Arrival

Flight:
Well i am finally here.  I flew out of Seattle at 6 am and into Monterrey at 2:30 pm (2 hours ahead).  The trip was relatively uneventful.  I had a connecting flight through Houston so in each airport there was progressively more Spanish.  None in Seattle, some in Houston, and tons in Monterrey.  When i got in i thought i had lost my luggage for a while because several other people form my plane had lost theirs but i eventually found mine behind a sign.  Getting through customs was a bit difficult because the agent didn't speak very good English but between the two of us we got everything figured out.

Family:
My host family is wonderful.  The mother picked me up from the school after i got there and brought me home.  I share a room with Javier, the 18 year old grandson of my host parents.  He is going to university for mechanical engineering.  He tried to get into the school i am at but apparently missed the score he needed on a test by 14 points.  It looks like he is going to be taking all classes that i have taken before.  I think the rough equivalents would be calc II, physics III, and CS1.  I'm going to able to help him with all his homework, and in exchange, he can be my friend :)  There is a second student from germany living here but he is only here for the summer and will be leaving in a few weeks.  He is studying in a masters program and i really like him.  A third student arrived yesterday (1 day late) from australia.  He is named Andrew and knows no spanish at all.  In a way it is nice to have someone to speak english to but in a way it is bad too.  The nice thing is that i get to translate for the family (they speak basically no english) when they want to talk to him and vice versa.  He doesn't have the best attitude about the whole thing though.  Apparently he wanted to live in the dorms but he got a scholarship that required him to live with a host family.  I think he is going to start liking it all more but he doesn't really so far.  Whenever he complains about stuff i just don't translate it :)  One unfortunate thing is that i discovered the german student can also speak english (he started when Andrew came) so now i only really speak spanish with the host parents and Javier.  I still speak the vast majority in spanish at home though because Javier and I are roommates. 

Spanish:
The information we were all given about traveling abroad made it pretty clear that we were going to discover that we are not as good as we thought we were at spanish.   For me though it has been largely the opposite, i guess i just had really low expectations or something.  I find i can carry conversations just fine with people, especially if they speak slowly.  Often if someone says something and i am not paying attention i have to ask them to repeat it, but once the conversation gets going i do pretty well.  To take classes in spanish here you have to take a test and get an advanced rating.  I just took the test and missed advanced by 7 (out of 700) points.  When i went to register though i convinced the lady registering me that i could take the classes anyway, she just made me sign a paper that said i understood that the classes were going to be harder and in spanish.

Orientation:
So far orientation has been interesting.  It is mostly sitting in a room listening to people talk about the university and the services it offers.  They offer those sessions in english and spanish and i just go to the english ones to make sure i don't miss anything.  The most interesting session so far has been on security.  They have really taken strong measures to ensure student safety.  The entire campus is fenced, and to enter you have to show id.  They also have an area where you can play soccer, tennis, racketball, basketball,volleyball and run along paths that is fenced off.  They have a ton of security wandering around and at gates.  Apparently there is a bus service that you can use anytime after 6:00 for free, run by the university that will drop you right at your door, or if you live close any security guard will walk you home.  They also offer a service where you can leave your valuables with a department and pick them up anytime after 6 am the next morning.  In a way it all seems kind of excessive, they just explained over and over again that all these measures are not really necessary they just want to do everything they can to make sure nothing happens to any students.  They said that the vast majority of crime happens because of students doing something stupid.  Apparently last year two students got drunk enough that they passed out on a table in a bar and they got their wallets stolen.  My house is a 10-12 minute walk from campus and my neighborhood seems pretty safe.  On the whole i'm not that worried.  One thing that is weird though is that all the houses have bars over their doors and windows, and they all have walls around them.  Some walls have barbed wire, others the owners have broken glass stuck on the top to keep people from climbing over.  It is a little intimidating seeing that much security on all the houses but apparently its pretty normal in latin america. 

Heat:
It is really hot here.  I'm really really excited for winter.  All the buildings at the school are air conditioned but my host family house is not.  My room has a little ac unit but it does not work that well.  It cools off at night but during the day i just sweat wherever i go.  I have a system that works pretty well though, last thing before bed i take a really cold shower and then just lie down and i can keep from sweating before i go to bed.  I think i might be starting to get used to it too.

Friends:I am making a lot of friends with all the international students because we do a lot of activities together.  Today a bunch of us went out to visit a park.  It was a lot of fun, and i end up translating for the group because im the only one who can speak good spanish.  There is a japanese girl in our group that speaks basically no english and has choppy spanish, communicating with her can be tricky but we get by.

Activities:
We heard a presentation on extra-curricular activities that we can participate in and there are a ton.  There are university organized trips going to different parts of mexico and most of them are really cheap.  They also offer classes in dancing, cooking and music.  I have found a bunch of people that want to take salsa together!  They also offer free classes in different sports so i'm going to sign up for the advanced tennis class and try to meet people to hit with.  Unfortunately you can only sign up for one sports class otherwise i would do several others.  There are clubs though and i can join as many as i want.  Apparently there is a Frisbee club!!!!  So i'm going to join it and the ping pong club.  The sign ups for all of that should be early next week.


Whats Next:
Classes start next week, i am taking electro magnetic fields, thermodynamics, chemistry, and spanish grammar for international students.  If it turns out that thermodynamics and chemistry are too hard in spanish i can switch and take them in english, but the grammar and magnetic fields class are only offered in spanish.  I am also in the process of getting my cell phone to work, organizing social things will be a lot easier after that happens.  Thats pretty much it, i really like it here but i really wish it was colder.


Thaks for reading, let me know if you have questions, i will try to keep this updated.