Brussles and now Ireland... the final place of our trip

We left Amsterdam on Tuesday around 11 and got into Brussels around two or three... sometime around there :) It was a very nice day in Brussels which was very nice because I got a really bad head cold in Amsterdam.... I'm sure it was from the cold weather. Brussels is a business capital and is very pretty and is full of Belgium chocolate. There are chocolate shops all over and of course who knows when we will be in Belgium again so we had to eat as much as possible. And the Belgium waffles with chocolate are so good that we had some of those too. As I said before we are eating our way through Europe. Today we left the hotel around seven thirty and went to the airport and headed out to Dublin Ireland. Ann has a lot of friends here that used to live in Peru when she was down there. Right now the weather is nice but I hear that it will be cold. Good good. The plane right mixed with my head cold was not a good mixture whatsoever so I have been laying low today. We really don't have any plans for Ireland but the days seem to be filling up as everyone wants us to stay with them and wants to take us here or there. So each day will be a surprise. We only have one more week and then we will back in Wisconsin and compared to this weather Wisconsin is going to feel like the tropics!!!!

Last days in Paris and Amsterdam

So the day after my shoe broke we got up and then we went to the Effel Tower but we did not climb it because we had a dinner date with ken Neuman and his family at noon and if we waited in those lines we would never get out of there. It was beautiful day so we got some perfect pictures!!! We then had lunch at Ken's and it was nice meeting his family. They are from Texas but had lived in paris in 1990 til 1993 and now were here for three months this summer. After that we went to a museum that had everything in it and I mean everything! We ended the day by going to where all the artists are painting. That was the hot spot and we just had fun people watching and listening to little bands along the way.... oh and eating crepes. :) On Sunday we went to meeting with Ken and then we went to the train station to get a train to amsterdam. We waited in line forever because we had to get a reservation and we got one then for like a little over an hour so we just killed some time and then we took the train first to brussels and then Amsterdam. We got in around eight and our hotel was recommended to us and we had no idea how to get there. After walking around for i don't know maybe 25 minutes we finally found out we just needed to take tram 2. We got on tram 2 and the people kept piling in and before long we were just crammed in there. So you can imagine getting off. We had to lift our suitcases above everyone's head hoping that we would not knock them out. If we did who knows if they would even know. We did find our hotel and it is very nice and is located in a good spot once you find it. We walked around til about 11:00 last night and then I was dead tired so I made ann call it a night:). Today we got up and first went to the Anne Frank house. It was very sobering and it was very interesting to see everything from that portion of history. After that we went to the Van Gogh museum and even though I'm not big on art museums this one was good.  Then we just strolled around and since it was in the afternoon and not night we took a walk down the red light district. Very interesting to say the least. You can do anything in Amsterdam I am pretty sure. We also did a boat tour of the city which was about an hour and then came back to the hotel just to rest for a bit and I am sure we will be going back out tonight. We have to check out tomorrow at 11 and then will probably get a train to Brussels. We have a hotel there for tomorrow night and then a flight out of Brussels to Dublin Wednesday morning. 

