Back in the States

Well, here I am, back at my parents house. I'm glad to be home and see my family, but I still feel like I'd prefer to be in Mexico. Not that I didn't miss my family here in the states, but I just wasn't ready to come home yet. But it's cool, I'm sure I'll get used to it again. I spent my last 2 days of the trip in Mexico City with my family. I'd say that was the highlight of my entire trip. I can't believe I hardly knew this part of my family before cuz we're so close in relation, and I clicked with them right away! They like to joke and have a good time and are all very close. I admire that and I hope that we'll keep in touch often. I hope this next year goes by fast, because I am anxious to get back to Mexico. Here are a couple pictures of my family...yes, I know...our family breeds good lookers :-)


(Fernando, me, Ana Maria, Ana, Cesar, Alfonzito)


("The Handsome" & me)

Final Weekend in Queretaro

(Queretaro)


(The Aqueducts that run across the entire center of Queretaro)

Well, the ultimo days are here. I have my final exam tomorrow, then gonna go buy my bus ticket to Mexico City. I'm going to spend Tuesday night with my family in Mexico City, then they're taking me to the airport on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to it because I didn't get to spend much time with 'em since I'd been here.
As for the last few days...Friday, I had an absolute blast! Despite coming home much later than I expected, and having a helacious hang-over Saturday morning before San Miguel de Allende...I have to admit, it was all worth it. Misty, Mariela, Steph, and I went downtown around 10:00 Friday night and found this really cool bar on the second story of a historical building, with an amazing few of the plaza and gorgeous fountain in the vecinity. Good music, good beer, tasty pina colada, and a shot of some green apple stuff started off the night. After about 30 min., Misty & Steph's local friend, Josue (Joshua in english), met up with us at the bar.


(Josue)

He is an absolute sweetheart and great company. He just returned to Queretaro from living in Canada for 6 months, learning english, studying, and working. We went to his house, where his sister and some of his friends were having a small party. Who woulda thought that I'd learn the line-dance for "Akey Brakey Heart" in Mexico!? *LOL* It was fun :-). I met some cool people there. It was nice to chat with people who had patience for my lack of speech. All in all, the people I met were absolutely worth the hangover the next day.


(I look entirely too happy in the pic, LOL)

Today, Jess and I went downtown to do a little walking around and shopping. We had a decent breakfast and some yummy coffee (well, chai tea for me). It was nice, we were back at the dorms by 2:30 and hit the books. We studied most of the day until we finally were so burnt out that we had to put it off for tomorrow. Anyhow, those are my "final days in Queretaro" thus far. See you guys soon!
Love,
Sara

Last week of classes

Well, it's finally almost here...I'm heading home in 6 days...no offense to everyone, of course I miss you guys...but I don't know that I'm really all that excited about returning home. I'm excited to see my family, friends, and excited about my trip w/ Kat to Phoenix & Prescott, AZ...but I guess I'm just not ready to leave Mexico yet. I haven't accomplished all that I hoped while being here and I love Queretaro. It's a beautiful city. Funny, how when I left NM to come here in May, I wasn't sure what I'd gotten myself into and was completely opposite of being excited about the experience. However, now I'm extremely appreciative of it, and have fallen in love with the place. If I had the money, the time from school, and was more familiar with class options here...I would [without a doubt] stay here until December.

So about my week...been ok, kinda flying by. On Tuesday Mariela, me, Erin, and Jess went downtown to do some shopping...little did we know 95% of the merchants actually do not work on Tuesdays, haha! Did I mention it was pouring rain the entire time?? *LOL* We had fun splashing through puddles and watching the streets get flooded....all to come back to our rooms (where we'd left our windows open) to find puddles on our floors and a welcoming 'moldy smell'.





Yesterday we attempted Al Centro again, and the weather was great! We got some cool shopping done; lots of little knick-knacks and jewelry, tshirts, etc. However, the best part of yesterday was class...we had a piñata contest with the other exchange-classes. It was interesting, LOL. It was cool, because the intent of the exercise was for us to make these piñatas for charity...they are all delivered to local less-fortunate children, which I think is amazingly cool. Also, we learned some breif history on piñatas...did you know they actually originated in CHINA? Anyhow, we made Alebrijes, which are a mixture of animals in one body....for example: our alebrije was a rainbow colored seahorse w/ turkey feathers, a monkey face, and elephant ears :-). His name was Arcoiris = "rainbow". We actually won 3rd place in the competition and our prizes were these pretty, little hand-made mexican bags. I really like mine :-).




