¡Sonrían!

I've just come to terms with the fact that Wednesdays and Thursdays are going to be a tad extra stressful. Those are the Theology days, or more accurately in the context of stress, the travel days to UPAEP. We (two other girls and myself) get out of class at 12:50 at UDLAP, run to catch a cab to downtown Puebla, and arrive fifteen minutes late to each class. There was sort of an agreement made with the professor, so it's really okay, there is just no getting around the adrenaline rush for those 20ish minutes. I am really enjoying the class though. To recap the subject, the class is called Dialogues between Science and Religion. UPAEP has a massive medical school and therefore about 80% of the students in the class are medical students. It makes for some good discussion...or at least it seems like it...so far I haven't actually caught that much of it. Our professor, Padre de Simone,  is a priest who has really welcomed us into the UPAEP Catholic community. Wednesdays we go to class, hang out in Puebla for a bit to grab some grub, do some homework in an abandoned classroom and then get to go to Mass! It is nice being able to attend Mass in a smaller community because usually, on Sundays, the churches we have gone to are huge and packed. At UPAEP, Padre de Simone celebrates Mass with an assembly of about fifteen students and teachers. From what I can tell, he gives some pretty good sermons too! So really, it's all worth that extra bit of estrés.

Anyways, at the beginning of class on Wednesday, Padre had us close our eyes and listen to a story. It's a story about a boy named Pablito (I think) and I'm going to do my best to tell it to you and give you a little bit of the classversation that followed. If something doesn't make sense, there might have been an important detail lost in translation...

Pablito was walking through a park one day when he saw a woman sitting on a bench. He decided to go sit with her and gave her a piece of his sandwich. She did not say any words to him, but gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He so wished that he could see her smile again and therefore decided to give her some juice. Again, she smiled at him and he was filled with joy. This happened a few more times and then, sharing smiles, they parted. His happiness lasted throughout the day and when he went home, his mother noticed immediately. "Son, why are you so happy?" she asked him. He told her about his time spent with the woman on the bench. "Today, I encountered God" he said.  Then he noticed that his mother was very happy too, so he, in turn, questioned her. "Mother, why are you so happy?" he asked. "I was at the park and a boy sat with me to keep me company and shared some of his goods with me. Today I encountered God."

I'm still a little confused about why the mother and the son didn't recognize each other in the park...but I think that is besides the point. We then talked about how the people in the story encountered God. One student said that we do so in the action of giving and in expressions of love. God is present in all of us and we encounter Him when we love one another. And we know He is Our Father because of His love for us. I wasn't conscious of my mother actually giving birth to me or of my father standing by her side, but I know they are my parents because of their expression of love for me and because, well, I believe them when they tell me they are.

Well, this isn't any crazy theological concept or anything, and might even be an old chestnut (Thesaurus says that's a synonym for cliché...who knew?!), but I liked the story. I promise it's actually better when it's told in Spanish, especially if it's told to Spanish-understanding ears. So I was just thinking of you, dear readers, and how I pray that you encounter God today in any expression of love or in the act of giving. And know that others encounter God through you! It seems cliché, but as we talked about in class, believing it could really change the way we go about our daily lives. Sonrían!

This is a view from right outside my dorm room of the volcano in our backyard amidst the horizon of the beautiful sunset this evening. Yes, it's active.  

Respira, Respira

The coloring is a bit off, but I think you get the idea.

This Sunday we took our first trip! Seventeen of us traveled together in a van with a driver named David. He will probably make reappearances throughout the semester as I believe we will hire him for most of our trips. His van is perfect for our number and really is pretty awesome. It actually has stadium seating within the van, which makes for good conversation acoustics (well, to be honest, we all pretty much passed out both ways for this trip...but in the future I know our van-rides will hold a lot of promise...).
So, destination: Tepoztlan. Tepoztlan is a pretty small little down near Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos. It was quaint and beautiful and was sort of nestled at the bases some massive and very green mountains. Right away, we set off to our first activity-The conquering of El Tepozteco, a mountain with a pyramid on top. The main street led right to the base of the mountain. As we got closer, we saw signs warning us about the dangers of hiking and dehydration. The beginning of the ascent was lined with vendors offering a way out of workout ahead (and boy, at this time my legs were already feeling the burn...bad sign). However, as we began, I knew it was going to be vale la pena (worth it!). The way up was roughly 2,000 feet but my group stopped frequently to...take pictures and enjoy the scenery...and participate in such activities as the title of this blog implies. Now, the story in pictures:

The beginning of the climb!

