Travel Hiatus

In as much as this is a "travel blog" - well if it's not then I am basically just talking to myself here, aren't I? - I feel its important to note, for the record, that I won't be traveling anywhere for a few weeks. After so much time on the road its time for me to spend a little time here in Monterrey on my actual studies. You remember them; they're the [ostensible] reason I'm here in the first place...

You'll be the first to know the moment things liven up, I promise.

In the meantime, as a small consolation to my wadering heart, I just found a fantastic copy of Wagner's opera Parsifal on sale in Zona Rosa and so even the library has a little more color than usual...

Classes, or a lack thereof

I know that no one wants to here about my coursework, but there´s something you should know: I have less and less of it all of the time. One of the three courses I started the last week of April is already over, meaning that I only have classes 10-6 on Mondays and 6-9 on Wednesday. Hello five day weekends! Well, four, but buses at odd hours will make them five when necessary, trust me. :)
May the hijinx ensue - news at eleven!

PS Oh, and about that class that I just finished... 100%.

Stranger in a Stranger Land pt. II: Campus (wild)life

Monterrey’s outlying territories may a haven for the ecotourist, but most of the rest is decidedly urban sprawl. There city government is finally beginning to set aside some green spaces but this is the desert, so those spaces are not only few and far between but well protected. Do not walk signs are more common than the grass itself. The ITESM campus is an exception, though. Over the years it has designed itself to be a place apart from Monterrey, and generally speaking it has succeeded. Among the things you’ll wandering around on campus, in order of strangeness:

i) Ducks
ii) Geese
iii) Peacocks.
iv) Deer.

No, really. Deer. I was sitting in the library yesterday and I totally saw a deer walking around out the window. One assumes this is common place because I was the only one in the library excitedly asking his neighbors if they saw it, too. Judging by the responses I got, one also assumes that this line of questions is a bit unusual. Still – deer!

Coursework, Cinco de Mayo?!

I can’t decide if my classes here are more difficult than at home. I’m leaning towards easier but, frankly, its hard to say. Here's why: because next Monday is Cinco de Mayo – and even though I’m told Cinco de Mayo is a relatively minor holiday here, more akin to Memorial Day than Independence Day* - we have a four-day weekend. Only we don’t exactly, because instead of canceling classes (normally I have one class a day), they’ve moved them all up. Which means two, four-hour classes a day and that’s the kind of thing that skews survey data, right? So the jury is still out on that.

On the bright side, though, I think I’ll be heading to central Mexico with some friends for the holiday weekend. For the moment only Guanajuanto is on the itinerary but hopefully I can sell them on a little more exploring. :)
On the subject of exploration, here is Dora the Explorer, a la Saltillo:

Egads, EGADE!

You know how it goes – as soon as you’ve commended yourself for your regularity (in this case, me for posting daily) you’ve gone and blown it. I do have a good excuse, though: classes have finally begun! So the reason [ostensibly] that I am in Mexico is finally underway and by and far it’s going pretty. I have now attended all of my classes* at least once and, well, they don’t seem so different from my classes at UF, just more expensive. I have three classes, all in English: Cross-Cultural Management, Doing Business in Mexico, and International Marketing. The first two have about twenty five people each but the last (thus far my favorite) has only seven. Because all of my classe are in English but most of the students (French, German, Dutch, Guatemalan, Colombian, Ecuadoran, etc.) speak English as a second language I am a highly sought-after commodity when it comes to group projects – and that suits me just fine. Here’s hoping for a [pleasantly] eventful semester!

Oh, and as a quick side note, here are a couple of pictures of EGADE. Although the school is said to be one of the best business schools in the world it’s hardly Ivy League – much to the contrary, it was built (with, as you can see, some more achingly modern architecture) in 1995.

EGADE Orientation

In an effort to keep a better travelogue, here I am, in my room, sitting down to write about my day. This is soooo Sex and the City. Which reminds me, actually; when I was in Torreon the other day I saw Sex and the City. [That explains the picture, above.] But I digress because this entry is for today, my first day at EGADE – Orientation.

First of all, let me tell you that my Spanish remains terrible but I’ll live. I’m not the worst person in my class (by far) and I remain confident that I will improve.* That having been said, it is important to note that the entirety of my five hour orientation – replete with guided tour – was in Spanish. General amusement by all attendees – thirty-five or so extranjeros, mostly from Europe and featuring a surprisingly large contingent of Frechmen – ensued. As it turns out, I like my classmates could follow the vast majority of it (primarily because the vast majority of it was either redundant or inconsequential) but no one is an expert, so I can sleep well with that. The lingua franca alternates between English, Spanish, and French** and the topics run from European Politics to Electronica Music. Much to my delight, everyone has been quite friendly although I’d be hard pressed to name more than a half dozen of my new classmates. Still, it’s nice to know that I’m not the only stranger in a strange land.


* Today I even used the future tense, which I was never formally taught!
** The upside of this being that I might, strangely, pick up some French while here. Tres bien!