(Ours is the rainbow colored "thing" with big green ears and turkey feathers; next to the frog/ turtle looking thing)



As for today...just class, then went to Soriana with Jess to get bread....funny, we came back with everything else in the store BUT bread, hehe.
Welp, I guess that's it for my excited week...love you, miss you, see you next week.
~Sara

Bernal & Tequisquiapan

Yo fui a Bernal y Tequisquiapan este mañana. Llegamos a Bernal a las 9:30 am. Algunos estudiantes caminaron al volcán (volcano) para sacar fotos, y el resto de nosotros quedamos en el Plaza de Bernal. El pueblo está muy lindo. Yo saqué unas fotos mientras esperando para las tiendas abrir. Había algunos niños (probablamente, tienen 5-6 años) en un viaje en Bernal, y ellos fueron excitado, gritaban "Hello! Hello!" a nosotros; como, fuimos animales de un zoo. Haha, estaba cute (no se la palabra correcta en español) :-D.
Después de Bernal, fuimos a Tequisquiapan. La ciudad es más grande de Bernal, pero quedamos en el Plaza para almorzar y comprar souvenirs. Nada especial hoy, pero tuve un viaje bueno. Me gusta ver lugares nuevos. El próximo fin, vaya a San Miguel de Allende.

Con amor,
~Sara

Quick Post 3

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know to check out both the "Huasteca Potosina" & "Mexico City" slideshows...I added some new pics to Huasteca that you GOTTA check out.

Love ya!
~Me

Ciudad de México (D.F.)

Photos from Mexico City, Teotihuacan, y Xochimilco (By Sara Del Curto & Mariela Cox)


Hola gente! Yo volví a Querétaro anoche. Tuve un viaje muy bueno este fin pasado. Nosotros visitamos las pirámides de Teotihuacan (son muy interesante...hay muchas cosas para ver y aprender, y tuvimos un guía muy inteligente). Después de Teotihuacan, fuimos a la Ciudad de México para almorzar y luego fuimos en un TOUR. Empecó en el Zócalo (una plaza famosa para eventos especiales como, celebraciones de festivos, bailando nativo, protestas, etc.)...fuimos al Palacio Nacional, Palacio de Bellas Artes, el Museo Nacional de Arte, y una catedral famosa (no recuerdo el nombre, pero es muy hermosa con muchas cosas hecho de oro). Nosotros caminamos en la calle "La Paseo de la Reforma" (es la mayor punto de turismo en D.F.). Quedamos en un hotel de cinco estrellas (muy rico...extraño las camas...mi cama en el dormitorio feels como una piedra). En domingo, fuimos a Xochimilco. Xochimilco es un lugar de islas artificiales, donde cabalgamos un bote en el río que fluye por las islas. Mientras en el bote, escuchamos a mariachis y otros músicos talentosos...fue muy tranquila. Después de Xochimilco, fuimos a el Museo de Antropología e Historia (un museo de prehispano... i.e. sobre de Mayas, Aztecas, etc.). El alimiento...todas las comidas fueron buffets con platos mexicanos tradicionales...muy muy rico! Pero no fue bien para mi dieta :-).

OK...el mejor parte de mi viaje fue conociendo mi familia de D.F. No conozco mucha parientes de mi padre, porque la mayor parte de la familia vive en Italia o México...pues, fue buenisimo para conocer ellos. Conocí la primero prima de mi padre, Ana Maria, y la familia de su hija, Ana Maria tambien. El esposo de Ana Maria (la hija) entendió y habló mucho inglés...pues, estuvo más fácil para conversar. Sus hijos habló inglés tambien, pero ellos fueron tímidos :-). Nosotros hablamos casi dos horas! Debo decir, la familia es muy atractiva :-). Deseo que podré ir a la quinciñera este fin de semana en Toluca con mi familia, pero ya pagué $400 por los viajes con el Tec, pues necesito ir con la programa. Pero, está bien porque mi familia estará teniendo una reunión en octubre en Meoqui, Chihuahua. Estoy muy emocionado sobre del ocasión :-).

La última cosa...hay fotos ariba en un exposición.

And for those that don't know what this blog says, just copy and paste it to http://www.freetranslation.com/ . Make sure you select "Spanish to English" in the drop-down menu above the box where you paste the words.