How could one not stop to marvel at this beauty of creation?

So...Lush. 

Climbing buddies, Amanda and Reagan

The pyramid at the top! Usually it would have cost 30 pesos to go check it out, pero domingos son gratis!

The view from the top of the pyramid. Magnificent.

Students Victorious. Enjoying the view and the rest.  This pyramid ledge went all the way around the top for some nice and treacherous scaling!

Hi Mom and Dad!

There were these cute little creatures at the top of the mountain called Tejones and plenty of signs warning against feeding them. 

Baby Tejon!

I tried to make friends...it wasn't having any of it. 

After climbing down, our legs were all literally shaking. We ate some grub and headed to the market for some browsing. They had wonderful displays of fresh fruit and countless works of art. Believe it or not, I actually escaped with just a small 20 peso candle, a postcard, and some fruit. Eventually I will have to overcome thriftyness or I will come back empty-handed, but for now, I await the next stipend. We walked past an ex-convent in the middle of the market. Its entrance had a mural on it made completely of seeds!

We also encountered a procession in the street which was seemingly devoted to corn. There were tons of men and women carrying corn stalks and images of corn and one woman was incensing the entire group. I'm not really sure exactly what it was all about, but I gathered that corn is important. To say the least. It made me wonder why there are not any devotional activities to corn in the Midwest. Well, now that I think about it, there are probably some sweet parades somewhere around there.

All in all, it was quite the successful first trip. And now, I should really start some homework...

Oh and Sidenote: So, my schedule did not allow me to sign up for any Salsa dancing classes for the semester, which is very sad, but hopefully I'll still pick up a few techniques somewhere along the way. In its place, however, I have signed up for a Zumba class. Apparently the tag line for Zumba is "ditch the workout, join the party!" Basically, it is an aerobic dance class with somewhat of a latin feel to it and it started today! Today, I essentially just perfected the art of raising the heart rate by spastically moving around. Hey, whatever gets it done. My hopes for the semester include getting some Shakira hips learning how to do the whole rapid motion chest pump/thrusty thing that apparently takes a lot more coordination than I thought. After all those years dancing in front of Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pam's mirrors (well, almost any mirror that showed me my reflection), I would have thought I could handle it. Oh well.  However, I have to say that there was a cotton-eyed-joe number and I aced it!
An example of Zumba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf0q6qtThF4

Mosquito Death Count: 22

Mexpandable Waistlines

Mama told me to stay away from the tequilla...but not the tequilla ice cream!!! Nor any flavor for that matter. Though dad probably would warn me about eating too much ice cream. But if I listened to all of these consumption warnings, where would this wonderful section of the blog be?
Anyways, at the mercado in Tepoztlan there were plenty of opportunities to get ice cream. In fact, in all of the mercados I have been to so far, as well as at random places on the streets, there are "nieve" stands with vendors offering free samples on those cute little spoons. There are countless flavors and I have not tried one I did not like. When I was with my host mother last weekend, I tried mango with this red chile powder/paste called "chamoy" spread on the inside of the cup and over the top of the ice cream. It was actually pretty delicious!
In Tepoztlan we went to an actual shop to buy some helado. Sidenote: In Mexico, they usually mean the same thing when they say "helado" and "nieve." However, there is a definite difference! (says Wikipedia). Helado is made industrially with more artificial substances and chemicals and with a higher content of fat. Nieve is mostly hand made and consists of the actual changing of liquid into solid using natural methods and salt. It has natural flavorings from fruit pulp or nuts or whatever the flavor is, including tequilla. At our helado stop, I got three samplings of different flavors. They were all delicious but I have no idea what they were because I just choppily asked the scooper girl what her favorites were and got those. Otherwise, I would have never been able to make a decision. Later on we passed one of many nieve stands in the market and they had tequilla flavor. My curiosity as well as my sweet tooth led me to wholeheartedly agree to my second serving of ice cream in less than an hour. I'm not really sure how to describe this flavor, except that it wasn't nasty, as I might have expected. It was sweet and not too strong. It basically had whatever, if any, good taste of tequilla in it mixed with sugar. I'm not sure if I would get it just to eat it again, there are too many other flavors waiting, but it was yet another MW experience for the win.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Ok. Bear with me on this title and the connection to follow:

