hey this is something i have to do for myself
ok. so i've neglected this journal pretty much all summer... or before that. i don't expect anyone to read this but there are some things i just don't want to forget:
-i met someone right at the end of last year. it's not what you think. we've only spoken a few times since i last saw him but it was nice to remember what it felt like to connect with someone immediately. most of the people i'm close to, i had an immediate connection with but it's been a long time since that happened. so whatever happens i am at least grateful for that.
-ok, mexico. i know that's pretty much all i did update about, but seriously, words can't explain how amazing it was. my host family was wonderful and beautiful and funny and i still miss them very much. we lived in a gorgeous house which happened to be near nothing useful, but we enjoyed it none the less. the entire back of the house was made of windows. that's what i want my house to be like when i finally get my own.
-one night kelli, krystle, victor and i were alone in the house when our first real, HUGE guadalajara storm that we were actually awake for swept through. it was hailing and pouring and thundering and lightening like crazy, we couldn't even see through the windows. even though we were all dressed and ready to go out for the night, we decided to go run in it anyway. literally the minute i stepped outside i was soaked to the bone, and of course... we got locked out. krystle and victor ended up having to walk to tacos in the rain to get an extra key. it was one night i think we'll all remember for a long time. (we decided not to get ready again and went to a club looking like we'd gone swimming in our clothes :D)
-in puerto vallarta, kelli, victor and i went parasailing. it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. it is so calm, flying above the sea. i could see the whole town, all the bathers on the beach, and the breeze thundered in my ears, and i flew over the ocean. i would do it again in a heartbeat.
-in mexico city, one of the main daytrips was to teotihuacan to see and climb the pyramids. i climbed the pyramid of the sun, which is the 3rd tallest pyramid in the world (and almost died in the process, let me tell you). (here is a picture of it if anyone cares.) it was built sometime between 0 and 150 AD. you can't imagine how crazy it is to see things so old, to imagine the aztecs scrambling up these monsters everyday... anyway, i was talking to marissa sometime after i got back and she had just gotten a book about astrology, and since we're both capricons i told her to tell me about our sign. apparently each star sign has a "cosmic journey" which they are destined to fulfill, a place in the world they are connected to, and guess what the capricorn journey is? the pyramids of teotihuacan. ironic. really, though, it makes me happy to think maybe i was destined to go on this trip somehow.
-one of the funnest nights with my friends was our first night in guanajuato, when we hit every club in the city and victor got drunker than i've ever seen him. we ended up at a bar called, appropriately, "el bar," because they offered us free mojitos. people were salsa dancing and they had a balconey that looked over the main street where we ended up spending a good 2 hours yelling to people we knew who happened to walk by (including professors in victor's case). it was quite a bonding experience, and we all kept buying rounds for each other and taking pictures and it was just a really fun night in general despite victor and i being deathly hungover the next day.
-our family owned a taco shop near the house so we spent many nights there playing cards and talking to them and helping out when it got busy. some of our best times were there. we taught them several card games, including go fish and asshole, both of which they loved (and it was really funny to play asshole with our senora). that was really the only chance we had to bond with sergio, since he was always working, so a few nights he sat down with us and told us really good stories about being drunk and stealing cars at hotels and crazy things that seemed so unlike him. i think he was very unsure of us at first, but we pestered him enough that he realized we really wanted to get to know him. and it was really cute that when we asked him to tell us stories, he said he would think about stories to tell us and then think they were too stupid and we wouldn't like them.
-on our last night our senora really wanted to drink with us. so we went to tacos all night and played cards with her and drank and i think she really is going to miss us. her older daughter, daniela, told us that we were the nicest girls they'd ever had during study abroad, and they've been doing it for over a decade, so that made us really happy. we were kind of bummed, because we had planned to go out with sergio so we had to wait until tacos closed at midnight, but michelle went out with friends earlier...but when we got to the bar she ended up finding us and i was so happy. things happened with sergio's MARRIED friends that shouldn't have, but we didn't know they were married until later and they kept buying us drinks. and at the end of the night, kelli and i rode home in the back of their pickup truck, which had been our dream/running joke the entire 6 weeks. when we got home, the 4 of us (kelli, sergio, mich, and i) went to the living room and laid around with each other talking until we all passed out...i really don't remember what was said or when i fell asleep, but it's still a really good last memory of them for me.
-after i got home from the study abroad, i went back to rocky point with some pho-town friends and friends of theirs. it was a really relaxing weekend, with a SUPER nice house, and i got to hang out with some of laurie's friends from school and sit on the beach and make pina coladas. so that was a nice end to summer with my friends from home, who i really didn't see enough this summer, but. oh well. my fault. they're moving down to tucson today so hopefully i'll be visiting them and have a few final hurrahs before i head back to san diego.
which i'm really excited about, by the way. living with kelli and kaitlin should be a lot of fun, and of course we have our 3 liter bottle of rum to keep us company. i miss everyone down there a ton.
ok. enough of the novel. if anyone's still in town, give me a call, or maybe i'll run into you in tucson in the next couple of weeks. PAYCE
downtown guadalajara.
puerto vallarta at sunset.
my family <3 mich and sergio
kelli and i on the last night.