Real Info on Switzerland and Italy

Ok first of all i forgot to mention that on our way to Switzerland we stopped in Freiburg Germany because we just wanted a break from the train and to our luck there was an international festival there and guess what? There were students from Madison Wisconsin. Now how unreal is that. We actually spent a lot of the day there so we got to Switzerland, the relatives, around six. Well Ann has not been there for twenty years so to find their house was fun. We started headed towards the ski resort but then realized that was not right. We were lucky there was a sign with their name on it so I am so glad otherwise we would have headed right up a hill which would have not been necessary. We stayed with luzi and his wife and their two kids. They were very nice and we enjoyed our stay. On Sunday we went to luz and ruth's house which is luzi's parents for tea. We met a bunch of the other family too. On Monday Luz took us on our own personal tour of Switzerland and I must say i got car sick and I never get car sick. It was nice though and we saw a lot of eastern Switzerland. It is very beautiful and clean and the only thing that would have been better is if we had sun. Then Tuesday we headed out towards Venice. We left at seven thirty, took a couple of buses and then got two trains. Our first train took us to Milano and we got off and had about fifteen minutes to burn until the next train and were walking around and then Ann goes MY BAG. Lets just say she left our life on the train. So she went running towards this train which was like the one we were one but not the one and I watched her with the luggage and I saw her head that way and then that was it. Then the train took off. Here I thought, oh great here she hopped on the train thinking that was the train we were on and it took off and here i sit with the luggage. My game plan was to sit there and wait for her to come back because first of all she had everything. BUT come to find out she had went to the help desk and was working with them so I was happy to see her. It took about two hours until we left because they found the bag and then sent it on another train back and then we got it. Now this was no ordinary bag. This had all the reservations for the rest of our trip and all Ann's summer reservations, her dissertation, the computer, her camera, and all our money. And get this.... all of it was in there when we got it. We must say we love the Italians. So a little delayed we got to Venice but it was like six thirty so not bad. We just toured a little that night and then went to bed. The next tour days we walked the whole city of venice. It was so nice and beautiful and we saw everything. The second day we then had a night train to Paris which is where we are now. We thought our hotel said we could check out late, like around four but turns out they were not very happy with us and we left quick at one. We stored our luggage at the station and then walked around until about seven and then just waited for our train with left around eight. This, as we were told was a special train... for special people I suppose :) Our sleeper car was very nice but very small. It was just the two of us so that was nice but they are made for three and I can't imagine if we had another person in there. Of course Ann entertained me by trying to wash her feet in this little sink and getting herself all tangled up so the ride went fast. We got into Paris about ten on Friday and went to our hotel and left our luggage and then of course had to see EVERYTHING possible :) We first went to the Louvre and were there for a couple of hours. It is huge so we just hit the highlights, such as the mona lisa and micheal angelos sculptures, napolean's rooms etc. Oh let me mention that we really figured out the metro system. The first time we got our tickets we got took... paid for a day pass but got a one time pass because some guy who we thought was really helping us out was not being honest but oh well. Then we continued our art gallery tour by going to the Musee d'Orsay. On the way there this lady claimed to have found a ring right in front of us and wanted to give it to us as a gift. We of course did not want it but she gave it to us and then took off. Well it wasn't long until she was back wanting coffee money so we gave her a couple of Euros because she would not take the ring back. Then across the street, another man found a ring just like the one the lady found. Funny. Although it was funny when ann showed him the ring and said oh i already have one. After that art museam we went to Notre Dame and we climbed the towers. It was a hike but beautiful at the top. We had to wait awhile to get in but it was def. worth it. Then we came back and showered but our night was not over. We then headed towards the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysess. That again was another huge set of stairs to climb but we had no problem whatsoever UNTIL my shoe broke. And it was broke so here I had to walk all the way back barefoot in one of the most fancy parts of Paris. My feet were disgustingly dirty. Anyways we got back around 11 and called it a night as it was just getting dark. Our battery is dying but that gets you caught up til yesterday. We are getting pictures so just wait a lil bit more. Hope you all are doing well!!!!

Germany, Switzerland, Litchenstein, and now Italy

Well we have not had access to the computer lately which is why i have not posted. So lets see if i can catch you up. We left luxembourg Friday morning and took a train to Frankfurt Germany. We actually decided to get off in Tier... or something like that :), and we just walked around there for a couple of hours and then got back on the train. Tier was more of a historical town with cobblestone streets and little shops. The markets were just opening up when we got there so that was fun to see. We got into Frankfurt around mid afternoon and of course decided to take a walk and see what was around. It turned into a three hour walk but no fear i swear we stopped every half an hour to buy something to eat. I honestly think we are eating our way through Europe. We of course had a german pretzel, bratwarst, and i cant even remember what else but a lot of good food. We got a little lost because we thought things looked familiar so we kept walking towards them and then we realized we were walking in a circle. That night we got back to the hotel around six and took a little nap which was five hours. I guess we were tired and for ann to sleep that long is simply amazing. We then just went to bed for the night but people were up and about til five in the morning. Then on Saturday morning we got up early, since we slept so much it was no problem, and got a train to switzerland to be with the relatives. We got there around five i think. They live way up in the Alps so it was beautiful but cold and raining. Well we got to go now so thats all you get :) I am in Italy now until tomorrow, venice and its beautiful and the sun is out!!!!

Europe = RAIN

Ann and I had a very adventurous day today. Sheila told us that we should take the train to this town that is about an hour north so we could see some exhibit. So we went to the train station and had a hard time because nothing is in English. Its either Luxembougish, French, German or some other language. With my spanish though I can give a good guess what the French is saying. People just talk to us too like we know what they are saying and we just nod and smile. What tourists! Well we found our train but had about an hour til we left so we walked around and the bakeries here are simply amazing!!! So of course we had some baked goods, all healthy for us of course! We then got on our train and once we got there it was raining and we were just wanting to buy an umbrella but guess what. Everything closes at noon for lunch and I mean everything, even the restaurants!!! So here we are walking the streets of Clerviox getting soaking wet and nothing is open. We looked for this exhibit we were suppose to go to but after 45 minutes we said forget it and went back to the train station and got back on the train to come back home. Wait til Sheila hears that we didn't even do the lists of things she wanted us to see! Once we got back here we found a restaurant to have soup and then we took a bus back to Sheila's. We are little chilled but warming up. It stopped but the weather changes so fast here that I think we will wait to do anymore exploring today! So lesson of the day is always take an umbrella with you even if it is blue skies and sun in the morning and don't get stuck somewhere around lunch time because everything is closed.

Made It!

