Week 2

Hello all!





Wow, I cannot believe that I have been in Mexico for 19 days! Time is flying by so fast! Just this past week I had an essay, a presentation and an exam to study/finish for Friday. It kind of felt like midterms at USF. Luckily, I was able to blow off some steam this weekend.





So here's a breakdown what I did this past week:


Monday through Wednesday: Got together with Rose to do homework...Worked with Jamil and Sabrina (as well as Rose) for our group presentation.

• Thursday: After finishing my essay err... early in the morning, I walked to class with Rose (for those of you who didn't know, our walk is about 30 minutes to el Centro). Since we were meeting our group downtown later in the evening, Rose and I decided to check off an activity on our Guanajuato List- we had dinner at Truco 7! (seen above) Every single time I go to Guanajuato, I always come to el Truco for a meal. This trip was no exception- I had enchiladas mineras and they were AWE-some! Dinner at Truco 7 was just what Rose and I needed, and before we knew it, our group presentation was practically finished.

• Friday: Rose and I got up and left our house early in order to meet our other group members and rehearse our group presentation. Our presentation went very well- we talked about la Malinche and briefly compared her to Bella from Twilight. :P Later that evening, we went to Why Not? and Guanajuato Grill to celebrate our friend's birthday.

• Saturday: Rose and I went to la Plaza de la Paz to meet up with the group. We all hopped in a bus with the high school students in our sister program and rode to....the Mummy Museum! (sorry, no photos- we aren't allowed to take any there) The Mummy Museum is dedicated to the naturally mumified bodies found in the early 1900s here in Guanajuato. Here's the website if you are curious: http://www.mummymuseum.com/ This was my third time at the Mummy Museum- it's still eerie, but the layout of the Museum has changed dramatically since my first visit.

• Later we went to the Hacienda del Cochero which was used during the Spanish Inquisition. (No, Spencer, I couldn't resist saying "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSe38dzJYkY ) The Hacienda was interesting- I had no idea that Mexico was involved in the Spanish Inquisition. We also went to La Valenciana silver mine. A retired miner gave us the tour, and while I cannot remember everything he told us, it is absolutely amazing how unhealthy and unsafe mining is. At one point, the guide said that the life expectancy of a young miner was 6 years after hiring!

• We had a couple of minutes to spare after the tour, so a group of us went to a church right by La Valenciana. The religous architecture here is...indescribable....

• A few of us decided to go watch Knight and Day at the mall, and then we called it a night!

• Sunday: Woke up bright and early to meet up at Teatro Juarez. From Teatro Juarez, we walked to La Bufa, which has a lovely panoramic view of Guanajuato, Silao and a few other towns. Last time I was at La Bufa was three years ago during a festival for Saint Ignatius, who has a cave at the base of La Bufa. Part of the climb was pretty steep, but the view was so worth it! La Bufa is fairly close to my host family's house, so Rose and I took showers and rested for a while before going out to dinner and celebrating Josh's birthday!

It was kind of hard getting up this morning, and I cannot believe Week 2 has already come and gone! I am so thankful to be in this wonderful city with such amazing classmates :)

On another note, some of you have been wondering how safe Guanajuato is. First off, Guanajuato is no where near the border. It is the geographic center of Mexico (Cristo Rey, a place I will be going to in a few weeks, is the exact center of the country). Guanajuato is just as safe as any big city in the U.S. There was an excursion planned in the state of Michoacan, but the drug cartels are causing too much trouble, and so the excursion was cancelled. Rest assured, I am very safe here- I never go out at night by myself, I always have my phone and my mace!

Miss you all!