¡Bienvendios a Queretaro, Mexico!

I finally made it to Queretaro! It has been a long trip and a long first week here in Mexico, but I love it despite all the bumps along the road. Unfortunately, I do not have internet at my home so my updates probably will not be as often as I like, but I know that the internet cafe down the street from my house will love me by the end of the semester.

The first little bump came with the flight from Kalamazoo to Detroit. I´m not sure if it was because of the snow and ice or if we had an inexperienced pilot, but boy did I ever get motion sickness. Thankfully, it was only a 40 minute flight, otherwise we might have had some problems. The flight from Detroit to Mexico, nonetheless, went without a hitch. In fact, two Western students sitting near me sat next to a student from the University of Queretaro (where we too will be studying) and they struck up an interesting conversation with him. They talked about everything in Queretaro: the university, classes, bars, dance clubs, etc. Though I didn't meet Ceasar during the flight, I hope to see him around town in the months to come.

At around 1:30 in the afternoon, we landed in Mexico City. I expected more people to be in the airport, and even Patricia Montilla (the professor from Western who accompanied us) said that it was odd to see so few people bustling around the airport. Personally, I was glad because I was STARVING so I quickly beelined to the nearest place with food. Mexican fast food is pretty interesting, I will tell you that. My first official food in Mexico was a ham, cheese, and refried bean sandwich with these chips that were SO SPICY that they defintely deserved their name "a la diabla." But they were still delicious, despite the burn!

The best part about our first day in Mexico and Queretaro in general was the hotel where we spent the first night. It's called Hotel Meson de la Merced and words do not do it enough justice, only pictures will suffice. Once I get pictures off my camera and onto the computer, I will upload them ASAP. But it was wonderful if only because I got to sleep in a king sized bed facing a beautiful plaza :)

The rest of the evening is pretty much a blur after so much activity and excitment. My day started at 4:30 am and didn't end until 12:00am EST so by the time dinner arrived on the first day, I felt like a total zombie, but a conteted zombie. And what is there not to be content about? I arrived safely in Mexico, in a beautiful city celebrating Three Kings Day all weekend, which meant absolutely wild and over the top decorations celebrating the birth of Jesus. A little overwhelming, but defintely worth it.

My time is up at the internet cafe for this evening. Hopefully this weekend, or at least by next week, I can post some photos of the Hotel Meson de la Merced and begin to talk about how my first week in Queretaro went.

- Kaitie