Surprisingly I made it here with no problems what so ever. I made all my flights and got my luggage. Well the only thing that was a little wierd was that I got pulled over for a security check in Amsterdam and in front of everyone they really patted my down. They certainly did not miss anything but I was so tired I was just like whatever. I got in into Luxembough at 10:00 am time here which would be like 4:00 am back home and of course no sleeping allowed now. I have managed to stay up for pretty much most of the day. I did get a thirty minute nap while Ann worked on her paper for school but unfortunately she finished it fast so that ended my nap pretty fast. We did some touring of the town. We are staying with Ann's friend Sheila so she gave us directions to where to walk and we didn't even get lost. It is really peaceful and quiet here but just a little chilly. The country is actually really small. I think its like fifty miles wide and seventy miles long or something close to that. We took a little tour on a train and got a history lecture, walked around a bunch of the shops and then visited some of the parks. We are going to stay here tonight and let me tell you, I am ready for bed, and then tour again tomorrow. Friday we will head on the Eurorail to Frankfurt. We should get there around noon so we will stay the rest of the day there and then on Saturday we head to Switzerland to stay with the relatives until Tuesday. We finally talked to them today and Ruthie knew we were coming but Lutsi had no idea so I guess that was his surprise for the day. So that is what is in the agenda for the next couple of days!

Europe!!!!

Well tomorrow I head for Europe which crept on me really fast. I just started my laundry tonight at 11 so tonight is going to be a late night but I figure I'm just adjusting to the new time zone a little early right? I leave tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 from Madison and will be in Luxembough in like 13 hours I think. Once I actually looked at my itinery, like at 12 tonight, I was surprised how fast the trip will be!

Things have been very interesting over here in Wisconsin. Lets just say that we have gotten way too much rain. We had some wicked storms Sat. and Sun. and today the flooding began. Lake Delton which is a big lake where a lot of Dells attractions are on like Tommy Bartlett and where the Dells Ducks go actually does not exist no more. The dam broke this afternoon and the whole lake drained out into the Wisconsin River. I went up there this afternoon and could not believe it. Some of the condos even floated away right down the Wisconsin River. The engineers cannot figure out a way to stop it so it will basically be absolutely no water by tomorrow or the next couple of days. And it will take years to fill up............... like lots and lots of years so Lake Delton/Wisconsin Dells changed forever today! Dams are breaking left and and right and towns by the rivers are getting stuff out of their houses fast. It is a sight that I can't even explain. I actually went out and walked in the middle of the lake, empty lake and was standing in piles of dead fish! Soooooo............... on that note hopefully the rain doesn' t follow me to Europe.

Mom, dad, Angela and Travis left for Canada on Sunday. They left a little later than they had liked, they wanted to leave on Sat., but they are up there now and hopefully will enjoy the week up there!! Michael will be holding down the fort while they are gone and he does an impressive job at that so they should have no fears.

Well I am thinking I really should take a two hour nap because I just can't think straight anymore :) Then I will get up and finish packing! Keep tuned to updates on my travels over the next three weeks and here are some pictures of the lake draining.

Graduation Time

Well today was Michael's graduation and I realize that he certainly beat me to graduating. Now he will be making big bucks, have a good job, and I still will be going to school for the next years. Oh well :) I hope he gives me a loan. Haha. He is now heading to Mexico which is where I should be since I am the mexican in the family, but I suppose he deserves a nice vacation!

I got home from school last Thursday and started work at Nike and the Camp as soon as I got back so I can make as much money as I can for my Europe trip which I cannot believe is coming up fast. I have already spent a lot at Nike but I promise I needed everything I bought and I got it for really cheap. I have been getting up at 5:30 and running everymorning before going to work so that is what gives me my energy to keep up with all the tourists.

Well that is about all that has been happening. I hope all of you are enjoying spring, or this thing they call spring but still doesn't feel like it.

Some pictures From FL

Here are some pics I stole from Taryn...... I never seem to have a camera. Whoops :)

Almost done!!!

Well I suppose I should continue to update this. Spring break seems so long ago, but I only have a week of classes after this week and then a week of finals and then it is summer!!! Finally..... although no one would ever guess with this crazy minnesota weather we have. You would think we were living in Alaska. Never warms up but it will tease you. Sixty one day and snowing the next. GRRR. Oh well i must say that the last two days have been nice so maybe, just maybe, spring is finally here. I have just been busy with work and school. I ran a race on last weekend which wasn't the smartest thing I have done since I had a cold but my roommate and I had already paid and there is no college kid in the world that would pay for something and not do it! Well lets see..... here are my summer plans so far. I will go home prob May 8th when I get done with my last final. Michael and I and one of his friends are going to live in my grandparents old house, the green one so that aught to be fun! I will work at the campground and Nike til June 10th and then I am flying over to Europe to meet up with my Aunt Ann. We will be traveling like crazy til the 3rd of July but I am so excited. So I wonder what kind of adventures will happen over there:) Seems like overseas travels always end up in really good stories!! Then I will come home and work til school starts with a short break to go to the family reunion in August! I am excited to see everyone and I cannot believe how all the little ones are growing. Makes me feel old. Before long I will be one of those people that goes up to the kids and say " I remember when you were this big....." Oh geeze. Well i hope that everyone is enjoying spring. Hopefully not cramming for tests because that is no fun, no fun whatsoever!!!

