28 Days Later

or like…12 days later. same thing. kinda.

Sorry but can’t say I didn’t warn you guys that “tomorrow”  can mean any time within the calendar year. :X 

Can I start with some good news?

I WILL BE INTERNING IN MEXICO THIS SUMMER!! CHICKA CHICKA YEEEEAH. I didn’t really talk about it a lot cos I didn’t wanna jinx it but I just got my acceptance letter! 😀 😀 😀 😀

I’m so pumped!! I was honestly worried cos the summer after junior year is often seen as crucial for internships but because of my sister’s graduation plus the baller cruise we’re going on as her graduation gift, I won’t be available during much of June. Luckily for me, my internship is flexible and can start in July because that’s when I’m available so I will still get this awesome opportunity.

I’ll reveal more details later.

Anyways! So Aguascalientes and Querétaro.

I headed back to Aguascalientes alone and 2 days before Pichis because I was tired of being with my friends alone seeing as they were a couple and that got really old really fast, but I still love them haha. 

I stayed in the Marriott Aguascalientes for two nights before I went to stay with Alex the other two but let me tell you:

That hotel is BALLER. Look at the view from the penthouse balcony area:

I took that Thursday night after I spent the whole day with Óscar. Óscar, being the amazing person he is came to my hotel at 11 am Thursday to spend the whole day with me so I wouldn’t be alone since I got to Aguas a day before planned.

He gave me a walking tour of the whole downtown area, which was awesome because I’ve been there bunches of times but normally at night so I don’t know a lot about it. We walked quite literally for 10 hours. I couldn’t feel my hips by the time I got back to the hotel.

This was my favorite statue in the Jardin San Marcos

Can you tell I like Instagram? haha

Well, on Friday I went to Alex’s and went to his basketball practice with him and Nancy. Nancy and I clicked right away and it was nice not to be the only girl hanging out with the bball team. That night Alex, Nancy, Óscar and I went to a club….called Dobby and it was awesome. I forgot my camera per usual. :X But my friend, Monica, and her boyfriend met up with us there and we all had a blast. 

The next day we threw a party in Alex’s house. 

 

My class is about to start so I have to go but I only stayed in Mexico a full three days after this so I’ll talk about that next time I blog. 🙂 

Photos from Aguascalientes

The two weekends following Semana Santa I just went up to Aguascalientes to hang out with my guy friends from the basketball team. The fair began the second weekend I went, so we went there. Unfortunately my camera died and went to camera heaven, so I don’t have many photos. But I’d just like to post a couple up because these guys are all so much fun. 🙂
 

Why I chose to apply to Mexico

From September 4, 2011

 

Admittedly, I get a lot of blank stares when people find out I’ve applied to study abroad in Mexico.

A lot of people bring up drug cartels or say “What about Spain?”

Listen, I understand that there is a risk in Mexico. I had to sign the Travel Warning acknowledging that I was going to a country with an elevated risk. But at the same time I’m not going to Ciudad Juarez or Acapulco, I’m going somewhere that I feel is safe enough for me to study in. There is a risk in any foreign country but this is something that my heart is fully in.

Which also means I will be devastated if I don’t get in but for now I’m being optimistic and hoping/praying the best that I can.

As far as Spain goes…UNC has an AMAZING program in Spain. Btw this entry does not represent the views or opinions of UNC by any means. But a lot of students go on the program and I did not want that. My orientation leader went on the Spain trip and she actually has a blog raving about it. It sounds incredible and I would love to go to Spain but not for studying. Granted I am jealous that I won’t get to country hop. I mean I could hop on over to the US or to Honduras/El Salvador/Belize but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be wandering Central America.

There’s something about Mexico that I just can’t describe though. The culture is so rich and I always feel welcome there. I feel like there’s always something to do and always someone to meet.

When I first looked into studying abroad Mexico was my original choice. But I was under the impression that all of the programs had been suspended so I started looking into South America. I was looking into schools in Chile and Argentina but I was not getting very excited. Not to say that Chile and Argentina wouldn’t be awesome, but they weren’t giving me the same feelings that Mexico did. I looked into Costa Rica and I had almost decided to go with that when I e-mailed my advisor to see if anything in Mexico would open up. He told me that there were still programs open and I freaked out. Any thoughts of any other countries were gone. I was determined to go to Mexico.

Originally I was looking into Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. It seemed like such an awesome program and I talked to a guy about it and he was in love with that part of Mexico after studying there. But then I decided to apply to Guadalajara…in the midst of my application I found out that the program was no longer open. My only choices left were Queretaro or Puebla. When I found out some of my best friends, who are family to me, were moving to Aguascalientes, Mexico…I was devastated. But I looked up both Queretaro and Puebla and found out Queretaro was significantly closer than Puebla. That helped me make my decision because I figured if I’m going to spend a semester in Mexico, it would help to be close to people I knew so I could visit sometimes. Also, I have friends in San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, and Mexico City so I would be right in the center of all of these places.

I’m not saying that should be a determining factor in anyone’s decision though. Because even though I will be relatively near my friends, it’s still 2 hours at the closest to San Luis Potosi, 3.5 to Aguascalientes, and 4 to Guadalajara. Studying abroad is an adventure so while I’m so blessed to get to see some of my best friends down there, it will still be new and exciting to be on my own.

 

 

From August 12, 2011

 

I logged into my e-mail today to see a super urgent and important message from the Study Abroad Office. I was freaking out thinking whatever I needed to do was super time consuming and major.

It turns out it was just that they needed me to give them permission to release my transcripts to Tec de Monterrey. Phew.

I really need to write my statement of purpose for this trip. In both English and Spanish. It’s got to be less than 500 words so it really won’t be that bad. I just have to figure out what exactly I want to say first.

Some side notes though:

1. I finally let my hair stylist do my hair allover red and I’m pretty psyched about it. 🙂

2. I’m so excited for tomorrow!!

3. I feel weird because on this blog I don’t reblog things or pictures. Not that I have anything against that but I feel like I’m the only person not in the loop of doing this. If I see something related to traveling maybe I will. 🙂

4. I had something else to add but I lost it. =/

5. I’ll add something that I wasn’t originally going to say. Mi otra familia has now successfully moved to Aguascalientes and I’m so happy for them. I miss them so so so much though, more than anything. I’m so proud of AT and Eduardo for getting scholarships to play basketball (AT for college and Eduardo for high school) and I can’t wait to here what Dalia and Ally do. 🙂 Love you guys!!