My First Bus Ride and Trip to the Centro

5:15 AM is when my alarm went off this morning.  Of course, I didn't drag myself out of bed until about 5:30 AM (even then, all I wanted to do was pull the blankets over my head and pretend I didn't have to go to class).  But, despite the sleepiness, I succeeded in getting up, dressing, and eating breakfast (we had coco krispies with milk).  Then we headed out.  We being MM (Mexican Mama), Christina, and I.

Because it was our first time going to school, our MM took us to the bus and actually took the ride to school with us.  (Which was very kind of her.  We would have gotten very lost without her).  So, we walked about five minutes to our 'bus stop' (I have air quotations with bus stop because they really don't have bus stops here in Mexico.  If you are standing by the side of the road and you see the bus you need, you just flag it down and get on.  When you need to get off, you just stand up and the driver pulls over and lets you off.  It's pretty great).  Then went to school (it was about a 15 minute bus ride).  We ended up getting off near the autopista (highway).  Then we walked another five or so minutes until we reached the school.  (Here are some pictures I took before school of the school)

There are such pretty flowers here!

Anyway, we arrive about 30 minutes early, so Christina and I explored.  Our MM just sat on the porch and listened to music.  Eventually, the other members of our group arrived, along with Profe Price.  Then we went to class.  First, we went to the Mayan Culture class (which seems like it'll be exciting!!).  The Spanish was sometimes hard to follow and I felt like my brain was going to explode, but I think the class will be pretty easy.  (I believe it was during this class that this huge spider skittered across the floor.  Only myself and Clare noticed - we totally jumped.  That thing was creepy!!  Luckily it didn't come near us).

It was after that class that we had a nice tour of the campus.  We got shown the library, printer place, and the bathrooms. As well as the pool (though apparently the pool is closed over the summer).  The school is SO small.  But apparently here in Mexico, the schools are seperated.  So, you have a college of medicine.  Then a college of nutrition.  Etc.  Which is why they are so small.  Luckily, the classrooms here have AC (which was REALLY nice).  And so does the cafeteria.

Anyway, after the tour, five of our group went to our class of 321 (or Advanced Spanish grammar).  The rest are in 205 (Intermediate Spanish grammar) or something like that.  That class seems like its going to be super awesome as well (we all sat in a semi circle.  And before we did anything, we did this exercise where we named five Spanish words about a person in the class.  Our teacher then put that in a website thing, and made one of these for each of us, using those words:

Bondadosa = Kind; Blanca = White; Aeropuerto = Airport; Yogur = Yogurt, Vestido = dress

 After that we went over class schedule, a poem, and all that good stuff.  After that, the five of us departed hence to wait for our mamas.  I ended up buying these from the vending machine while we waited:  (gummy bears)

Two of the peeps in our class got picked up by their mamas, but Conner, Christina, and I had to wait till 1:30 for our Mamas to return (our class got out at 11:15).  So, we explored a little.  Here's the picture from that (pretty right?):

 After a while, we ended up going to the Cafeteria to eat food and enjoy the AC.  And start our homework.  (Twas fun).

These are the papas I bought in the cafeteria

 Eventually, 1:30 rolled around, and after the other peeps from 205 got out of class, we headed home on the bus.  It was raining pretty hard when we got off the bus, so we were soaked by the time we got into the house (we = Christina, MM, and I).  So we changed, then had lunch (chicken fajitas.  SO yummy).  And then I took a nap.

About 5:30 PM, Connor, Christina, Scott, Brandon, and I braved the odds and the rain (or we were just being stupid, lol) and decided to go to Institute.  So, we hopped on the bus and headed towards the Centro (Central Plaza).  After a short bus ride, we got off, and spent next 45 minutes trying to find el Centro (which we did), then the Cathedral, followed by the LDS temple (all were on the way to the Institute building).

Let me just tell ya, when we found the temple it was SUCH a relief.  It just felt so comfortable there and relaxed.  There was such a sweet spirit there.  Anyway, we ended up going inside the church building and finding out that Institute does not start for another two weeks (*facepalm*).  But, hey, at least we found the building, right?  We ended up resting there for a few and using the WiFi (did I mention that it's nice that every single LDS church building in the world has the same WiFi password?  #legit).  Here's the pictures I took while we were there: (See how wet I look?  It was raining the whole time we were walking.  Luckily I had my umbrella).

 Well, after getting some directions from the gate guard at the temple (and taking our photo in front of the temple:

Left to Right:  Connor, Brandon, Me, Scott, Christina

...as well as finding out that the temple is closed for repairs until July 7th) we headed home.  It was much quicker this time.  The only hang up was finding the bus home.  But after asking multiple times for directions, and after calling our MM, we finally made it home.

It was then that we took off our shoes (and I discovered in the shower, while washing off my feet, that there's nasty little water critters that are kind of like centipedes, but not.  The kind that crawled into the shower were small, but apparently there are bigger ones that will bite you *shudder*).

Anyway, after washing up, we ate quesadillas with ham and cheese (SO yummy.  And people said quesadillas weren't Mexican food.  Pssh).  Then Christina and I got ready for bed and are (even now) watching Rapunzel (and I am crunching on my wintergreen mints).

So, yep!

That's it for today's adventure.  I would call it a #success for our #byuabroad :P

Hasta mañana!

R J Carr