I have recently been receiving little gifts from the nighttime critters in my dorm room. Specifically, spider bites. Just yesterday I discovered two more raised itchy dots on my finger. One of the host moms thinks it might be vampires, but that they are not on my neck because Mexican vampires are more polite. Anyways, I am not feeling any lack of love from those cute little eight-legged creatures. I woke up this morning, half-thinking that I might have bulged massive muscles, be able to squirt webs out of my wrist, and have the ability to climb up walls. Alas, no. But what did come of this thought was a quote from Spiderman that now graces us as the title of this blog.

Here's the catch - it also fits (sort of) with what I've been meaning to blog about! So win-win there. Though, warning, this entry has more to do with the "musings" part of the blog.

This semester, in conjunction with our medical internship, we are attending different conferences and presentations to supplement our experiences in the hospitals. Some will be hands-on and some in a lecture format. This past Friday we started off with a one-hour "conferencia"  on medical ethics. The head doctor from one of the hospitals we will be working at came to speak to us. He talked about the difference between ethics and morals and how they fit into the field of medicine. It is very important for a doctor to respect their patient's own set of morals and what they think it means to be human. "Ser humano" was a frequent phrase. At one point I tried to ask him a question about moral relativism but I don't think I'm versed enough in spanish yet to make much of a point or inquiry on that topic. He talked about the rights of patients and the rights of doctors. One thing he made clear is that having a certain point of view doesn't make one intolerant.

Steering away from the point for a second, there was one part he was talking about infidelity (how it's not against the law but is immoral) and apparently I had a confused look on my face, which is probably there anytime I am trying to listen to a lecture in Spanish.  So he looked at me and said, "Cuando tengas novio vas a saber que es infidelidad." Optimistic guy...

Anyways, I won't bore you with too much of a summary of the lecture, but will proceed with a personal reflection that this conference brought up. First of all, I found this lecture very fascinating and very pertinent. And then, after further reflection, I remembered that the whole concept of medical ethics is what initially got me excited about medicine! It's kind of funny how easy it is to lose sight of initial motivations after so many other factors enter the equation.

I remember one weekend during freshman year I went to a medical ethics conference at Notre Dame and listened to a doctor talk about the physician's role in teaching and implementing ethical medical practices. I left that talk feeling juiced, totally pumped, and alive(thank you Mike Patin). He talked about how much power a physician has to influence ethical medical decisions to actually be made, inside the hospital room. He said that you can tell people, protest, or teach in a classroom all you want, but to actually be in the room with the patient changes everything. A doctor is able to say "no, I will not perform that abortion" or "no, I will not prescribe birth control" or "no, I will not assist you in suicide" and if the patient is willing to listen, he or she can explain why. It's like being on the front-line of a war, and I wanted to be there. So that is where the title ties in...

Now, I still don't know where that leaves me profession-wise, but it got me excited to spend some time in the hospitals and explore the medical profession more. After all, vocation encompasses more than just profession right? It includes family life, love life, creative interests and pursuits, etc. So many things to think and pray about, as wonderful as they all are...Being in a new and uncomfortable place, it's sometimes difficult to settle down and listen, but God speaks through all of this restlessness and confusion, as well as our passions and inclinations. So, live the question, eh?

