fine with me inviting people over, which was really sweet. She’s just so easy to get along with. And I love having siblings. Yesterday my sister Miriam came home for the weekend. She studies psychology at a university in Puebla, so it was fun to chat last night with her. She plans to go into criminal psych or work with kids. It’s really great to be part of a big family, and it’s funny to watch the arguments that my siblings have with Rita. For example, today, Camila told Rita she was going to go to the library all day, and Rita was like “no way…all day? What are you really doing?” It was funny; Camila insisted that she had a big project to do, but we weren’t so sure. Because the public transportation is so easy here, all my siblings (even Ruben, who’s only 13) can go out by themselves and do things with friends, and Rita doesn’t need to drive them around. The combis are so easy, and go all around, so transport here is no big deal. It’s amazing how after only 5 days, I can feel like part of someone else’s family.

Tonight everyone in the program is going to Carmelita’s (a friend of our professor) house, because she is apparently an amazing cook. We’re going to have dinner there and then go straight to a disco to dance. I’m super excited, because it will be the first time we go out like this. Norma (our program director, who’s really sweet and in her 20s) is going to take us for this first time, so I feel really good about it. I feel bad; there are some people on this program who are afraid of everything. They don’t want to take the combis alone, they don’t want to go out at night, they won’t eat anything new. I understand that it’s the beginning of the program, but if you can’t take risks now, what’s the point of going abroad? The point, at least for me, is to push yourself to take risks, to try new things, to meet new people, and to not be afraid to make mistakes. I’ve already messed up about a billion times in Spanish, but who cares? Everyone is really nice about it and understands that I’m learning. The best thing is that it’s already easier in some ways for me to write in Spanish than in English. My mindset is already so Spanish-focused. The grammar we’re doing is SUPER-boring, but oh well, that’s what happens when things get advanced."

Ok, now this is today:
Last night was super fun. It had it's sketchy machismo moments, but overall a blast to be able to go out and dance and have fun. And the whole group went together, which was a really good bonding experience. A few people had a little too much fun, so hopefully no one was sick this morning when they woke up (I obviously wasn't).

I forgot to mention: All the kindergarten public school teachers in Cuautla are on strike right now. It's pretty crazy stuff, and hopefully it won't get as crazy as the Oaxaca tachers strikes of 2 years ago. But it's cool...they're marching in the streets, and the kids are all home driving their parents nuts. I think they're just demanding higher wages, but it's pretty cool to watch.