ARRIBA LAS CHIVAS!!
the girls
mexico city from the castillo de chapultepec
tacos!
guanajuato was the most adorable little city.
-i met someone right at the end of last year. it's not what you think. we've only spoken a few times since i last saw him but it was nice to remember what it felt like to connect with someone immediately. most of the people i'm close to, i had an immediate connection with but it's been a long time since that happened. so whatever happens i am at least grateful for that.
-ok, mexico. i know that's pretty much all i did update about, but seriously, words can't explain how amazing it was. my host family was wonderful and beautiful and funny and i still miss them very much. we lived in a gorgeous house which happened to be near nothing useful, but we enjoyed it none the less. the entire back of the house was made of windows. that's what i want my house to be like when i finally get my own.
-one night kelli, krystle, victor and i were alone in the house when our first real, HUGE guadalajara storm that we were actually awake for swept through. it was hailing and pouring and thundering and lightening like crazy, we couldn't even see through the windows. even though we were all dressed and ready to go out for the night, we decided to go run in it anyway. literally the minute i stepped outside i was soaked to the bone, and of course... we got locked out. krystle and victor ended up having to walk to tacos in the rain to get an extra key. it was one night i think we'll all remember for a long time. (we decided not to get ready again and went to a club looking like we'd gone swimming in our clothes :D)
-in puerto vallarta, kelli, victor and i went parasailing. it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. it is so calm, flying above the sea. i could see the whole town, all the bathers on the beach, and the breeze thundered in my ears, and i flew over the ocean. i would do it again in a heartbeat.
-in mexico city, one of the main daytrips was to teotihuacan to see and climb the pyramids. i climbed the pyramid of the sun, which is the 3rd tallest pyramid in the world (and almost died in the process, let me tell you). (here is a picture of it if anyone cares.) it was built sometime between 0 and 150 AD. you can't imagine how crazy it is to see things so old, to imagine the aztecs scrambling up these monsters everyday... anyway, i was talking to marissa sometime after i got back and she had just gotten a book about astrology, and since we're both capricons i told her to tell me about our sign. apparently each star sign has a "cosmic journey" which they are destined to fulfill, a place in the world they are connected to, and guess what the capricorn journey is? the pyramids of teotihuacan. ironic. really, though, it makes me happy to think maybe i was destined to go on this trip somehow.
-one of the funnest nights with my friends was our first night in guanajuato, when we hit every club in the city and victor got drunker than i've ever seen him. we ended up at a bar called, appropriately, "el bar," because they offered us free mojitos. people were salsa dancing and they had a balconey that looked over the main street where we ended up spending a good 2 hours yelling to people we knew who happened to walk by (including professors in victor's case). it was quite a bonding experience, and we all kept buying rounds for each other and taking pictures and it was just a really fun night in general despite victor and i being deathly hungover the next day.
-our family owned a taco shop near the house so we spent many nights there playing cards and talking to them and helping out when it got busy. some of our best times were there. we taught them several card games, including go fish and asshole, both of which they loved (and it was really funny to play asshole with our senora). that was really the only chance we had to bond with sergio, since he was always working, so a few nights he sat down with us and told us really good stories about being drunk and stealing cars at hotels and crazy things that seemed so unlike him. i think he was very unsure of us at first, but we pestered him enough that he realized we really wanted to get to know him. and it was really cute that when we asked him to tell us stories, he said he would think about stories to tell us and then think they were too stupid and we wouldn't like them.
-on our last night our senora really wanted to drink with us. so we went to tacos all night and played cards with her and drank and i think she really is going to miss us. her older daughter, daniela, told us that we were the nicest girls they'd ever had during study abroad, and they've been doing it for over a decade, so that made us really happy. we were kind of bummed, because we had planned to go out with sergio so we had to wait until tacos closed at midnight, but michelle went out with friends earlier...but when we got to the bar she ended up finding us and i was so happy. things happened with sergio's MARRIED friends that shouldn't have, but we didn't know they were married until later and they kept buying us drinks. and at the end of the night, kelli and i rode home in the back of their pickup truck, which had been our dream/running joke the entire 6 weeks. when we got home, the 4 of us (kelli, sergio, mich, and i) went to the living room and laid around with each other talking until we all passed out...i really don't remember what was said or when i fell asleep, but it's still a really good last memory of them for me.
-after i got home from the study abroad, i went back to rocky point with some pho-town friends and friends of theirs. it was a really relaxing weekend, with a SUPER nice house, and i got to hang out with some of laurie's friends from school and sit on the beach and make pina coladas. so that was a nice end to summer with my friends from home, who i really didn't see enough this summer, but. oh well. my fault. they're moving down to tucson today so hopefully i'll be visiting them and have a few final hurrahs before i head back to san diego.
which i'm really excited about, by the way. living with kelli and kaitlin should be a lot of fun, and of course we have our 3 liter bottle of rum to keep us company. i miss everyone down there a ton.
ok. enough of the novel. if anyone's still in town, give me a call, or maybe i'll run into you in tucson in the next couple of weeks. PAYCE
downtown guadalajara.
puerto vallarta at sunset.
my family <3 mich and sergio
kelli and i on the last night.
ARRIBA LAS CHIVAS!!
the girls
mexico city from the castillo de chapultepec
tacos!
guanajuato was the most adorable little city.