Well, again, this blog entry has been more on the "musings" side than about Mexico. Though it is a good beginning to the medical adventures to come this semester. However, I hope I can make up the lack of Mexican related material with this weeks edition of....


Mexpandable Waistlines!

Ladies and Gents, I found....(drumroll please)...the Panaderia! Well, there are several of them everywhere, but last week Libby, a friend of mine, and I stumbled upon one very close to UDLAP. It's a gold mine. A typical experience at the Panaderia:

1. Walk in to the sweet smell of fresh baked goodies
2. Pick up a tray and some tongs
3. Use the tongs to fill the tray with selections from the plethora of breads, pastries, and you-name-its from baskets that line the walls
4. Pay a ridiculously low amount of pesos for the treats on your tray
5. Nom nom nom

This picture is technically from Wikipedia...but you get the idea...

Yes, as you've probably thought to yourself already, this could be dangerous. But really, it's just a fun time. They have everything from herbed loaves, to sugar cookies, to muffin-like things. Here, they are called pan dulces. There is a grand variety of types of pan dulces, but they all share one thing: they are beautiful. As in, the presentation is always top notch. You have probably seen things called conches before, a typical type of pan dulce. One that I got is called an oreja, which means, ear. I guess it sort of looks like an ear, but I tend to see it as a heart.

And she learns her first word...

 During our first few days, all of the native spanish speakers were eager to share words and phrases with us that we wouldn't necessarily learn in Spanish class. Some are specifically Mexican words, some are words used only among young adults, etc. To be honest, I don't really remember most of them now. I probably should have written them down. But there was one word. One word that would stand alone. One word to rule them all. Little did I know at the time what this word would come to mean to me. The word is:

Desmadre.

The word was described to us as complete chaos, disorder, and confusion. Apparently, while it is an appropriate word in Spanish, it has an English equivalent, which I would say now but I would rather my blog not contain Mexplicit lyrics. The word, broken down, is "des-madre", or something like "without the mother." The idea is that mothers bring organization and order to chaos, and without them, all would be left in ruin. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but it sure makes sense in my world with my shopping/packing skills without Mama. I have heard some professors say it and it seems pretty common.  However, I said it today with my host-mother and found out that it really isn't that proper...Well, whomever uses it, we sure have during the past few days. As in, our top 5 most used words would be modified to look closer to something like this:

1- the
2- of
3- to
4- desmadre
5-and

Why? Our first week of classes/regsitration would prove to be described with this beautifully simple yet all-encompassing word. I'm going to try to keep this as short as it can be.

Everything started off smoothly. We went through a very organized registration process set up for international students. In fact, many of us were pre-registered for classes and had very little to change. Almost everyone got what they wanted and everyone got what they needed. However, later that day, we met with the internship coordinator who organizes our rotations in the hospital. We were handed our schedules for rotations. Most people had Tuesday and Thursday mornings open for the hospital, but half of us had to go on Mondays and Wednesdays. This started a slew class changes, a little bit of anger, and some panic.

My long story short-I had to change two of my classes. They told me to switch into a different history class so I proceeded to make sure the class was approved through Notre Dame, and then went to change it. When I got there, it was full so I went to the department head but they could not do anything about it. Then I tried to get another history class approved but that was going to be a dead end. The conclusion to all of this is traveling twice a week to another university in downtown Puebla to take a Theology class that can count for my major.

What made this a desmadre is that it all had to happen within the three-day add/drop period that UDLAP has, and I was making much of these negotiations in Spanish. I felt nowhere near ready for that one.
To add to this, Monday a big group of us went to a class at the medical school we are taking called Family and Community Medicine. The nine of us all tromp into the class and sit in the front row. The professor had already been talking and everyone else was seated. As we sat down there were very obvious mumbles and snickers. Finally one of the ND girls stepped up and asked which class we were in. Sexology. Not quite what we were looking for, but I think it could have been interesting...Anyways, at that moment, the secretary came in, told us all to come outside and told us that the class had been changed to 4pm instead of 6pm and that we had missed it. No one informed the rest of UDLAP so again, desmadre, and many people had to switch up class schedules.

