Bienvenidos à México
Hola!
Mexico is a PLACE! I've been here three full days and I can confidently say that Mexico is second to Turkey for the most different place I have ever experienced. I come from a quiet house, in a quiet neighborhood, in a quiet suburb back home. Here, I'm literally living right above a busy street in a crowded city. Construction starts on the roof of my host house at 8 am every morning. The streets here are crowded, but very narrow. There is so much traffic, and so little room for it. Therefore, there are so many car horns. Nothing here is quiet, and I have a new appreciation for the sound of absolutely nothing.
There are so many smells. Sometimes, I feel as though I can simply smell heat. The best way I could describe that is the smell of all different car exhausts, all different foods, and all different people, all meshed into one smell all under sweltering heat.
Which brings me to: Mexico is HOT and in the two cities I've visited at least, CROWDED as well! I do like the sun, though my skin soon won't if I keep forgetting to put sunscreen on. If it was a little cooler, I wouldn't mind. The city I'm in, Querétaro, apparently has 1.8 million people living in it. It is also 11,000 km squared. The streets are pretty narrow and therefore, there are people EVERYWHERE.
I do not speak a lick of Spanish (well, I speak maybe a lick after three days) and my host mom speaks little English. My roommate took two years of Spanish in high school, but for the most part, we're lost together. I do wish I knew more Spanish, and I am seriously questioning how much I'll be able to learn. Before I left, I compared the speed of my Danish language acquisition to how I assumed my Spanish language acquisition would be. WRONG!!! I did not take into account the fact that Danish has no verb conjugations and for the most part follows English grammatical structure. Spanish has six verb conjugations (I think????) for EACH tense.
Being here has also helped me realized that I did indeed learn a good amount of Danish before I left for Denmark, though I never believed I learned much. I completed one level of Spanish on duolingo and forgot it all before coming here. If I compare my vocab when I was first in Denmark to now that I am first here in Mexico, I knew MUCH more Danish then than I do Spanish now. Rotary didn't lie three years ago when they told us to learn the language before leaving for our host country, I'll sure give them that.
The food is great, but I don't eat much more than I did in the United States. That is because Mexican meal times are much different. They eat a small breakfast, a huge lunch around 3 or 4 PM, and a small dinner, like that of an appetizer, around 8 or 9 PM. I haven't really been snacking, which I guess is a good thing. I ate a lot in Denmark and loved the food, but I'd prefer to NOT put all my exchange weight back on again. We'll see if I can keep that resolve over the next two months.
Mexico is a PLACE! I've been here three full days and I can confidently say that Mexico is second to Turkey for the most different place I have ever experienced. I come from a quiet house, in a quiet neighborhood, in a quiet suburb back home. Here, I'm literally living right above a busy street in a crowded city. Construction starts on the roof of my host house at 8 am every morning. The streets here are crowded, but very narrow. There is so much traffic, and so little room for it. Therefore, there are so many car horns. Nothing here is quiet, and I have a new appreciation for the sound of absolutely nothing.
There are so many smells. Sometimes, I feel as though I can simply smell heat. The best way I could describe that is the smell of all different car exhausts, all different foods, and all different people, all meshed into one smell all under sweltering heat.
Which brings me to: Mexico is HOT and in the two cities I've visited at least, CROWDED as well! I do like the sun, though my skin soon won't if I keep forgetting to put sunscreen on. If it was a little cooler, I wouldn't mind. The city I'm in, Querétaro, apparently has 1.8 million people living in it. It is also 11,000 km squared. The streets are pretty narrow and therefore, there are people EVERYWHERE.
I do not speak a lick of Spanish (well, I speak maybe a lick after three days) and my host mom speaks little English. My roommate took two years of Spanish in high school, but for the most part, we're lost together. I do wish I knew more Spanish, and I am seriously questioning how much I'll be able to learn. Before I left, I compared the speed of my Danish language acquisition to how I assumed my Spanish language acquisition would be. WRONG!!! I did not take into account the fact that Danish has no verb conjugations and for the most part follows English grammatical structure. Spanish has six verb conjugations (I think????) for EACH tense.
Being here has also helped me realized that I did indeed learn a good amount of Danish before I left for Denmark, though I never believed I learned much. I completed one level of Spanish on duolingo and forgot it all before coming here. If I compare my vocab when I was first in Denmark to now that I am first here in Mexico, I knew MUCH more Danish then than I do Spanish now. Rotary didn't lie three years ago when they told us to learn the language before leaving for our host country, I'll sure give them that.
The food is great, but I don't eat much more than I did in the United States. That is because Mexican meal times are much different. They eat a small breakfast, a huge lunch around 3 or 4 PM, and a small dinner, like that of an appetizer, around 8 or 9 PM. I haven't really been snacking, which I guess is a good thing. I ate a lot in Denmark and loved the food, but I'd prefer to NOT put all my exchange weight back on again. We'll see if I can keep that resolve over the next two months.
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