So, after a casual 6 month break I'm back!
It's just been one of those things I kept meaning to do and then it was harder and harder cause I kept just leaving it longer meaning there was even more things I should be including! I still want to do it though as it's a good way to remember all the great things I did, not to mention I have to write a reflective essay about my year abroad so this should help me with that aswell!
Having now left it 6 months, I have finished my year abroad in Mexico and am currently on my second day of my internship in Trinidad - so far, so boring!
So going back to the beginning of the year, I figure the easiest way to do this is by month highlights!
January
After having had a great Christmas at home seeing family, friends and even getting in a little skiing. Mom unfortunately fell ill just before I was due to go back to Mexico so decided to stay a little longer at home to help out. This also meant that when I returned I had missed the induction week and the first week of classes. As a result I was unable to change any of my classes meaning I was kinda stuck with what I'd chosen. Luckily as I did 7 courses last semester and only needed 12 in total over the year, I was able to drop 2 of the hardest / most boring ones I'd chosen this semester leaving me with 5:
- Management of Debt Instruments (Spanish) - Seriously hard to begin with, actually turned out to be one of my best subjects!
- Firms, Business and Culture (Spanish) - Teacher seemed to hate me, wasn't a fan of the group presentations, and the partial exams were designed to trick you! Luckily managed to do well somehow on final exam - still confused by that
- Intermediate Accounting (Spanish) - Hard in the sense that you couldn't miss any classes as you would fall behind - the practice questions were only available in the relevant class and there were random tests aswell you shouldn't miss!
- International Relations (English) - Not at all what I expected - mostly just big class discussions and debates. Plus I got luckily that the main piece of assessed work was basically writing a dissertation proposal and for some reason he loved my own!
- International Finance (Spanish) - Pretty easy class, our group for the group tasks was all the international students in the class and we killed it at everything!
Like the week after I arrived I signed up to go to the beach festival trip again with a few people I knew from last semester - Angus, Cam Cam and Coline. Turned out being a great weekend and was waaaay better than the first one in terms of location and setup. This time it was bigger, the tents were all set up for us before we arrived, it was onsite at a hostel which had a pool and for a decent price provided all the food. Plus we had our own section of beach - again it was miles from anywhere but in the Puerto Vallarta region. They had a neon party, colours party with all those bags of dye and a paint party. There was also a giant stage with guest DJs, so all in all pretty cool setup.
February
So around mid February, auntie Robyn and her friend came to Mexico for 2 weeks. unfortunately due to the change in system this semester to 2 partials instead of 3, it meant that I was flicking between seeing her, travels and exams. As she went to high school here, a lot of those friends still live here and she hadn't seen them for years, so they had a big reunion one night which was nice as quite a lot of them went.
We then also went to Oaxaca for a long weekend where we had a little bit of a shopping spree - clearly they were a bad influence as I was doing so well in avoiding buying things up till then! Although to limit the spending spree description to just Oaxaca would be a discredit to auntie robyn's abilities - it was pretty much the whole trip. But we all had a great time so that's what matters!
We were also lucky enough that one of her friends here - Juan - and his girlfriend offered to take us to Taxco - so much silver - definitely had a blast here! Unfortunately had to be back in Mexico city the next day for an exam at 10am, so of course instead of taking the last bus back that night (way too early) I decided to risk it for a little extra shopping time and get the 5am bus back to Mexico city, and then crossing the entire city and heading up north to tec! Luckily everything was on time and worked out meaning I even had a little revision time before class! Juan and his girlfriend were also nice enough to take us to Teotihuacan - meaning we got there early before the crowds and super hot sun. Despite having been in Mexico at that point for like 7 months that was my first visit there!