I won't bore you with more details about these days and really, everything pretty much turned out alright in the end. Also, because my schedule was in shambles, I had to travel to UPAEP, the other university, on Monday to meet with the Theology professor, Padre de Simone, and I was able to attend his Mass that morning. So there you go. God has a pretty sweet way of making things work out and providing me with opportunities and environments to keep my eyes on Him. And now I'm getting that Theology class I wanted! It's titled Dialogues between Science and Religion...so sort of fitting for me. Also, Padre de Simone offered to give me outside readings to explore a little bit more in particular the development of the Catholic culture in Mexico, so I look forward to that.
My other classes:

Physics- Taught in English in Mexico by a professor from Poland. So far, not too shabby. I left my first science lab on Friday feeling somewhat successful.

Psychology of Medicine- this will be pretty interesting, but I have a 20 minute individual presentation   that is actually coming up soon. Hopefully I can speak Spanish by then...

Translation-I think this will be my hardest and most favorite class. We translate texts from English to Spanish and vice versa. It is difficult because in translation, you have to understand the meaning and  idea of the text and not translate word for word. We have to research how native speakers of the language we are translating into would say it naturally. According to our teacher, we have to "be a Sherlock Holmes of words."

Medical Internship- Starts the first week of September!

I have to mention, that while the whole thing was, well, a desmadre, there were so many wonderfully accommodating people helping me out. Big shout-outs to Lisette, our on-site coordinator, and my advisor at ND, Padre de Simone, and the coordinator at UPAEP who really were all bending over backwards for me and the other students. Not that they will ever see this, but I just want ya'll to know, they rock.

I'm excited to get into a school routine, if that makes any sort of nerdy sense at all. On Wednesday, after all of the ups and downs and insanity of the beginning of the week, to be honest, all I wanted to do was sit down and do homework. And thankfully, I had no other choice.

Mexpandable Waistlines-

Nalleli, being the sweet roommate that she is, came with a house-warming present for me. Well, actually, she gave me several presents in one evening. When I protested saying, "Nalleli, muchos regalos!"(clearly I can form full sentences in Spanish already) she replied that if you have a friend in Mexico, you give them presents! Good diplomacy. Well, looks like I have some shopping to do. Anyways, one of the more scrumptious gifts was a massive jar of carmel-colored substance call Cajeta. Cajeta is the word used in Mexico for Dulce de Leche. Sure enough, this jar of goodness is made with sheeps milk, sugar, and a type of sherry. There are also bits of nuts in it but I'm not sure what they are as they aren't under the ingredients (It seems there is less concern over nut allergies). It is mostly associated with the town of Celaya, Guanajuato (a state in Mexico). Nalleli says you can put it on hot cakes or warm it up with milk to make a delicious hot drink. So far, I've just put it on some pan dulce and while it was sticky, it slid down my throat with joy. Well actually, yesterday, I just sat at my desk spooning it into my mouth. 

Luckily I have all semester to finish it...

Ella Tiene Fuego

The title of this mini-post is actually a pretty great song by Celia Cruz. I was going to post a link to the video so you could hear the song, but I felt a little awkward since they all contain scantily clad women whose hips don't lie. So you can do that on your own time if you wish. Though, I guess it would show you the mad dancing skills I plan to come back with...

Anyways, what I really want to get at is the Fuego part. Fuegos artificiales to be exact. Fireworks!!!
There are fireworks being set off constantly here. At all hours of the night and day, loud pops and booms from near and far fill the air. Between the fireworks, freakishly loud thunder, gunshots (JK Mom), and this weird popping noise my refrigerator makes every once in a while when it wants to cool down, I have done many startled jumps since arriving.