Spring Break

Well unforutately my spring break has officially ended just now!!! I just got back from Tampa Florida where I spent the last five days with my parents, Angela, Travis, Dale and Bonnie, and my roommate Taryn. We had a blast and I have decided that I am going to have to join in on all their spring break vacations. I must say we laughed so much that maybe it didn't matter that we ate about 5,000 calories a day! Taryn and I flew down on Wednesday and got into Tampa around 3:30. We then took the super shuttle to our hotel, the travel lodge, which was a little interesting. I think Taryn was afraid we were going to get robbed or something so as we walked into our room we shouted.... what time do mom and dad get in again. haha. Traveling really wears one out so we just relaxed the rest of the day. Thursday we hung out at St. Pete's beach because that is where the travel lodge was. We then went and picked up the key to the house and went there and were planning on going swimming in the heated pool but we realized very quickly that the pool was NOT heated. We took a walk and then were in the house to surprise Dale, Bonnie, Angela and Travis since they did not know we were going to be there. We just laid on the couch hoping they would not see us right away but travis is a pretty intentive boy and figured out right away that we were there. We started out our vacation by going to Wal-Mart. That is how every vacation should be started. We ended up with seven boxes of cereal and I hope they are able to finish them by Thursday. After our shopping spree we realized that even though we bought out the Wal-Mart store we had not purchased any "real food" as Bonnie said so we went out to eat. Of course, even with the Tom Tom, we would go way out of the way but we did finally end up at Crabby Bills which ended up being an automatic favorite. Friday was raining so we stayed in quite a bit. We had thought it would be our beach day so we headed to Clearwater beach but since it was raining we decided to just eat at a restaurant that Mom and I had ate at when we were down there last. Of course it happened to be Crabby Bill's so we ate there again... twice in two days but hey it was a different location. Oh and if you think that was it Mom just texted and said that is where they were eating today so as I said they really really like Crabby Bills. We were going to walk around but no one was too excited to be in the rain so we went back to the house and took naps and then that evening we went out to the pier in St. Peterburg to eat some more! Saturday then turned into our beach day! The day started off bad for Uncle Dale as he stepped in some dog poop but he found out later that he shouldn't have complained about it too much because much worse was about to come. We went to Treasure Island to the beach and were there pretty much the whole afternoon. Even though we applied sunscreen we did not realize how burnt we were getting. Of course it takes a while to get beat red so when we got home we went swimming in the pool which thankfully got warmer thanks to Dad and Dale. By that evening everyone was redder than red. Dale then realized that a little dog poop was NOTHING compared to this aweful thing called a sunburn. He claims he is never taking off his clothes again. I don't think the night was very pleasant for anyone but I must say the only thing that I burnt were my eyes. For some reason I did not apply the sunscreen very well on my face so my eyes got fried and swelled which looked very attractive. Oh well. Sunday we had to take it easy so everyone could recover. Taryn and I had to leave this morning so we were up at four to leave for the airport at 4:30. We got back to Mankato around 3:30 and now I am trying really really hard to get back into the real world. I better get some motivation fast because I have to go work in ten minutes!!! It sounded like today the lucky ducks who get to stay til Thurday were going on a Pirates cruise and it sounded like my mom and dad were dancing away and embarassing Angela.... whats new? Well i better get moving.

A year later.........

Wow!! Well a year has passed since I have been in Mexico... ok so maybe that is a lil lie since I did go back down in May but it has almost been a year! Well lets see. Quick recap..... haha aren't you all excited to hear what I have done in the last year. Real easy school, mexico, work, school. Haha. Really though that is it. :) The semester after Mexico was HARD. You know it was nice only having class four hours a day, not really having homework, and having fun way too much. Although it doesn't take long to get used to the hussle of life again. In May Emely and I went back down to Mexico to visit for two weeks and then when I came back I worked really hard at Nike and the campground. I basically worked and that was it because that was all I had time for. I had to make money to pay off for those Mexico trips :) School started up again in August and I moved into an apartment with Kelly, Taryn, and Alyssa all of whom I had lived with in the dorms. We live about a mile from campus which is nice. I also started working at the Mankato Family YMCA which i love way too much. I took my personal trainer test and in November started training clients which has turned out to be a blast. I just love it when people don't understand that if you continue to eat McDonalds for every meal of the day and only work out for twenty minutes twice a week you will not lose weight. I have had a lot of interesting clients to say the least but I love what I do and have meant some amazing people! I am also training on campus so my days usually consist of a lot of running to class and work but then again it makes the time go fast! Over Christmas vacation I came home and worked at Nike but it was pretty easy, not going to lie! Then it was back to school and this semester has been trying as I am putting in lots of hours of work and have 17 credits. I am on spring break now and got home last night so I am just going to relax....... and of course read the 300 pg book on hip fractures that I need to write a paper on by the end of break :) Well ok that is about it!!!!

School Finished!!

