Cholula and a Great View

It has been a very busy week between trying to register for classes, get the credits approved back home, sort out visa approval, and some other less than glorious tasks, but thank goodness I have also been able to find some time to make a friend or two and do some exploring.

I am going to try and keep this one short and sweet with a quick discussion of a recent local expedition.

For some quick background on my geographical situation, Mexico is split up much the same way as the US. You have the mother country, within that the individual states (mine is Puebla which also has a capital city called Puebla), and within the state you have cities (I live in Cholula which is near the city of Puebla and is where my university is located).

Cholula is a great area that is built around the university. You have a happening street called Camino Real (think Franklin Street on steroids), a bit of a historic district, and then outside of this area there seems to be a sprawling amount of humanity. They call it a small town, but after having spent 9 years in Ahoskie, I know a small town when I see one and this sure is not it.

On Thursday, the international student office offered a walking tour of the historic part of Cholula so myself and about 7 other international students went. I would like to dress it up a bit and tell some story about a daring escape from some wild Mexican beast or something of the sort, but this trip simply included a 15 minute walk down Camino Real and a heck of a view from a pretty cool platform.

To sum things up, there is an enormous Aztec pyramid that has been partially restored along Camino Real and on top of it, a church called La Iglesia de Los Remedios which was built in the 16th century. If you go to the top of the pyramid you get to see the church which is beautiful and an unbelievable view of the surrounding country (Cholula, then Puebla, then the ring of mountains that surrounds which includes the active volcano called Popocatepetl seen in the background of this photo from someone with a much better lens than mine). It was a beautiful day and I hope that the pictures will be able to do it some justice.

After taking it all in up top, we walked back down and found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a festival for San Cristobal complete with bands, fireworks, balloons, banners, and large statues that people felt compelled to carry up the ramp to the top of the pyramid.

We finished the trip off with a lunch in the Zocalo (town center) of Cholula which has a lovely park and open square for their markets. All in all, it was a great afternoon and an excellent introduction to the local area. Next stop, colonial downtown Puebla.


A view of the church from Camino Real. They do an incredible job lighting it up at night so it appears to just be hovering over the city and is visible from just about anywhere.



Small town my foot


A close up of the brilliantly adorned church


A picture of yours truly and Marie Eva, a delightful Canadian student who knows much more Spanish and has come to my rescue on multiple occasions earning her the nickname "Madre"

Culture Shock

Buenos Dias!

With day 2 winding down, I thought it was time to write again. I have been having an awesome time and am very excited about the coming semester. Everyone here including the Mexican students, the international students, and the locals could not be any nicer and more helpful.

After a long but pleasantly uneventful trip I left behind the water works formerly known as my mother and arrived at my homestay families house at the ripe hour of 1:30 in the morning. Despite my tardiness my family welcomed me with open arms, including my new madre who was awoken by my arrival and came out for a kiss on the cheek (more on that to come). I considered writing a blogó about the trip but think it suffices to summarize it with 4 points:

1. Drivers in Mexico City are absolute lunatics, never seen so many close calls, honking horns, and evasive and illegal maneuvers.

2. Mexico City is really really big. Driving through it at night was very interesting because with the elevation changes and the number of people, you get rolling hills absolutely covered in lights with large black holes which are the mountains which rise up in the middle of the city. Very cool to fly over and very interesting to see from the ground.

3. Ana Maria y Alejandro Guajardo, my seat mates for the flight to Mexico City who happened to be dentists in Puebla are absolute angels. There is a very small chance I would have made it to my house from Mexico City without all their help.

4. The official photographer for the Portland Trail Blazers hates basketball and is going on a three week road trip with a Mexican "friend"with only the outfit he was wearing. In comparison to my baggage, this was nothing short of mind blowing.

With that said, I can now comment on what I have found most interesting so far, the differences between here and the US. Most of these are fairly unimportant in the long run and make me seem a bit naive, but I still think they are interesting when you first learn of it.

1. Cheek kisses, everyone does it and it can catch you off guard if you are not careful. I have found this to be a wonderful habit when greeting European co-eds and a bit more laborious when saying good bye to grandma.

2. The Mexican sewage can't handle toilet paper. This means...get ready for it....you throw away and don't flush. Enough said.

3. Perhaps my favorite difference so far has been the difference in what 4 dollars can buy you. For instance, in the US 4$ can buy you 3 socks or a cool pair of multi colored shoe laces at Finish Line or 1 battery. In Mexico, 4$ (50 pesos) can buy you admittance to a bar called Kurandera and unlimited drinks for the entire night (including water, lemonade, and diet cokes thank goodness!) Even more unbelievably the girls get the same deal but have no cover. Oh the injustice.



4. They speak spanish here. I guess I saw this one coming and it is one of the big reasons for choosing Puebla, but it is still quite a shock and quite humbling. Just when I start building some confidence by stringing together a couple sentences a native speaker start speaking at the speed of light and all is lost. My favorite phrases (with translations for those who only speak Swahili and English) are lo siento (means I am sorry, but when said with the proper pathetic facial expression and shoulder shrug actually means my Spanish stinks, please slow down), mas despacio (more slowly), and no entiendo (i don't understand). In addition, having to think in another language when you speak and listen all the time is exhausting and I occasionally need to seek out my Australian friends for a quickie in English.

5. I ate a cactus today.

6. Spanish is tough to understand, tack a Japanese accent on it and it becomes darn near impossible. They are so nice and smiley, but I can't understand a word the four exchange students from Kyoto are saying. When approached I defer to my favorite strategy, big smile and lots of nodding.

7. My host family is awesome. I am very glad to be staying here because of the glimpse into the Mexican culture it provides and the opportunity to practice spanish at any of the three meals (yummy) they provide every day and other times I spend at home. Not to mention Teo, the housekeeper is my girl and Cosmo the dog has a sweet mohawk (Thurstyn desperately needs this hair cut).

8. I hate ending on odd numbers.

Anyways, hope that was a bit of insight into the experience so far. Everything is going great and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. Below is a picture I took on my way to campus this morning.

Ready to go...

Hello everyone and welcome (bienvenidos) to my blogó.

I will be spending the semester in Puebla Mexico as part of a study abroad program at the Universidad de Las Americas (UDLA) after being inspired by the Most Interesting Man in the World. Tonight is my last night in the states before spending the next 4.5 months south of the border.

At this point I am a bit nervous and very excited. I will be missing many things including family, friends, dogs, the English language, a majority of the Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl season (less than impressive recent history), a portion of UNC's basketball season (very impressive recent history), exchange students, outdoor cocktail, ice cubes, and buffalo wings just to name a few.

At the same time, I am very excited for what lies ahead including getting to know my host family, beginning classes, and exploring Puebla and beyond. Please stay in contact via comments to this blog, skype (giffindaughtridge), or e-mails (gdaug88@email.unc.edu) Hasta luego, I will be writing soon....