So why all of these fireworks? I think there is just always some type of celebration going on. Sunday we went to Mass at the church on top of the pyramid in Cholula. During Mass there were countless bangs of fireworks that sounded like they were being lit on the roof of the steeple. The other day, I got woken up at 5am with some out my window. Who celebrates what at 5am?
On further thought though, I think maybe they are the ones that have it right. We have so much to celebrate don't we? And it just makes it extra special to do it at ungodly hours of the night. So we can celebrate life, at all hours, with fireworks...or not!

Just some fireworks outside of our, so far, favorite taco stand, Tacos Israel. No big deal. 

Recently I have taken to celebrating by doing a dance in my room that I call "Mashed Posquito." It consists of me chasing mosquitos around the room and killing them with my bare hands. Its especially fun when they have just finished a feeding.

En el Aire Libre

This first week included the first excursions of many for the semester (I was very tempted to write Mexcursions but I thought better of it...). We took tours of Cholula and Puebla with the Amigos Internacionales. For reference, my understanding is that Cholula is inside the greater city of Puebla, sort of like Manhattan is to New York. And to make it more confusing, there are three different Cholulas: San Pedro, San Andres, and something else that currently slips my mind.

Cholula San Pedro is just a $5-peso ride away and has a lot of exploration-worthy sites to see. We were all supposed to go on a tour de autobus but there ended up being room for only half. Therefore, myself, along with about 15 others decided to proceed on foot.
The first place we went was El Convento Franciscano de San Gabriel Archángel. It was huge and beautiful with ornate decor. It was the first church I had been in since arriving and they happened to be having Adoration. It was so nice to be able to sit and feel at home from so far away. The air was thick with history too! I tried to imagine myself participating in Mass back when the church was built. A little bit of history: The church was built in 1552 and back then, Catholicism was still being brought to the indigenous of Mexico. They were used to having religious services in the open air, unconstrained by buildings etc. Therefore, the Spanish built the church with a massive courtyard where they could have services en espacios libres. Interesante! I wish so much that UDLAP had a Theology class for me to take about the religious history and development in Mexico.

The Zócalo, or public square, was swarming with people selling homemade goods, balloons, and food! There was a center "Kiosk" that had a couple of book stands and the bathroom. This was my first experience of having to pay for the bathroom and extra for toilet paper. The book stands also had some great material. Several classics translated into spanish, the first few Harry Potters, and countless Getting to know your Body pamphlets. Overall, it was a good first trip into town and I look forward to spending more time there.

There is a huge Pyramid in Cholula with a church on top. It is sort of the face of Cholula and is on all the postcards but I'll talk more about it later. For now, un gran metaphor: The pyramid, built by the indigenous, without the Catedrál, would only be earth. The Catedrál, built by the Spanish, without the pyramid, would fall flat. Interesante.

The trip into Puebla was a bit more overwhelming. It's huge! Or maybe it just seemed like that because it was all so new. We had a tour guide who was very knowledgeable and good at explaining things several ways and with hand gestures so that us Internationals could understand. He told us that Puebla is a very rich city. The official name is Puebla de Los Angeles because there is a tale (leyenda) that Julián Garcés saw a perfect city in a dream and went to make it a reality. The indigenous people could not live there unless they were servants and even then they could not talk to the Spaniards.
The first place we went was El Templo de San Francisco, another beautiful church. Inside there were a couple of glass coffins with what looked like statues inside. I had seen some in other churches, but there was one that was at the center of the alter that all of the students gathered around. It wasn't until about ten minutes later that I realized it actually was the real incorruptible body of Beato Fray Sebastián de Aparicio. He lived during the beginning of Puebla, had an enormous amount of faith, helped the poor indigenous, and lived the Gospel (el Evangelio). Apparently there are 968 milagros documented during his process of Beatification, which was in 1789. So, needless to say, that was pretty cool. The rest of Puebla was like a huge street party. There were balloon venders, bands, food stands everywhere. ¡Que divertido! Or actually, I should say, "Que Padre." This was the first  Mexican saying I learned here. It means "that's cool" etc. Interesting choice of words. Translated to english I'm imagining someone saying "Oooo Daddy." Oh! Some guy in my suite just said it. Es muy popular.