Well guess what everyone. I just finished school and now I have a month a half of vacation. Oh I am so excited. This semester was definately hard. I think I know more grammer rules in spanish than I do in English. Actually I don´t think that I know that! I can´t believe how fast fifteen weeks of classes went but let me tell you, I will not miss getting up every morning to come and sit in school where I actually have to concentrate on every word that is said and not just kind of listen. Sometimes I feel like I haven´t learned anything but when I think of what I knew when I got here I realize that I have learned A LOT. It is just gradual so I really didn´t realize it! I basically am a mexican now! Haha. I will also say that I am very excited the weather has gotten back to normal and is in the 80´s once again. Oh I am not going to enjoy walking off the plane in Chicago on Jan. 3rd. I am not even going to think about it. Nope..... all I am thinking about is when my parents will walk off the plane in GDL in like three weeks. I am so excited to see them. Well my plans for the next month are a little scattered. Emely is staying til teh 9th so we are staying in a hotel and then will do some traveling around GDL and some towns within a four hour radius. When she leaves I will be traveling with some friends for about two weeks and then my parents come and they will get a crash course of GDL and then a relaxing stay in Puerta Vallarta!!!! My cousin Jane might be coming down sometime within that time so hopefully I will see her. Basically to lay it all out I will be sleeping in, eating off the street (YUM), exploring, and having a blast. Well gotta get moving. Hope you all have a great December and I don´t know if I will be updating this very often but I will see you all shortly!

Puerto Vallarta

Well the semester is winding down. I only have one week left of classes and then I am done. Can you believe that. Where does time go. I am really wondering. Last weekend Oscar, Phillip, Emely, Amanda and I went to Puerto Vallarta. It was the most amazing weekend I have had down here. It was nice and hot and we just relaxed on the beach pretty much the whole time. A lot of people here don´t speak very highly of Puerto Vallarta because it is such a touristy place but I personally thought it was better than Barra Navidad and Manzanillo. The waves were really tranquilo and it was just gorgeous. There was a tropical storm but it stayed out in the sea and so were not affected by it at all. I would recommend that you all go there. You don´t even have to know spanish to survive there! We didn´t have school on Monday so we decided that we would leave around fourin the evening and get back fairly early because it is like a four and a half hour drive... well that is not what happened at all. We ended up leaving at six because we just couldn´t get ourselves to leave and then we didn´t get home until four thirty in the morning. Yep that is right ten and a half hours later. There was a huge accident on the one highway with a gasoline truck so then we went on another highway and then there was another accident with like five semi trucks so we had to sit and wait while they sorted everything out. We were on a curvy road through the barrancas so it took them a long time. Needless to say we had some wonderful bonding time in Oscar´s little car. We were lucky though because a. we weren´t involved in any of the accidents b. at least it wasn´t freezing inside the car and c. we were in the beginning of the traffic jam so we got out pretty much right after they got the semis out of the way. Traffic was backed up for miles. Even when we did get to go the only ones that were able to go were small vechicles so all the semis and busses had to basically wait until the next mornign. I have never been in a traffic jam like it. Well I got to bed a little before five and set my alarm for seven and when it went off i jumped out of bed and went to school. Haha ummmmmm ok so maybe it wasn´t quite like that. I actually skipped my first class and slept in til 8:45 and then went to school and was pretty much dead all day long as I didn´t have time to take a nap. Oh well the rest of the nights this last week I have gotten a significant amount of sleep. This week it has gotten cold down here and I mean cold. In the mornings it is in teh 40s. I wish i would have brought my winter jacket because I have been wearing at least two sweatshirts all week along with like two to three other layers of clothes. The worse part is the school is freezing because the classrooms don´t get sun and there is no heating. Maybe 45 doesn´t seem all that cold to you but think of this... there is no heating ANYWHERE. Therefore it is cold! Carlos got sick with a really bad stomach flu two days ago and this morning Vero was sick with it too so I am thinking that I better avoid my house! I do not want to get sick the last week of school!! Well that is bascially all the news here. I am just staying in GDL this weekend and will be working on school things. Oh my friend Emely is looking in to staying an extra week or two with me so I am excited if she does. I am definately looking forward to sleeping in and not having to do things related to school. I´m ready to be a flojera!!! Oh wait maybe I already am :)

