hola hola estoy aqui!!! y mi primer dia de clases

i can finally update everyone about my trip!! sorry for no caps or apostrophes....the keyboard is spanish!

so sunday...the plane ride. was totally fine. i was soooo tired from sleeping only 1 hour before leaving but it was okay. on my flight from minneapolis to houston i had the whole row to myself so i streched out and slept. when i got to houston i found out they have 5 separate terminals so i needed to take a tram to the other terminal. i met up with mary there and we ate lunch at chilis....at ten in the morning!! but yeah, waited the 3 hours and got on a ridiculously small plane to guadalajara. we met a very nice couple on the plane, the guy went to cepe years ago and met his wife there and they were going back to see her family. they wrote a two page list of places and restauarants we should visit. they helped us through customs and made sure we knew where we were going once at the airport. (by the way....as i write this i am saying all the spanish words in my head, its hard not to type in spanish because everything has been en espanol!!) i got yelled at by the customs official because i didnt push the red button before i walked through the door.... all in spanish. but the woman that was supposed to tell me spoke so quietly i had no idea!! that was a nice welcome to mexico for me. oh my visa is for 180 days...so maybe i will stay longer??? haha just kidding! we got a taxi to our host familys house, which is actually an apartment. its on the fourth or fifth floor with no elevator, so i had to drag my 50 pound suitcase, huge tote bag, and back pack that whole way...while wearing jeans, tshirt, and fleece jacket in 90 degree weather! it was interesting to say the least. elba, heron, and hugo are so nice though. they have been having students in their house for the last 20 years! mary and i share a room and katie has her own. we have a bathroom in our room too. hugo works in an accounting office and he also sings and plays the guitar. he has a cd that he gave us! i love it. heron teaches guitar to little kids, like 6 or 7 years old. we have also met another of their kids, heron jr. his wife, and two of their grandkids. everyone is so nice to us and they keep telling us how good our spanish is. we had quesidillas sunday night...and they were so digusting. idk what kind of cheese they use, but no me gusta!!!

monday we got up at 6 something for class. we had to be at the university at 830. its about a 15 minute walk from where we live. we are lucky we dont have to take a bus. i got sick monday morning, but it was all right. so far thats the worst that has happened. breakfast was pan toastada y sandia. toast and watermelon. school was short, we took 2 placement tests (i found out today i made it into level 7/8 outta 10 so i am very happy!) and had orientation and that was all. we were done by 1030. we walked to a really cool place...plaza terranova...cause we were looking for a atm that we could swipe our cards at. after 3 tries we found one. my bank card didnt work though, it kept saying wrong pin. soooo that was pretty upsetting cause i only had like 300 pesos (which is like 30 dollars....just move the decimal one to the right) soo we spent the next hour looking for a place to buy a phone card so i could call my mom. that was hard with the language barrier but eventually we found a 7 11 that had one for me. it was only 40 pesos. but then i had to wait til later in the day so my mom could actually answer! lunch is the big meal of the day at like 2 or 3 in the afternoon...we had spaghetti and something really really good. tacos con papas. tacos filled with potatoes. i loved those! so far their food has been really bland but still decent. we tanned on the roof of the building then, una terraza! we can see so much of the city from up there its awesome. toma una siesta cada dia, es muy importante para mi!! and more exploring that night. we ate at a cafe across the street that was really good...i had ensalada cesar. i opened the menu and was like oh my gosh!!! cause it said 64.00... i keep forgetting its only like 6.40 in the us. we speak spanish almost always, its such good practice. that night their son was over so we talked with him, that was a lot of fun. he told us a bar to check out friday night so that should be good.

and today, first day of classes. mary and i are together with 3 other people from tejas. in the morning from 810 to 1030 we have nivela 7, level 7 grammar etc and after from 11 to 130 we have nivela 8, level 8. the people are so nice, so its fun. the 3 other people are all mexican, and bilingual, but need help with grammar. so we complement eachother really well because we know all the rules and no slang or anything. the book was only 75 pesos. a bunch of people are going to puerto vallarta this weekend, but i think we are going to wait until 4th of july weekend. we might check out downtown friday or saturday. who knows.

i have to pay 10 pesos per hour on the internet thats why i decided to write it all here and if you care you can read. im having so much fun and no problems. oh i did figure out my pin after taking to my mom and i was able to get money so that was a huge relief. we heard about a jewelry store downtown that is 3 levels and you can get like a really nice silver chain for 9 dollars or so, so i think i know where everyone is getting gifts from :) but i miss everyone and i want updates about life back home, so leave a comment here...or facebook....or email me please!!! i have a phone card now so i can call home eventually. i have to use the public phones on the street though. my cell phone wont pick a network so that kinda sucks. verizon works down here for mary at least.