Well that is most of our first week here. Next time I blog it will be about my adventures as an actual student. Yes, school is starting. ¡Estoy lista para aprender!

But before we end our time here....

Mexpandable Waistlines-

Papel Picado

In Cholula, the walking tour group went to a restaurant called La Lunita. It was a cute little restaurant with lots of colorful papel picado (traditional paper art that hangs from the ceiling) and Mariachi players singing what we learned to be popular romantic songs. As I looked through the menu, again, I was lost. There was something I hadn't seen before however: Huitlacoche. I asked Juan Carlos, one of the Amigo Internacionales, what it was. I proceeded to learn that Huitlachoche is the fungus that grows on corn and apparently is it quite the treat. Specifically it is a type of parasite that attacks the corn and is spread by the wind. While it is considered a pest, clearly it should be used and turned into a sort of delicacy. So, of course, I ordered Quesadillas de Huitlacoche. How bad could it be? I like mushrooms...After we ordered, some of the french girls sitting across from me still didn't understand what is was. Juan Carlos was having a hard time trying to explain "fungus" in spanish so I decided to jump in. "Como es entre los dedos del pie" I explained, which more or less means, "what is between one's toes". I don't think they appreciated that very much...The french guy to the right of me made some comment like, "I'm trying to eat" or something. Bad choice.

Anyways, the meal ended up no being too bad. The Huitlacoche had the faint taste of mushrooms and was a little mushy. It was mostly gray with a bit of black, so not the prettiest thing to eat. I don't know if I would order it again, but I left, like all meals thus far, full and satisfied.

Comencemos

Let's begin, shall we? It's about time, I know, but who knew starting a blog would be such a daunting endeavor...I blame it on the blog title, which stood as a total roadblock for me. I was set on being extremely witty and original, but found that the forcing made it worse. Here were some of the options:

Mexcreted Musings
Mexcursions
147 Days in Mexile
Mexistential Musings
Mexothermic Reactions-haha science..
Mexocytosis - as in musings being released from the cell of my head/montezumas revenge. lots of releasing themes
The Blog of Mexodus


Clearly I got stuck on an idea...but one wouldn't believe how many words start with 'ex', making it actually a pretty Mexasperating but Mexellent game! I decided to go with this chosen title because, frankly, by brain and articulation skills are pretty disorganized, varied, and random. And the Mexpansion  Pack because, well, I'm in Mexico (in case that hasn't been clear), I muse about many things but this blog will mostly entail my experiences here, and also, The Sims really needs an expansion pack all about Mexico; think about the possibilities!
Anyways...

This semester I am studying abroad in Puebla, Mexico at La Universidad de Las Americas Puebla (UDLAP). Myself and sixteen other Notre Dame students have just embarked on an adventure that I know will be fun, challenging, and full of growth. Coming here was quite the decision to make, to be honest, and it kept coming back with more and more reasons to say no. All along though, I knew I had to come or I would always wonder what I missed out on south of the border. And now that I have arrived, and all things considered, I am glad that I am here.

We arrived Monday evening after a long day of travel. Thankfully, I met up with another ND student, John, in Arizona so we were able to fly to Mexico City and figure out the bus and taxi to UDLAP together. I did get stopped and questioned by the immigration police though. She asked where I was going, why, if I knew the customs law on bringing money into Mexico, and how much money I had on me. She made me sweat. It turned out fine, but apparently I have a suspicious looking face.
When we got here, four of us almost immediately left for food, found a Taqueria down the street and had our first tacos y cervezas. Delicious! Later on that evening I met a couple of my suite-mates and my roommate, Nalleli. I had to have them all write down their names in my journal because it was hard for me to understand some of them. She does not speak much english at all, but is very patient with me. Nalleli plays soccer for the Aztecas (UDLAP's mascot) and we decided that I'll have to be here cheerleader at the games. I did always want to be a cheerleader...Anyways, Nalleli is awesome and I feel very blessed to have her as a roommate. She is gone for the weekend and I already miss her!