More from Mexico

Well I guess the time just flies as I feel that I haven´t wrote for a long time. Don´t worry I am still alive and kicking down here. After finals week we had a three day weekend and I really don´t remember what we did. We just relaxed and stayed put in GDL. We started our last set of classes on Tuesday and had a shocker when we went to look at the lists of the classes they didn´t post the class that we NEEDED to be in. There weren´t enough people but then a couple more joined so then we got our class but we didn´t have it on Tuesday. So basically I had three classes in one week because I had one on Tuesday and then both on Wednesday and then Thursday we had off and Friday I took a personal day! After school on Wednesday Emely, Amanda and I went to Guanajuato. We left GDL about five and got to Guanajuato around ten. Guanajuato is a very historical tranquil town. It is about the size of Mankato but it seemed extremely small compared to GDL. We didn´t make any reservations because we were told that that wouldn´t be a problem so when we got there a man helped us find a hotel and we actually set up a tour with him for the next day. We stayed in Hotel Independencia which wasn´t a too bad of a hotel. The pillows were really hard but I managed to sleep anyways. After getting settled into our hotel we walked around the town, yes that is how safe it is we can walk around at any hour of the night and not have any troubles, and got to see a little bit of the day of the dead festivals which were starting. Basically people were selling tons of flour and food and the streets and people buy it and then take it out to the cementery where they then have a big feast with their deceased relatives. We really wanted to go to the cementery but we would have had to almost know someone so we just watched all the action in the historical center. On Thursday we took went on a tour that took pretty much the whole day. We went to a lot of musuems, including the musuem of mummies which is pretty sweet, definately recommend it to anyone going to Guanjuato in the future, musuem of torture devices that they used in the old days, a haunted house thing, a couple temples, a mine, a lookout point over the entire town, and I think that was it. Then we went back and just relaxed. I had gotten a cold and therefore had a massive headache and ear ache pretty much the entire time I was there so of course we had ciestas!!! On Thursday we just started walking and basically walked where the road took us. We went to a couple more musuems including the house of Diego Rivera. The town is absolutely beautiful with European style buildings so we just enjoyed the scenery and people watching. We returned back to good ol GDL on Saturday. One the options I had to where to study was Guanajuato and I can´t imagine what I would think if GDL if I had studied there and came to GDL to visit. It is definately more fast pace and a lot more people. I am glad though that I decided to study here as it is absolutely perfect! minus the poplution which was really bad that week. By then I was really sick so on Sunday I just basically stayed in bed all day so I would be able to go to school. Last week was normal, school, gym, being lazy :).. just kidding do you really think I have time to be lazy :). Last weekend we just hung out around here again. On Saturday we went to the cliffs and jumped the fence and went for a hike and had a picnic. It was fun and the weather was nice and no one fell off the cliff and died so that was good. Now I am back in school and I have midterms this week so that means I gotta be studying. I am also working on a literary analysis that I have to have done in two weeks. Doesn´t that sound like a blast! That is basically all the news. Next Monday we don´t have school for some national holiday so we maybe will go to the beach. Depends on how hard we work on school work this week :) Ok well I am going to go home and eat and then go to the lavanderia and then the gym and then study study study :) Que vayan bien!!!

Culture Lesson

Well I am done with my second set of classes. Whoot whoot! They were a lot harder than my first set and I am still so confused about all these spanish grammer rules. It is like this.... Maestro de nivel 9: Well when you write you need to write like this but you will not talk like this unless you are really intelligent. Well I am not planning on writing novels in spanish as I can´t even write novels in English. Oh well I really did like my teacher for that class as he was cool and taught me a lot of noneducational things but interesting pieces of knowledge. I know know everything there is to know about the city busses because of him. I also learned a lot of politics in my culture class, funny huh. Basically culture was politics and history so I am glad that that class is over too. But get this. It took me like ten weeks to figure out this whole political mess going on down here and I can´t even remember how many people explained it to me. Finally I figured it out in Culture class. There are these two parties that are really close, PRI ( represents poor people) and PAN (represents rich people) and this year the winner, PAN won by .02%. Can you believe that. So basically they are recounting and recounting and both are saying they are the presidents. Guess we will see on December first because that is when they change. So I guess it was a good thing I took that class. What other pieces of knowledge can I share with you. For all you mothers that read this, down here the mother is the most important person in the man´s life. So when a man gets married his mom is still more important and has more say than his wife. On mother´s day down here the mothers get showered with gifts and it is a national holiday so no school. Education down here is GRATIS, aka free which is actually kind of sad that there are so many kids that don´t go to school. So if I become a mexican, which I am getting there as I have been eating quite a bit of chile lately, I can go to college at the UDG here in GDL for free. Oh... and for all you couples that read this when a man wants to ask a women to be his girlfriend he hires a marachi, which is a band, to sing underneath her window and so when you see a band coming down your street all the girls wonder who the lucky girl is. Needless to say I have had about ummmmmmmm five bands sing under my window. No no I am just kidding. Well that is your little clase on Mexican culture. Last weekend I just stayed in GDL with Emely and Amanda because Emely´s sister came to visit for four days. We were great tour guides and tried to do everything we possibly could in four days. On Sunday evening we went to a bull fight and that was really interesting. Basically they let a bull loose into the ring and get him mad so he runs into the walls and then the big man comes out and basically calms the bull down. He bascially knows that bull within minutes and can get it so he can turn his back and know for sure that he won´t get charged. Then they kill the bull with spears right in front of you. The point I think is to kill the bull in the least painful way. We watched seven bulls get killed in about two and half hours. The girls didn´t like it but I thought it was an art and really enjoyed it. It is actually really amazing. Although twice the bulls charged after the horses and I thought they killed them. That would have been sad. This week I have just been studying for finals and concentrating on school. We don´t have any plans for this weekend but will be staying in GDL again. There is always stuff to do here and I don´t doubt that we will get bored :) Well I hope you are all enjoying the winter that is coming in. It is getting cold here too, like high sixties so I know how it feels. Haha. Actually to me it is cold. Would love to hear from you all!