Love,
Sara

Quick Post 2

Hey guys...so here's what's new: I'm leaving for Mexico City (aka "D.F.") at 5:45 am. It should be an eventful weekend. More importantly...I just got off the phone with a cousin I haven't seen in 20 years! I'm sooo excited to see some of my family (that I've never met before) tomorrow. My cousin Alfonzo came to the states when I was ~5 years old. He was in his twenties and used to play soccer for Mexico. That's mostly what I remember of him...I also remember that I adored him! So I'm really excited to get together with him, his mom, and one of his sisters. We're meeting for dinner tomorrow night at my hotel. Next weekend my family is having a quinciñeta in Toluca, Mexico. I doubt I'll be able to make it because one of our group trips is the same day, and I believe we're going to San Miguel de Allende. But if we get back at a reasonable hour, I'm gonna try to go to the party :-). However, if I can't make it, Alfonzo is gonna come out to Queretaro to hang out. I've only got a little over 2 weeks, so I hope there will be time to hang out. Also, my dad mentioned to me last night that my family is having a huge reunion in Chihuahuah in October and our family is planning on going. I'm way excited about that!
Anyhow, I'm gonna finish packing for the weekend and hit the hay early tonight. I miss everyone back home and can't wait to see ya'll...especially the kiddos :-). I heard Jackey's voice today, and I swear...I just know he's gonna look soooo different by the time I return. Darn kids grow up way too fast! LOL. Love ya!

~Sara

PS. For those of you that keep arguing on Facebook that Mexico is not part of North America...and I know it is :-)...here's some links to reference :-D

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.htm
*Central America IS part of North America (there's only 7 continents, Central America isn't one of 'em)
*Mexico is NOT part of Central America (Central America = countries south of Mexico, and north of South America)
*North America = Canada, US, Mexico, and Central America
*Guatemala is NOT part of Mexico
*Now, if you're talking about AGES ago when Central America was under water...then North America ended at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico...however, in "real-life" it ends at the Isthmus of Panama
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Mexico_part_of_the_North_America_or_South_America

Week 3 & Huasteca Potosina

Photos from Huasteca Potosina (By Sara Del Curty & Mariela Cox)


So Week 3 was ok. Had a short presentation to do in my conversation course. It was interesting...we had to write a 5 topics: Gastronomia, Government, Education, Music, and one top of our choice (I chose Luis Donoldo Colossio). All topics were in relation to Mexico. It was assigned Thursday and presented on Friday...none the less, it was kinda hard to go up there and present in spanish, considering a-I'm not a very good public speaker & b-my spanish isn't very good, LOL. Anyhow, last week we also met with another class, which consisted of Mexican students who were learning English. So we spent 40 minutes conversing in Spanish and 40 minutes conversing in English, to help the respective students. It was pretty cool. The girl I met with is Queretano, and is studing Network Engineering. Her favorite company is Cisco Systems, to which she has a few Networking certificates with. She seemed to be an extremely bright woman, and her english wasn't bad...definitely better than my spanish is :-).
Ok, so as for the weekend...it was AWESOME! We didn't go tubing or canoing as I'd hoped, but we did visit some breath-taking sights. We left Friday night at midnight and drove all night on the buses, arrived in a little town named Xilitla, where we had a buffet breakfast. We visited the "Castillo Surrealista de Sir Edward James" which were ruins that had been made by Sir Edward James years ago. The architecture was amazing. We had a guided tour through the ruins, that ended with everyone swimming in the waterfall that lies right at the center of the development. From there we traveled to a little town called "Aquismon" where we hopped in the bed of several trucks that drove us up a mountain to "el Sotano de las Golondrinas", which is an enormous cave that is a habitat for thousands of tropical birds. It was actually pretty cool. This is the place I mentioned where people go cave-jumping w/ parachutes. However, we were only there for like 20 min. before it started pouring rain on us and we had to book it outta there. Following that adventure, we headed to a town called "Valles" where we checked into this really nice hotel. There's pictures of the pool/ hotel center in the slideshow. That night we were welcomed by a Regional Dinner that was A-mazing! And some Huasteca dancers danced for us after dinner as well. It was an awesome end to a really cool day. Sunday was the day for the waterfalls...imagine green palm trees everywhere, rolling hills covered in tall green grass, and HUGE, breath-taking waterfalls amidst the scenery...that was our entire day. The water was crystal clear and very refreshing for the humid tropical heat in that area. The first waterfall we visited was "Cascada del Meco" which we couldn't swim in because we woulda died, lol.



The second destination was "Cascada de Minas Viejas," where we went swimming.