March
I had been spending a lot of time at 'casa verde' - another house with exchange students, including Angus, Cam cam, Coline and some new French. After Angus went back to Australia, the French girls decided to move house as they'd had several problems with the landlord. The new house they moved to had an extra room going aswell, so I decided to move with them. I hadn't really enjoyed living in my previous house with new people - they were all nice and everything but when I had the opportunity to live with some people I already knew plus some which I got on really well with, I moved. The new house was on the other side of campus. It was a pretty big house - for 10 people, the other spots being filled with 4 Mexicans and a Colombian girl - Laura - who was also on the exchange. My new room was bigger and I had my own bathroom, not to mention the cleaning lady came twice a week and cleaned my room on one of those occasions! O, and to top it all off, the rent was less as well! I was paying $2800 pesos a month - roughly £130 a month! That's what some people pay in Exeter a week
March 28th - Birthday time!!! Being super organized we threw together a last minute invite to go out in Mexico City the night before my birthday, meaning I could invite friends from rugby - who all live more in that direction - as well as friends from Tec. Had an absolute blast, methinks ;) Although probably wasn't the wisest idea to try and work my way through the shot bar menu at Rhodesia (club), but hard to resist when everyone wants to get you a birthday shot! Unfortunately whilst having a great time, I accidentally misplaced my house keys - still don't understand how as could have sworn I had them on a lanyard around my neck! Anyways, this meant that as we were leaving at 3pm that afternoon for a trip, I had to walk all the way down to comercial (supermarket) in the morning in order to find a locksmith to get into my room, as of course I had my room keys on the same chain! Fun morning! We then got on a bus to go to Veracruz for a rafting trip run by Amikoo (the student organization for exchange students). So I actually spent my birthday being rather hungover, panicking about getting into my room and then on a bus for like 8 hours! Woop Woop
The rafting trip was really great though. We arrived late Friday night as we ended up a touch lost and there was also some traffic on the way. We were staying in the rafting centre and so had it to ourselves, they had a pool, table tennis, basketball and the food was included. Had to be up early (around 7) on Saturday to head out. First up was abseiling which whilst fun once you got to do it, not that well organized meaning we were standing at the top waiting for like 2 hours in the boiling sun! Also, some people just took forever to actually go once they were all hooked up and it's like once you've committed - just go already! Clearly I am full of sympathy for those who find these sort of activities scary as opposed to just fun!
After everyone (well most people, some chickened out after waiting at the top) was down, it was time for rafting! Each raft was 6 people plus the guide guy. It wasn't that hard or big but there were a few good rapids and the guides made it fun by having us do games as we went along. There were also a few stop points along the way where we got snacks and could jump off things - bridge, rocks ,etc. It was pretty long stretch in the end and good fun. After rafting we had time to go back and change before paintballing - or 'gotcha' as they call it here - much better name in my opinion! Given minimal protection and a pretty small field was always gonna be tough. I decided my best chances stood on the team with my 2 American friends - both at Westpoint Academy back in the states. Unfortunately at some points it was just a bit of luck in terms of point and shoot as the masks steamed up almost the moment you put them on so could barely see anything! I decided to call it quits after my mask slipped whilst I was running and I sot shot twice in the head at that exact moment! Also had a gigantic bruise on my leg from where I'd been shot earlier aswell! By this time it was also just getting dark and starting to rain, so we headed back to base with some beers to chill.
Sunday was another early start so we could get in the second bit of rafting before leaving - this time we didn't stop as much or do as much so we finished relatively quickly. Also, it was absolutely freezing this day! We had time to go back, eat and have a hot shower afterwards before we had to get back on the bus to head home! All in all, a pretty great trip :)
April
We had our week long break for Semana Santa (easter) in the middle of April. After much discussion and lack of planning we ended up going on a road trip down to pacific coast and staying in a small town called Zipolite - about 1 1/2hours further south than Puerto Escondido. We rented one car and then Micho had his own - we were 9 of us. Taylor and me were the drivers of the rented car, so we just took turns as was a long way there. Even more so as Micho had decided that the quickest route would be through the mountains - long story short, it was not, not even close. We were driving along these windy mountain roads for like 4/5hrs before we finally got out of them. As a result, despite having left at like 6am, we didn't arrive until after midnight, at which point it was just about all we could do to move the stuff into the huts and go to bed. We were staying on these wooden cabin / hut things on stilts about 3m up on the beach. Despite the mosquitoes, I opted to sleep in the hammocks each night as was much cooler than the room, plus we discovered the scurrying noise we'd been hearing at night was exceptionally large mice (almost ratish!).The view in the morning though was amazing as we were right on the beach and like 30m from the sea.
Unfortunately the next night we were there we had an accident when one of the guys in our group fell off the balcony backwards when one of his chair legs slipped over. Furthermore, the first people down tried to help him stand up?! Which I couldn't believe as he'd fallen directly on his back so the last thing in the world they should have done was move him. The problem was that some of us (myself included) had already gone to bed at this point, so by the time we woke up and reacted we were several minutes behind. As he was also winded from the fall as well as in a lot of pain, it was very difficult to get him to stay still and lie flat, which is what you're supposed to do. Being 3am, and on the beach in the middle of nowhere, we had to drive to go find the doctor and bring him. They then examined our friend and called for the lifeguards to bring a spinal board. Now as you may know, spinal boards are designed for someone to be strapped on securely face up, with the idea being they move as little as possible and keep their neck and spine aligned. So imagine my surprise when they decide to strap him on so loosely it was almost pointless, not to mention face down with his head twisted to the side?! My queries were overruled by doctor and lifeguards though. Then they took him to the nearest hospital and two of the group went with him.
