DockeryZ — – -

Having never left the country before in my life, planning my trip was a very strenuous process which took a lot of patience, gumption, and faith.  Overcoming all of the obstacles involved have educated me immensely.  My only source for direct face-to-face questioning was my study abroad adviser and even he wasn’t able to describe to me every detail I needed to know.  I began planning my trip in January of this year and every step was a trial and error process.

I purchased my airline ticket in early June on Hotwire.  I was very surprised how everything was so much easier than I had anticipated.  Everything seemed to fall into place just fine, despite my paranoia.  Everything I have ever heard about airports has been negative thus making me believe I would have a very difficult time.  I guess sometimes you just have to go with the flow and take the cards as they are  dealt.  I boarded my first airplane expecting a miserable flying experience.  I had been convinced that my high blood pressure would make my flight a living hell.  On the contrary, it was no different that a car ride through rough terrain.

When I finally touched base in Querétaro Airport, I was overwhelmed by the extremely pleasant weather.  I had just traveled from Murphy to Atlanta to Houston to Querétaro.  That is to say that I transitioned from 90+ degrees Fahrenheit weather to a very comfortable 73 degrees.  I could not believe it.  As I went through customs, although I was aware of my presence in Mexico, it was still unreal to me.  Surely it was just a dream.  I caught a Airport Taxi to my host family’s home (my new home) for a measly $300 pesos (roughly $25 American).  The ride lasted a good 25 minutes even though the driver was going 80 MPH or so the entire way.

I finally arrived at the door to my new home.  At first I knocked on the door only to find afterwards a buzzer on my left.  I pressed a button, spoke in Spanish and I was greeted by a very gorgeous latina woman.  I thought to myself “There is no way this is my host mother!”…”No way!”  It wasn’t.  It turned out that she was the daughter of my host mother and was visiting for that week.  I was greeted with a hug and a peck on the cheek from both the host mother and the very hot daughter.

Afterwards, I was seated at the table where I ate lunch.  I then left the table towards my new room and fell asleep for the rest of the night.  The next morning I had to be at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Querétaro for orientation.  This semester there were 171 international students from 40 different countries.  Believe it or not, there were hardly any Americans.  The German population outranked every nationality in the auditorium.  I made plenty of friends that day as well as the following 2 days of orientation.  Now that I had been introduced to the school, it was time to explore my neighborhood, which I will elaborate more on in my next post.

I have enjoyed every second of my stay here so far and I have not had one ounce of homesickness plague me whatsoever.  I have four more months to enjoy this magnificent city and it is huge!  Aside from that, I have other places that I get to attend such as: Teotihuaca, Peña de Bernal, La Sierra Gorda, and much much more.

I have only six more classes until I graduate with a B.A. in Spanish.  Four of which I will be taking at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro.  I will not only be studying abroad, but I will also be leaving the country (mainly the Southeast USA) for the first time ever in my life.  In less than two weeks I will land in a place which will change my outlook on life completely.  Spanish will be the primary language and I will be living with a native Mexican host family.  I am anticipating a very strong culture shock, virgin jet lag, and a homesickness I do not believe I will ever have experienced.

Luckily, I have a decent grasp on the language.  Thanks to the friendship I harvested in the seventh grade with two brothers from Mexico, that could not speak a word of English when I met them, I have been exposed immensely already to the language and culture I will encounter.

It is hard to believe that a white-trash redneck like me, from Murphy, North Carolina, is bilingual and will soon be speaking his second language on the daily, very soon, but it is what it is and I am not only anxious for this experience, I am also very nervous believe it or not.