Náhuatl, erotic literature & lots of free time. Yep, definitely not in Valpo anymore.

Classes started a few days ago…They have certainly been an experience. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have a Mexican culture class that seems like it will be really interesting. We’ll be learning about everything from the formation and influence of Náhuatl, which is the native language of the Aztecs, to the role of women in contemporary Mexican politics.

I’m also taking a class on Mexican literature that sounds right up my alley. On the first day of class, instead of telling us to just introduce ourselves with the standard name, major, country of origin, our professor asked us to tell about our life stories from birth until now. The prof is fascinating. She’s from Argentina and married a Mexican engineer. She has two master degrees and two doctorate degrees and her research focuses on the deconstruction of gender in Spanish erotic literature. Needless to say I had a total GEEK OUT moment when I heard all of this. The prof is your standard eccentric academic type who just does whatever and makes no apologies for it. I just love people like that.

I’m supposed to be taking this nifty community service class where we get to work a few hours a week at an organization of our choosing. For the month of January, we are supposed to be meeting with the organizations and trying to figure out which will be the best fit for us. The class time block is supposed to be on Monday. Of course, the times the organizations are supposed to visit campus are scheduled on everyday except Monday and at times when most of the international students have class. Usually I would get frustrated by this, but now I’m just kind of like, “whatever, this is how things work in Mexico.” Who am I, as an outsider to this culture, to critique this.

I went to my first translation class yesterday and realized very quickly that it was just going to be way too difficult for me. The class was composed of both Mexican and International students, all of whom had a better control of both languages than I probably ever will. I decided right after class to drop it. UDLAP has this policy where you can only drop and add courses during the first three days of the semester. It was just my luck that I decided that I didn’t want to take this class on the last day that I had to drop it. I spent three hours trying to drop that class and get into a class about Mexican Civilization. It was a bit scary because I had to talk to all the administrative people in Spanish. Somehow I managed to communicate my ideas across to them. After volleying back and forth between the foreign language department chair and my international advisor, I finally got it all straightened out.

What I was not prepared for over these past few days is not having anything to do. I only have one or two classes a day and none of them have really assigned any time consuming homework. This has resulted in a lot of boredom, hours on Facebook, and reading the one or two books I brought with me. Most of the other international students are having similar troubles. I’m hoping that once more activities get going on campus and once my class workload starts to pick up.

Last night I also went to La Casa Verde, which is this campus ministry-type place that is located off campus. It was your standard, run of the mill campus ministry. The missionary discourse was a bit much for me. This business of “empowerment” really turns me off. It’s just really theologically problematic to me. But perhaps I’ll give it another chance before I totally write it off.

Other than that, things have been pretty calm around here. I’m starting to settle into my surroundings and get to know this place well. Yesterday I finally met all of my suitemates and they are a lot friendlier now that that initial ice has been broken. Overall my experiences in Mexico continue to be great. Cheers!