Beach Weekend

Well lets see. I went to the beach, had fun and now am back in Guadalajara doing school work. The end. Haha. I decided to make this one nice and short so for those that don´t want to read my nice long blogs, like you Michael, all you have to do is read the first couple of sentences :) On Wednesday I had my midterms and then I was free for four whole days. Actually I was really only free for one day because Thursday was a holiday in GDL for the virgen of Zapopan and then I skipped Friday. My teacher told me that it would be a good idea so at least I didn´t get into any trouble for it. We are allowed to miss three days every five weeks and that was the only day I have missed so far so I was due to use one of my days. We didn´t leave until Thursday afternoon though because Phillip had to work at the hospital. We left around three, we being Emely, Amanda, Phillip, Oscar and I. Oscar drove us in his car which was cheaper than taking the bus. We were a little packed but we all love each other enough that it was fine :) We did run into rain which slowed us down. I guess it should have only took about four hours but it really took close to six. It was nice to get out of the city and go through the mountains and through little towns. We first went to Barra de Navidad which is a beach in a really small town. It is very tranquilo, I can´t think of the word in english right now......... not many people there.... ummm peaceful. When we got there there was no electricity and it was pitch dark. We didn´t make any reservations because it is not the busy time yet and so we had to find a hotel in the dark. We did really good as the hotel we got cost us about $12 a night each and it was nice. Then we went out to eat and had a nice candlelit supper. We were all pretty much tired so played a couple games of cards and then went to bed. On Friday we got up went and had breakfast ( the hot cakes are REALLY good down here and a popular breakfast food is chilaquiles. It has tortillas, eggs, salsa, onions, tomatoes and a bunch of really good stuff in it. If you come down here you can try it :) ) and then we went to the beach. The waves were really big. Phillip was in heaven and sometimes I thought he was just going to disappear in them. They were really strong too as Emely and I found out after we got slammed into the ocean floor and got sand up our nose, in our eyes, in our mouth and basically everywhere. Basically after that just lying on the beach sounded like a smarter idea for me. The weather was ok. It was really humid but cloudy and it would drizzle on and off. The weather was like that all weekend but we all managed to get some sun. Bascially we just relaxed and by early afternoon it started raining hard so we went back and took showers and then went out to eat. We went to this restaraunt right by the beach and the guy there was really nice as he kept on giving us free stuff to try! It basically continued to rained so we just chilled out at the hotel and then later that night we went and walked along the beach. Emely got sick though so that was sad. On Saturday we got up and went to another beach Manzanillo which was about an hour away towards GDL. It is a much bigger town and the beach there was much nicer as the was more flat and the waves weren´t at big. We got a hotel there and then went to the beach and relaxed. On Sunday we hung out at the beach until about one and then went back and packed all our stuff up and left around two. We went out to eat and then left Manzanillo around three thirty which meant we should have gotten back around six thirty but since there was a lot of traffic and rain again we got back a little after nine. We had a lot of fun though and I was excited to get back to GDL as I missed it even after four days. I guess it rained here all weekend too. Just our luck. Actually it was probably a good thing that it was cloudy or else we probably all would have been fried. The last couple of days I have been working on my paper for my culture class. I am almost done with it and am excited as I am getting sick of it. We have finals next week and then have another four day weekend. Well I think I do anyway but the girls have one of their finals on that friday. We are thinking about going to Guanajuato which is supposedly a very pretty historical town about four hours away. This weekend Emely´s sister is flying in for four days so we will be giving her a crash course of GDL. We are hoping to go to a bull fight as those are going on right now so we will see. Supposedly if we dress up nice we can get good seats for nothing since we are Americans. Well I need to go home and eat lunch. Adios

October 6

Well this week went by really fast. I actually have been busy all week doing school work which has not been quite as fun! It is sometimes hard having classes that are only five weeks long because when I think I just started I realize that I am almost done. I have midterms next week already! Last weekend was my weekend to relax. All of us were really lazy and so I guess we deserved it! Basically we just hung out and played garbage which is now my new favorite card game. On Friday I went with my friend Leo to his friend´s house and we played soccer and let me tell you I looked like a fool. They play soccer really good down here and all I know how to do is kick the ball. We then grilled out and it was really nice to have a good juicy steak! That was baisically the only thing I did so yeah my weekend was really lazy. On Wednesday Phillip and I went to a salsa class at the gym we go to and that was another dumb mistake. Everyone in the class knew what they were doing except Phillip and I and people would come by and watch us and laugh. Oh well. It was really funny and I am sure that people didn´t even have to run to burn calories, all they had to do was watch us and laugh. Who knows if we will go again. People here are like born with rhythm and I am telling you I was not whatsoever. Today it was actually cold. Carlos told me that I am actually starting to act like a mexican because I wore jeans, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, and a sweatshirt to school today and it was 65 degrees. Guess I will stop making fun of the mexicans in the states that always wear a ton of clothes. The rainy season I think has left so I am excited. The last couple of days we have had really really bad storms with tons of rain. At least it only really rained in the evenings. What really made me mad was when people would drive by really fast through the puddles and I would get soaking wet walking on the sidewalk. Yes that actually happens quite frequently down here. Well hope all is well back in the states or malaysia :)