The next day we stayed at the beach huts whilst the other two tried to get him seen to at the hospital. Around 6pm they gave us a call asking if we could come and pick them up - I obviously assumed they meant just them, na, the guy wanted to come back too! So we asked what the doctor had said, and were told that he wasn't supposed to be moving at all, so needless to say we went with the intention of only picking up the two who'd been there all day. One of the other girls - Marlene - came with me as well. When we arrived we could see the problems they'd had all day - all the relatives of people were lying around outside as only one person at a time was allowed in to visit. Also, they wouldn't let us in wearing shorts?! However if we wrapped a bedsheet round us toga style that was perfectly acceptable - Mexican logic. Was very surprised when we arrived to see he was still in the same position on the spine board as the night before as furthermore to the other points, it's really only supposed to be used for transporting the patient! Anyways, long story short, it had taken ages to be seen, they weren't entirely sure how much damage he'd done but thought he'd fractured a vertebrae, and he'd been given a back brace to keep it straight and advised not to really move. The main problem was he had been discharged and so was no longer allowed to stay in the hospital and wanted to go back with us to the huts. To which I said was ridiculous and point blank refused to drive him back, instead we found a set-up next to the hospital which allowed relatives to stay the night for almost nothing. Anyways, long story short we picked him up the next day and after a few days trying to sort out insurance he was eventually picked up and taken back to DF. Also, turns out when he got back to France he had multiple fractures and had to have major surgery.
Lesson for all this:
1) Everyone should have to do some kind of basic first aid course in school
2) Don't try to do stuff the doctor told you not to
3) Travel insurance may seem like a pain as almost nothing ever happens - but a small accident can leave you with massive bills if you don't! And it only takes one incident to make it worthwhile having!
Anyways, the rest of the holiday passed without incident and we were lucky enough to have great weather the whole time. We spent most of the time at the beach where we were but did go one day to Puerto Escondido to go surfing - was super crowded though so didn't have as much luck standing up as before, cause constantly checking not gonna hit someone/be hit. We also stayed that night in Puerto so that we could go out there aswell. Another day we explored a close-by beach and we also did a boat/snorkeling trip one morning. Our boat companions seemed a little surprised by our preparedness when we rocked up with 2 giant coolers of beer. We also had stuff to make sandwiches but never got round to it until we reached back land - so kind of a liquid breakfast. Later that same day we were all taking naps and one of the guys - Kaarle, a 6ft something giant - decided he'd take his nap on the beach. Well he passed out so naturally we took the opportunity to draw on him, resulting in several groups of people stopping to pose an take photos with him as they walked down the beach - not that he even so much as moved during this! Then when we went to wake him up all of a sudden like 6 lifeguards came running / appeared on a quadbike as someone had told them it was the same guy who fell so they were all panicking! Also, given our difficulties in waking Kaarle up they didn't actually believe us that he was just a bit drunk and had been taking a nap!
On the way home we stopped off in Acapulco for the night, having decided to take the more sensible and much quicker route home! Unfortunately due to traffic etc, we arrived too late to go out, so we just found accommodation and had the next morning there before heading home. Me, Kaarle and Taylor decided we needed real food for the last day so went to a nice big breakfast buffet - pancakes, eggs, fruit, breads, meats, etc
May
So May brought about the end of my time at TEC. Despite worries in a couple classes I managed to maintain my 93% average for the year so just gotta wait and see how that converts. Exeter tells me that for some reason it will take until December to be able to tell me?! Like I said, a couple of the last exams were quite hard as well as a few final projects to be finished off. Meaning I was quite busy those last 2 weeks of term.
Then Alix (my cousin) arrived on 14th May for a visit - he'd been on a gap year.
Side note: went to pick him up from the airport and was reminded of how ridiculous the taxis are from the airport. To get a taxi from where I live to the airport, then wait with it until we got Alix before returning home costs $400 pesos plus parking $25. To just get a taxi from the airport to my house would have cost $370?! So for an extra $55 pesos (like £2.50) I was able to go pick him up instead
I had my last exam the next morning and then we left that night for Cancun. The French girls I was living with, along with one of their friends from home, Micho and his brother had already left for Cancun earlier in the week.
So this one post doesn't become too ridiculously long, I'll leave it here and continue a next one for travels with Alix.
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