Hello again. It seems like I'm getting worse and worse about keeping this blog up to date as I keep forgetting to update how things are going here in Puebla. Maybe it's because I'm starting to sort of get into the routine of living and going to school here. The first couple months, especially the first couple weeks, everything here was new. I did a lot of sight seeing, learned a lot about Puebla and Mexico, and I wanted to share all these cool new experiences with everybody. Now, we've been going on less trips, everything seems more ordinary, and I feel like there is less "stuff" to blog about.
Honestly, I think I like this part of the experience just as much. Although I loved traveling all over and seeing all kinds of new things, it got exhausting travelling somewhere almost every weekend. This past weekend was super nice: I got to stay in and actually get some homework done, I went out with most of our group to celebrate our friend's 21st birthday, we watched ND beat USC, and I got to listen to the Colts game on Sunday. So I didn't do anything crazy, but I was able to get caught up on some things and also have some good quality time with my friends and host family. I'll be staying here in Puebla again next weekend. Now that I'm caught up on things, I'm looking forward to being able to just spend some time hanging out in Puebla, exploring el centro again.
As things are beginning to settle down a bit, the little interactions I have with people don't stress me out quite as much as they did before. I went to go get a haircut without really thinking much about it in advance or frantically trying to memorize how to describe the cut I want in Spanish. I finally got up the courage to talk to the UPAEP tennis coach and find a time when I could come for lessons (embarrassingly, I've been signed up for a time slot I can't attend for at least a month, and I just now talked to the coach to change the day of my clinic). Overall, I just feel like I'm more confident and willing to go do things on my own without the other ND students there to help out in case I can't understand somebody or forget an important word. That being said, I'm still far from fluent and I have a lot to learn still, but I think these things are positive signs that I am making improvements little by little.
There will be a couple more big trips later on in the semester, but for now I'm more than happy to relax and try to experience Mexico less like a tourist and more like someone who could live here for an extended period of time.
What would a blog be without pictures? Here are some from my ND group trip to Mexico City 2 weekends ago:
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| One of the new places we went, a museum of the famous painters Frida Kahlo (and Diego Rivera), built in the house in which they lived together |
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| I took my phone to the Palacio Nacional the second time around so I could get a panoramic photo of this enormous Diego Rivera masterpiece |
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| Group pic at the Palacio |
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| Back to the amazing Museum of Anthropology and History |
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| Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) where we saw some great ballet folklorico |
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| Some of us went to watch the ND vs Navy game with the ND Club of Mexico |
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| Back to the Basilica de Guadalupe, but with even bigger crowds this time |
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| We had more time to explore the ruins at Teotihuacan |
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