Hike

Saturday I didn't end up going to Puebla's flea market. Some of us stayed behind and worked on graphic design. But I hear its a fun time and they are sure to go again, so I will go some other time. At night we went out to this local bar right down the street from the hotel. A little hole in the place but it was very comfortable and we played rummy while chatting.

This week so far i've just been doing classes and chilling with my people. Working on my printmaking and graphic design. Today though we went for a hike up over the hills around Choula. You could see below the vast town of Choula and in the distance the gan piramide. It was beautiful. There were fields of cactus and corn and weird looking melons on our route. It was very hot today 80 degrees F. There were workers working in the fields up there. At the paths smelled delicious of manure. I would like to go up there and just sit all day.

Atlixco

So today was an adventure. This morning I woke up and went down to the laundry place to drop off some of my clothes. It ended up being 30 pesos (3 USD) for doing it. Very nice! You can't even get that done doing it yourself for that cheap. Then we had a quick meeting with the whole group on how everything was going. At 4 our adventure begain, we headed our way on our way to Atlixco which is almost an hour away. We took the bus to the CAPU which is the central bus station. And Erin I found where you would be dropped off if you were to take Estrella Roja to Puebla. Anyway...this CAPU was huge bigger than the columbus airport. From there we took a bus to Atlixco for 18 pesos (less than 2 USD) it and was a pretty sweet town. There was a really nice zocalo and a big market. At night it seems that the younger people just walk around the zocalo in hopes to meet somebody. After walking around and having some dinner and some ice cream, I had pina colada which was quite tasty, we took the bus back to Cholula. And now i'm trying to figure out what to do now!

So as some side cultural notes:
The police here in Mexico are scary, and there is one on each corner it seems. At Atlixco they were carrying big shot guns, although I think they do in Cholula as well but it seemed more apparent in Atlixco. But they are really scary and you feel like you don't want to mess with them or say hello.
The stores and shops: it's so nice to go to stores for select/ speciality items instead of going to WalMart for everything. In Cholula they don't have that so everyday they go to the market to get all their veggies, fruits and meats for that day. And all the litle hole in the wall restaurants are great too.
And of course it has been apparent to me but I am telling you now, it is very hard to blend in. It's not like Europe, here everybody notices you. It's very difficult sometimes when you just don't want to be noticed.

Just Around

Hello! Nothing much has been going on except class stuff and getting projects to work on. Like I said we are redoing the Pedro Paramo book so I have been walking about Cholula lots for that taking all different kinds of pictures. We are going to the cemetary in a bit. For printmaking we are making Reliefs (my fav.!) and making a little book out of them. My is hopefully going to serve as a book and a poster. It has pattern on is and church steeples, it's going to be pretty sweet. I'm going to take my laundry to the laundaria tomorrow. Hopefully they don't lose my clothing! It's pretty weird having random ladies washing your laundry, but that's the only way they do it here! It's like 10 pesos (1 USD) for 2 pounds of clothing, not too shabby. Ooo for lunch we had tostadas yummy..it's like a little flat flour tortilla fried and you put beans, chicken and cheese and lettuce on. Very yummy. Dunno what's going on tonight! Don't have an class tomorrow, just our usually friday morning meeting. We were talking about going to a Bull fight this month but I think we will be in Oxacca at that time. Hopefully I will be going sometime! I also walked with a group to the cemetery. It was packed full of crosses and small buildings. I have pictures so I will post those up soon.

First Day of Classes

Monday was the first day of classes. Got up for breakfast and Senior Graphic Design started at 10. We are starting a Pedro Paramo redesign for the whole book. We have to use pictures or drawings to convey our concept throughout the book, so after class some of us girls walked around a new part of town that we had not been to taking pictures. I got some nice pictures but i still don't have a clue what i'm doing yet for the book. Art History was after lunch and a break (we took pictures at that time) it starts at 4 and goes till 6 I think. It was a little difficult to understand Raul because of his think accent. We only have that once a week and hopefully it will be ok. The rest of the day I just chilled out worked on my computer and watched some of a Korean film that JongGill brought. Today I have Printmaking I think we are starting out making little books and making them for the whole class. Then I really have to be thinking about a concept for Pedro Paramo.

Oh and I keep forgetting to tell you guys that we live a block down from a Prison! It's pretty crazy! I walk by it pretty much everyday.

So I posted more pictures! If you click on the slideshow it should direct you to my Picasa Site with the pictures from before and such. If not please notify me.

Weekend one

So the weekend was pretty light. I sat by the pool and wrote in my journal and On Saturday a small group of us decided to take the bus to Puebla. We got there alright without a problem. Took the correct bus and got off at the right stop. We decided to go to the Wal-Mart to get some food and supplies and look at phones. It was pretty much the same thing as in the states although they had a bag check and mostly everything was in spanish. It was so cool they had an awsome bakery inside too! Everything was fresh and looked so good. There were also tons of employees coming around with samples asking if we wanted to try. When we walked next store to a plaza and had some coffee and I had gelato. After our short trip to Puebla we decided to hitch a bus ride back. So we thought we could just get on the other side of the street to get one going to Cholula but we were mistaken. A Cholula bus was'nt going by us at all. So we decided to run back over to the other side of the street where we got off because of course we would get to back to Cholula eventually. We went down the street and then the bus turned into the CAPU which is where the bus sit and wait to go out again. So we talked to the bus driver while we sat. His name was Miguel. He asked if we had boyfriends and where we were staying and then he got creepy and asked us what floor and rooms we lived in. We told him we couldn't remember.
We got back to the hotel safely and we got dropped off right where we were suppose to be. I decided I shouldn't probably go out with everyone that night, everybody wanted to go back to the party/university street. They were going to a Karaoke, everybody was going so I decided to go too. A group of us walked all they way there and it ended up being closed. Nobody could decide where to go, some places would not let us in and other people didn't want to go to so we walked up the street about 3 times. We finally met up with another group and Mallori and I decided to go with them and we went to this club bar place. By that time I was tired and so was Mallori so we stayed for awhile and we walked back home.
Today I pretty much did absolutely nothing besides read, sit in the sun for a bit and talk on the computer with friends and family. I have to finish re-reading my Pedro Paramo book for class so that's what i'll be doing tonight.

