In Querétaro

I'm finally here in Querétaro Mexico where I will be staying for ten weeks with a host family while enrolled in two Spanish classes focused on grammar and communication. My trip began at 11:40PM at the PDX airport, after saying my goodbyes to family and friends, I jumped on a non-stop flight to Houston Texas, and not a wink of sleep. On the back of each seat LCD screens played commercials and offered entertainment to the few that still had their eyes open. Fortunately, there is a way to dim the screens and make attempt to rest our eyes. Arriving in Houston at around 5:30AM, we waited three hours for our transfer to Mexico City. Some of us walked around, found breakfast, and coffee. While some caught up on reading, and others tried once again to sleep.

I personally suffered from some serious nasal allergies immediately upon arriving at the Houston airport. A couple benadryl later and I was drowsy and comfortable enough to sleep. The flight into Mexico City is a blur. After a brief visit to the restroom during mid flight, I could tell on the way back to my seat that almost every student that accompanied me on this journey had also been sleep deprived and were enjoying some down time.

We arrived in the Mexico City airport at around 11:30AM, after customs at the Mexico City airport, a man helped us with out luggage and guided us to the bus check point where we purchased our tickets for Querétaro. The bus ride was three hours, I didn't sleep, I couldn't. All I was focused on was the documentary and being sure to have ready the HD cameras and questions for those students participating. It was clear by the time we reached Querétaro that many of us were just worn out from our travels. I guess I looked tired, but I was ready to explore and keep moving. I purchased a phone card and attempted to make contact with the various coordinators, one of which was Jennifer Jewett. She was able to accompany us during our first week abroad.

Although I wasn't having any luck contacting Jennifer or our local contact, Gabriela, we eventually ran into Jennifer as she expected us to arrive around 4PM. From the bus station in Querétaro we rode in taxis to our host family homes just minutes from the station. None of the students had purchased a prepaid phone card at this point in our journey. And, we all acted as though we were going to meet up after we met our host families. Now that I have eaten dinner, unpacked a bit, and had a chance to rest... I am feeling very tired.

Be sure and check out my Vimeo channel (http://vimeo.com/user8891033/videos) I will be posting videos soon!