The last place we went was "Rio Verde" which was just another waterfall area we went swimming in...nothin spectacular, but gorgeous turquoise water.





Anyhow, it was about a 7 hour drive back to Queretaro, which was sooooo long cuz I had this never-ending cough that kept me awake most of the trip. Even when I got home, it just seemed to get worse. I woke up bout 5am and ralphed up mucus (sexy huh). I missed class this morning cuz I felt really weak, my mind was clouded, and I kept waking up sweating (yet it was cool in my room). Really sucked...turns out I have Ferengitis (inflamation of the tonsils, like tonsilitis...it's basically like strep-throat, without the streptocauccus (spelling?)). Anyhow, I hope it goes away soon cuz I have midterms on Wednesday :-\. Welp, that's it for now. I love you guys!

Quick Post 1

Hey guys, I'm fixing to head off to Huasteca Potosina for the weekend. We're leaving at midnight tonight and driving all night on the bus, "woot woot"...right. Anyhow, I'm gonna pop like 2-3 dramamine and let my dreams take me where ever they wanna take me to make the drive go by faster. Ok, so here are some links to show what I'll be doing this weekend. I'm pretty excited about the trip, it should be fun. Well, I love you guys and hope everything is going awesome back home!
-> Cherish...I wish you the best of luck on your head/ spine scans. I'm not sure what's happening, but you'll be in my prayers. Take care hun. Love ya!

~Sara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34jw7HpzyAM (a video of Huasteca)

http://www.geocities.com/chuco2000/elnaranjo/elnaranjo.html (pics of the falls)

http://www.geocities.com/pacocjc/pozo.jpg (the cave)

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS253US254&q=Xilitla&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi (Xilitla)

Week 2...First week of classes

Classes started on Tuesday...I have Spanish (grammer/ conversational) from 9am-1pm (with each section being 2 hrs. each) and then I have tennis from 2-3pm. I probably fall in the lower half of the class when it comes to my speaking capabilities, but the grammar part isn't that bad. My biggest problem is that I don't remember alot of this material. Yes, much of it is review...but it's almost new to me because it's been so long since I've taken a language course. So I often have to have the teacher repeat what he says....I'd say, my most commen phrases are "mande?", "otra vez", "no entiendo"...which mean "what?", "again", and "I dont understand", LOL. Yes, my vocabulary here is pretty much the same as it is in the states...I still manage to drive my professors and collegues crazy with my "20 questions in 20 seconds," teeheehee :-D. But Tennis is awesome! I actually hope some of you will be interested in playing when I get home...don't worry, I'll probably still suck by the time I get back. But it's great exercise and lots of fun! My teacher is an ex-pro tennis player. Oh yeah, did I mention he is easy on the eyes? Yeah...many of the Mexican men are (as I'm sure you noticed in my previous blog about the "beautiful boy.") Lordy! The people here are gorgeous. Seriously, the women could all be models of some sort. They're all beautiful and thin, and the men...I think I've already gotten my point across on them. Ok, so yeah...then there's "fat little old me" rolling from dorm to class and across the tennis court, chaffing with each step because my thighs can't separate; so of course I don't fit in well here...my heart breaks a little each time I think of how much I abused my body over the past 8 years. It drives me crazy to think that I used to have one of "those bodies." However, I'm still enjoying it here and am greatful for the experience. Plus, I'm doing really well on my Nutrisystem and playing tennis an hour a day is contributing to my goal of losing 80 lbs. as well...*Mom, is our deal still on for liposuction?* :-)

Anyhow, more about Mexico...Friday night I went out with a group of people. First we went to a house party across the street from the campus. I drank a really stiff screwdriver over there, then we all hopped like 3 taxis and headed to this dance club called "Bunca." It was pretty cool over there. I literally danced from like 11:30 to 2:30am non-stop. I was sweating like a pig! LOL. But it was cool. Mariela worked her magic once again, and was able to finagle us a table for free (which is kinda like Vegas...you have to buy a bottle to get a table, and it's usually pretty expensive). One of the bartendars came to our table with a free pitcher of some delicous mixture for shots...no idea what it was, Tequila, and like frozen koolaid or some shit...it was yummy! After that, we started dancing the night away. I got a bit tipsy between the screwdriver, the shot, a pina colada, and 2 grape/ orange vodka drinks...but come 3am, I was ready for my bed. I had to get up at 8am to be downtown for a Rally at 9am. Jess and I went downtown Saturday morning, met with our groups, and participated in a scavenger hunt that took about 2.5 hours. We all had to walk to different landmarks and do different activities there. It was pretty cool cuz it helped us extranjeros practice speaking spanish and also check out the sites. Once I get more pics, I'll post 'em. Cuz, the architecture is A-mazing!