More Adventures

I seem to be getting worse and worse about posting on this. I can´t even remember what I did this past week anymore :) I really enjoyed my four day vacation. It was well needed. On Friday, Emely, Amanda, Emely´s parents, and I went to Tequila which is a town about an hour away by bus to see the Jose Cuervo Tequila plant. It was very interesting as the whole town works for Jose Cuervo. It is kind of sad because will all the money that the Jose Cuervo family has you would think that the people could get paid more but they don´t. The plant was actually going through repairs so we didn´t get to see it up and running but it was still interesting. We got to try tequila that was illegal to sell because it was too strong ( the tequila that you get only after one session of distilation). It literally feels like your entire throat, mouth, stomach, is on fire. The plants that they make tequila from remind me of aloe vera plants. There are fields and fields of the plants. I forgot their name, maybe Tequila plant :) Emely´s parents enjoyed the tour and I think they enjoyed their stay in Guadalajara. They left on Saturday. Saturday we had some errands to run like go change travelers checks, go to Wal-Mart which by the way are really nice down here. They have free samples of EVERYTHING, EVERYDAY. Basically we go there to eat :) We then had planned to go to a Mexican food show and then go to the grito del noche in Talaquepaque but once we got back from Wal-Mart we were tired so we relaxed and then went to the food expo and skipped el noche del grito. It was basically the same thing we went to last Friday but in a different part of town. Each section has their noche del grito on different weekends. The food expo was interesting and I bought some really good Mexican cookies!!! On Sunday we went to Tonala, yeah the place we went to the first weekend when we got on the wrong bus. This time we went to the marketplace. On Sundays and Thursday there is a huge handicraft market and everything is really cheap. It is overwhelming but it was a lot of fun and we now appreciate Tonala a lot more than our first visit. On Monday we didn´t have school because the new kids were having orientation. I didn´t get a roommate which means that I have my big room all to myself for the next five weeks! We got a lot of new kids though. A lot from Europe. A friend of my family Freddie thought that I needed to work on speaking more, which is true, so I went with him and toured a bunch of schools in Guadalajara. First we went to the poorest school which is in the section called Guadalupe. There are about 14,000 10-14 year olds in that area and only about 150 go to school. Out of that 150 60% live with a single mother because the bandas, or gangs there are really bad and the women hang out with all the gang members and when they get pregnant they don´t know who the dad is. It is really sad. There is no way I can describe the living conditions. I would never guess that people actually live in some of those houses. There is garbage all over in huge piles similar to piles that we would go sledding down. After that we went to the complete opposite. We went to the richest school in town. Basically it is just like the schools in the US. After that we went to the school where Vero and Terry teach at. Freddie used to teach there and he was basically a celebrity when we got there. He told all the kids I was his wife and they thought that Freddie was pretty lucky. Haha. That school is in between. The number of kids that go onto college around here is really low. Out of 100 students five will go on to college and 2 will graduate and when they graduate they usually have a hard time finding a job. So the education system here needs some help. On Tuesday it was back to classes. I am now in a culture class and another grammer class. I really like my classes a lot. I don´t even have homework this weekend :) Wednesday I woke up with a stomach ache but by the middle of the day it wasn´t too bad so I continued to do everything I normally do. That night we went bowling because our friend Louisa from Italy is leaving today to go back so we were saying our goodbye. It was Phillip, Emely, Amanda, Louisa, Oscar, and I. Oscar lives here and has a car so we all shoved into his little car and it was tight. He claims that he has gotten 8 people in it but I find that hard to believe. Thursday I woke up really sick but I still came to school. My friend Nicolas was sick on Monday and Tuesday and he said he had the flu and a girl in my class got the flu on Wednesday and my teacher hasn´t been here today or yesterday so I think I got the Mexican flu because I didn´t eat or drink anything that would have made me sick. I did luck out because on Thursday our teacher didn´t show up so we sat there and I relaxed for like almost an hour before one of the students in our class decided that she wanted to be taught so she went and asked the head lady to come teach us for the next 45 minutes. I was so mad. Who does that. There is only seven of us in that class and two of us were sick and the others wouldn´t have minded sitting there. Well then I had to concentrate which was really hard. My second class is just lecture so that wasn´t too bad. I went straight home and went to bed. My friend Leo got my a bunch of medicine and my senora made me a bunch of tea and this morning I woke up and didn´t feel all that bad so hopefully I am over it. I really don´t know what I am doing this weekend but am sure I will find something to do. One big difference between here and the states is that people never plan very far in advance and people hardly ever talk about what they are going to do and if they do they always say if god allows me to. It has to do with their religious beliefs. So I have learned not to tell all my plans to the locals because they think I am crazy.