Hola mama!
There are a total of 4 other girls staying with me. Three are from different parts of Mexico and one is from America (California). Two of them live together in a room in the house and the other two live in a sort of guest house connected to the house. The place is very nice. I think the floors are marble tile... but everything is nice. It's a similar "niceness" to what we have here, just a Mexican version. Each room has it's own bathroom and large walk in closet with built in shelving (each room houses 2-3 girls, except for some reason I'm in the master bedroom right now). NO buildings have ac at all! Not banks or malls or government offices, only buildings by the beach (says my Mexican roommate) They really don't need it I guess because the weather is gorgeous (except I do get drenched with sweat walking to school in the morning when it's humid and at 3pm when the sun is hot) but if I'm not walking with my backpack on the weather is perfect. So far it hasn't rained in the day and it's only rained at night. I think it's mostly like that. We also have a live in housekeeper that makes and serves us all our meals. A hot breakfast is waiting for us by 7am complete with freshly squeezed orange juice. They squeeze (with a juicer) all their own juice here (so far I've had papaya with lemon, lemon with mint, orange and skipped the mango) and we have fresh fruit with every meal (usually as a desert). The eating times are different though. You eat breakfast in the morning then at lunch you have a snack (something small- I pack 1 or 2 pieces of fruit and that's it) then you eat a big meal (like dinner) at 3 or 4 in the afternoon (when I get home from school it's ready and waiting for me, 3 courses) and then you eat again around 9 or 10pm but it's a light meal. For example last night I had 2 tostadas (much smaller than U.S. ones, about the size of a cookie) with tomatoes, ham, cilantro and lime on them as my 9pm "dinner." So far I love the food and it's all very healthy, not like Tex-mex. I might try buying something very light for lunch every other day just so I can try different foods. I did that today (had a crepe with ham and cheese and some green sauce) but that left me too full to eat much at 4pm for dinner so I need to get something smaller next time. Que mas?
I really only speak Spanish here because NO ONE speaks English. Well a few people will know some but in general no one speaks English, not even the professors. This leaves me mostly quiet in conversation but I am getting better and better! It's hard to strike up conversations with strangers but once I get over my initial fear I can communicate fine. I'm better when I talk to people one on one because they talk slower to me. Last night all of my dreams were in Spanish lol. Guadalajara is very safe. Everyone walks everywhere and I walk home from school alone. Also, you have to show your I.D. to get on campus (even if you come by foot) and campus is gated in with security officers so it's probably safer than the U.S. campuses! A lot of students walk to and from school too so I don't stand out and I blend in very well here so I don't even look like a foreigner. About half of the people here have my coloring and most people don't know I'm from the U.S. until I start speaking. Well, they don't even know if I ask them a simple question like "cuantos costos?" but if I try and hold a conversation with them then they know I'm not from Mexico. I'm in class from 9am-3pm and I get a 20 min break and a 30 minute break. I try and read my bible or walk around campus to explore. Also, I'm no longer the only student in my classes! Oh before I start on that I'm in grammar level 3 out of 8. I think that's what messed me up with meeting people because there are only 3 other people in that class (all old). I think I should have been higher but you need 8 points in each level to pass it and I got 7 points on each level until level 6 and they made me stay at level 3. I should have reviewed more I guess because my class is too easy I think but the important thing is that I learn how to speak, I already know how to write or can look it up in a book if need be. Anyway the doctor and his wife are nice. They look young but based on the fact that the doctor went into the army, then undergrad, then med school in Israel, then John Hopkins for his MPH then residency I think he must be in his mid-thirties. The girl (Kelsey) from America isn't the most friendly but the Mexican girls that live here are. They talk to me and ask me questions so I can practice my Spanish and explain things if I don't understand and talk slowly for me. They're both 19 and very very nice and welcoming. I have a field trip on Friday and I think I'll meet some American's then but there aren't very many though. There are two options and I have to decide which one to go on. In the conversation class this morning only one other person showed up (there were supposed to be several my-aged Americans there) and she was from Korea. But overall I am enjoying my classes, I guess it's good that my classes are small (the doctor is the only other person in my medical spanish and culture class) because that makes it more of a conversation with my professors and I get more practice with my Spanish. I'm still not very good, but I definitely think I will be quite conversational by the time I leave. I'm going to a kick-boxing class tonight with the Mexican girls I live with and I might try and sign up for a dance class too (its $5 for a month of classes twice a week). It's been slow meeting people but I am enjoying myself and I already love the city. I also am proud of myself for doing a lot on my own! I've ordered a Taxi, asked for directions, ordered food, exchanged money, held a conversation with the manager of the on-campus bookstore (and bought a mug) ect all using my own Spanish. Also, one thing that is very confusing is all the banks have the dollars to pesos exchange rate hanging on a giant sign in the window, but none of them exchange money! I found the exchange house today though and exchanged $120. It's a bit of a walk so I'd prefer to just exchange large amounts at once- but the exchange rate from pesos to dollars is less so I also want to make sure I don't exchange too much once I near the end of my trip. I'm going to try and finish my TMDSAS essay tonight so check your email and get back to me by tomorrow afternoon please. Thanks and love you (everyone!!)
p.s. I took pictures but I'll send them via email later, I can send them on my phone but I got a text when I turned on my phone in Mexico and it said data messages are like $5 and I didn't want to risk having them charge us (although if the phone bill is high for some reason we can use my scholarship money to pay for it since I ended up getting $200 spending money from them)
Lauren
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