Anyhow, I have homework to do and it's almost midnight here. I love all of you and miss you very much! Take care.

XOXOXO,
Sara

PS. extranjeros are foreingers

Week 1 in Queretaro

Hi everyone! I decided to start blogging to sort of help sort out my thoughts and of course let my friends & family know how I'm doing :-).

So for starters, as many of you know, I'm on foreign exchange in Queretaro, Mexico; attending Tecnologico de Monterrey - QRO (a.k.a "El Tec"). I've taken a break from Mathematics at New Mexico Tech (Lord knows I miss those 10-12 hour mathematical analysis tests *twirling my finger in the air* "whoopie," LOL - Amy knows exactly what I'm talkin' bout! HAHA) to work on my Spanish minor here in Queretaro. I arrived almost a week ago and have been enjoying the sights, making friends, and warming up to a new cuture. Classes start on Tuesday, which I hope will be fun and taught in such a way to actually help with my conversational spanish. So far, I've been getting most of my education from my friend Mariela (fr. Chile), on nouns and how to approach people in Spanish. She's been a ton of help, but I hope to depend less on her and more on full immersion with the classroom setting and of course myself. Besides, I feel bad because she didn't come here to spend her time answering all of my questions; and ya'll know me...I can play 20 questions in 20 seconds! LOL

Most everyone that knows me, knows my mother is from Sonora, Mexico and both my parent's first language was Spanish...why my siblings and I speak little to no Spanish? I have no idea; we were always spoken to in English, while the only time Spanish was used in the house was for my parents to converse about us or our gifts, and of course, us kiddos wouldn't know what they were discussing.

Anyhow, so enough "background"...Week 1 has been pretty cool so far. I've met some cool people, 5 in particular I feel I'll be really close to during the course of the exchange. On Wednesday, Mariela and I walked over to Soriana (kinda like a Mexican WalMart) to get items we needed for our dorm rooms. Well, after paying for our goods, we realized that there was no feasable way for us to carry ALL of those groceries back to the dorm...soooo, we decided to "borrow" the [bright orange] shopping cart...as we cross the parking lot, a taxi driver drives by us on the road shaking his finger at us like "no no no." Then, once we hit the road, we hear this repetitious whistling...low and behold, we turn around to find a security guard chasing after us, blowing his whistle profusely to get us to stop! It was hilarious. Mariela worked her magic and convinced him that we weren't thieves and that we'd return the cart once we were done with it. So he let us "push on." Then we get to the security gate at the school and the guard there makes a fuss as well, but once again, Mariela's magical powers convinced him to let us pass with the cart. Ok so, all that was fine and dandy...until we get to the bumpy ass brick sidewalks of the campus, and the cart starts clanking and bouncing like if we were walking through campus banging pots and pans...it was definitely a case of "disturbing the peace" because people looked at us like we were idiots! Haha, but heck, it was a good laugh. We made it to our dorm and back to Soriana with the cart and also with trust that we weren't thieves....

The following days were pretty laid back, just orientation stuff. We had a Welcome Party Friday night with Tango dancers, Mariachis, and this BEAUTIFUL boy who was not only easy on the eyes, but easy on the ears as well. Oh lordy! When he started singing with those Mariachies, I think I got a little excited (hehe). Anyhow, he's one of our "Primos" (the group of students here at El Tec that are leading the International Program for us). So, enough about "the boy"...a group of us went out to a couple bars on "Cinco de Mayo Street" in "El Centro" (a.k.a Downtown). Dude, one bar wanted to charge me over $12 for a Redbull con Vodka! But we went to a different bar that was much more reasonable. It was a pretty fun night, until the cab ride home. I swear, I never thought I'd appreciate traffic laws in the states until I had to ride in a Taxi here. It's nuts! Plus, the motion sickness was intense. However, all in all, I'd say the night was worth it. I had a blast.

On Saturday, a few of us went to "La Plaza de Armas" to do some sight-seeing. It was really neat. The colonial part of town is very European Spanish...it's absolutely gorgeous! We ate at a nice little restaurant, and the food was delicious (and very affordable). I drank a pina colada at a local bar while listening to live music. It was a relaxing day downtown, and I hope to do more of it while I'm here.