Today we go American

Today we had our syllabus day for classes and went to the UDLA (Universidad de las Americas) it was muy bonita. It had so many gardens and peacocks roaming the grounds. The buildings were built spanish plantation style, except one building which had very colorful walls of concrete. After we got back I was so tired I napped all day long. And it was time to go out for dinner! So we went out and I guess most of us wanted american cause we got Club Sandwiches and Fries at this little place by the zocalo. There was a guy that played a type of flute and guitar and the same time there. Everytime we have gone out by the zocalo he is there playing music for the people that are sitting outside. We came home after stopping by the farmacia and OXXO (hugs and kisses as Robin calls it) that we go to everyday. We were going to watch a movie, but we decided to just hang out in my room and work on the computer and have a little dance party.  Stay tune!

Out on the Town

So Thursday was our day off. A lot of us sat out by the pool, some were sunbathing or reading.  A couple jumped in but it is way to cold so they quickly got out. After a bit of sunlight a few of us girls went walking around Cholula. Robin got a huge 20 lt. jug of water for her room and we also went to the ATM. Then we went back to the hotel to rest and chill out before we went to dinner at the zocalo. There I had tacos de cocina and victoria beer. Then we walked waaay down the street near the universidad and went to one the cantinas for drinks, pool and dancing. Sol is also another beer that they have as well. I played a couple games of pool and won both times cause my awsome partner Jonggill. When we closed that bar down we went to one down the street which was like a rave bar and we were dancing there. Some of the girls were getting attention from the guys and students of the universidad. We were getting tired so we decided to walk home then I went to bed. 

One good thing about Ohio is that you don't have to deal with the smoke. I forgot how nice it was. Looks like i'll be having to wash my clothes more than I would like. 

Puebla

So! Again I got up and went to breakfast and had Molletes, which is roll cut in half with refried beans and melted cheese on top. You can put some pinto de gallo on top but today it had jalapenos in it, too hot for me! Afterwards we took the public bus to Puebla. It cost 5 pesos (which is 50 cents) so that's not too bad! On the way there I saw a Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Papa Johns, and I dunno what else, but they seem to blend in a little more. 

We took that wrong bus that didn't take us closer to the square so we had to walk a long way. We looked into some old homes there, there were many buildings built in the French style, which was interesting. You can tell from what periods different buildings were built. Next to the square there was a huge Catholic church that we went in (called Catedral). Then we had drinks at a sidewalk restaurant. And some of the people got ice cream and mcflurries from McDonald's. Then we walked a ways back to hitch a bus back to Cholula, where on the way we had a taste of sugared cactus. Which must have been soaking in sugar for a long time cause it was just like candy and you would have never known it was cactus! We also had tamales that Raul bought. They were very tasty. On the way back to get a bus we lost two students and we realized it on the way back to Puebla. They got back much later than us, but they did find their way back! We got back to our hotel at 3 and had lunch. Everyone was so tired so many of took siestas. For me it was a 3 hour long siesta. My whole body and feet are very sore. I still have not gotten my luggage yet, so I have no tennis shoes. I believe that they just left Huston this morning. So they better get here tonight or tomorrow! 

Right now i'm just chilling, we might go somewhere and get a dinner snack. We shall see! Lacie is ill so i'm sticking with her.

Oh and my luggage came tonight too! YAY!

 

First Day

Well it was our first real day in Cholula. Hotel Las Iglesias is the hotel we are staying at. Looking out my window you can see Popo (Popcatepetl) the nearby volcano. My main luggage bag did not get all the way. About 9 other people have the same problem. Hopefully we will get it soon. For breakfast I didn't know what the waitress was saying and was totally lost, but hopefully i'll get from now on, or just order the same thing over and over again. 

We walked around all day learning where things were. Where to take our laundry (they do it for you ekk!), where the ATM's and currency exchanges are, and also nice clean places to eat are as well. We went to the huge Cholula market. It is packed vendors with cheese, vegetable, fruit, meat etc.. Their food and wares were stacked up 2 or 3 persons high. They had bags of food and skinned pigs and chickens hanging up. Then we came back to the hotel for lunch and a siesta. I was really tired for most of the day. Then at 4 we went up to the pyramid with the church on top. That was quite a hike. I want to walk around inside of the pyramid sometime, we didn't do that yet. Then we walked down and on they way down Raul (my art history teacher and extra hand for Patricia) bought some fried C

rickets for us to try. They were not very tasty,salty, sour with a dried fruit after taste. Then we went to a cantina with dollar tequila and sol beer. Some of us decided to go back home so we got a taxi and now i'm here finally able to get on the internet (the signal goes in and out which is very frustrating) and resting for the night.

Tomorrow we go to Puebla!

Packing

Well! It's two days before getting on a plane and heading for Mexico with my fellow students! I'm still getting things organized and packed. Hopefully I will not forget anything. I've got the big refrigerator suitcase so I'm pretty sure and hoping that I won't exceed it's maximum capacity. I'm getting a little nervous but mostly excited to get to hangout with my friends and have the Mexican experience! Better get back to packing!