Nalleli and I

Orientation and international student information was to follow the next few days, but for that evening I had to find out some of the more important stuff. Could I brush my teeth with the tap water? (Yes.) Could I flush toilet paper down the toilet? (No.) How do I say, "Help! I'm trapped in the bathroom stall!" in Spanish? (I eventually did it on my own. Maybe I should still figure that our for future reference.) And then I got a raging bloody nose in the middle of the night. Having a fully moistened nose is the only think I miss about the Texas humidity from this summer.

The next couple of days consisted of getting to know the campus and some other international students. There is a group of UDLAP students called Amigos Internacionales that have really been taking care of us and running the show. They helped us register for stuff, and gave us tours of UDLAP, Cholula, and Puebla (more to follow on that). The information sessions have all been in Spanish, so we have really been plunged into the language learning immediately. I could understand most of the first session, when the presenters weren't speaking too fast. Conversations I have had with various Mexican students have been hit and miss. I have walked away from a couple just smacking my forehead with my hand and thinking how ridiculous I must have sounded.

UDLAP is beautiful. It is almost like a tropical oasis. It's a closed campus with countless types of trees, flowers, and shrubbery. Statues line the walkways and shade-covered benches are everywhere. There is a pretty big garden with trees and flowers everywhere. It's perfect for walking around or taking a run and ending up at the meditation garden which is very secluded, quite, and peaceful. The weather is pretty much perfect. It is a bit cool in the morning but eventually gets to 75 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. The evenings get cooler and without fail, so far, it rains pretty hard in the late afternoon/evening. But no humidity! I'm getting the feeling I'll probably be outside a lot this semester. However, the buildings are all beautiful and I especially look forward to making use of the library. It has some pink walls, purple furniture, and paintings everywhere. Quite festive compared to the ND library brown. My favorite part though, is that it smells exactly like Hesburgh library. If I close my eyes, I can actually imagine being there. The smell of old books may be added to my top list of scents.

Part of the Garden

One of the many interesting and original statues

The dorms are called Colegios and are basically groups of apartment style buildings with a suite set up. I live in Cain Murray and there are three other dorms. They are pretty nice and have a courtyard with different outdoor activities and lawn chairs in the middle.

Mi Colegio Cain Murray

Our pretty little courtyard with a mini soccer field

More on a couple of our initial adventures is to follow is subsequent posts, but first I would like to introduce what is surely to be my favorite part of this blog. Some of you many know my slight passion for food. When I was growing up, I would always remember vacations, sister's swim meets, brother's baseball tournaments,  and pretty much any event by what food we had there. So by golly I'm ready to make some Mexican memories. This portion of the blog will document a new culinary experience each time. I title it:

Mexpandable Waistlines-

I'm going to start off with something simple but crucial. Tacos. From the first night on I think I have had at least one taco every day. The first night, as I mentioned before, we went out to tacos and boy was it a good welcome to Mexico. We all opened the menu and were met with so many different choices that were completely unfamiliar to us. Who knew there are so many more food types than are shown in that one colorful and labeled picture in the second year spanish book? From that, I definitely knew "tacos con bistec y queso" and ordered that. Then I had a jumbled conversation with the waiter who returned to ask if meat from the rib of the cow instead of somewhere else (never quite caught that) was okay. I would have never known the difference, but maybe by the time I leave I will have the delicacy of each cut of meat down. Tacos traditionally come with corn tortillas (maize) which are delicious, but so far I prefer flour tortillas (harina). There are so many different types. We've gone to about three different places for tacos and UDLAP put on a Noche de Tacos for us. One type I will introduce for now is Tacos Árabes which is really popular in Puebla. It has a flour tortilla and pork from the loin or the leg and certain spices like oregano, thyme, and garlic. Delicious.