Oct. 18
Wow, it has just been a week since my last post on the blog, and here I am writing again! Last week was the end of the partials, and I had my two last presentations on tuesday. Presenting your work here is quite different from back home since it doesn't feel like it matters how well you do. I still try to make my work as good as possible, of course, but there's usually very little time for discussion and feedback.
Tuesday was pretty interesting since me and Lisa were in a photoshoot. It was in the back of a butchershop and it was a very cool experience! I think we got some good pictures, so it will be nice to see the final result. Rocio, our photographer, will submit some of the work for a contest in a few weeks. After we were done with the photos she took us around town for a couple of hours, showing us a lot of different places. Thanks a lot Rocio, we really enjoyed it! And we found a very cool hotel where we have to go to some day to have a drink...
On thursday me, Lisa and Matilda took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Las Vegas. Everything went well and it was so nice to see the view of Nevada from the plane. I'm pretty sure we flew close to Grand Canyon and the weather was perfect so we could clearly see everything. Once in Vegas I met up with Anders at the airport, so nice to see him again! We went to our hotel where we met up with Valerie, who came one day earlier to Vegas to see her brother, who was working at a fair. Me and Valerie also went to see him at the fair on friday morning, but we were a little bit tired from the night before... Anyway, we had a great stay in the city! Went to some good clubs, hung out by the pool and relaxed. For me and Anders it was maybe easier since we've been there before, this way we were never stressed about walking around and doing sightseeing. And we didn't go crazy shopping like the girls either...
We did some planning of our Mexico trip in december, or at least decided not to plan it too much ahead. We kind of know what route we are taking and that we will be in Playa Del Carmen for New Years. Then I'm flying back from Merida to Monterrey on the 4th of January. Will be an awesome trip!
Flew back on sunday afternoon, but we had to wait in the plane for 1.5 hours since there was a big thunderstorm outside. Finally we could take off and 3 hours later we were back in Monterrey. Now it's monday night and I have a normal week of school ahead of me. Let's see how normal it can be, in Monterrey you never know what the day has to offer...
Tuesday was pretty interesting since me and Lisa were in a photoshoot. It was in the back of a butchershop and it was a very cool experience! I think we got some good pictures, so it will be nice to see the final result. Rocio, our photographer, will submit some of the work for a contest in a few weeks. After we were done with the photos she took us around town for a couple of hours, showing us a lot of different places. Thanks a lot Rocio, we really enjoyed it! And we found a very cool hotel where we have to go to some day to have a drink...
On thursday me, Lisa and Matilda took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Las Vegas. Everything went well and it was so nice to see the view of Nevada from the plane. I'm pretty sure we flew close to Grand Canyon and the weather was perfect so we could clearly see everything. Once in Vegas I met up with Anders at the airport, so nice to see him again! We went to our hotel where we met up with Valerie, who came one day earlier to Vegas to see her brother, who was working at a fair. Me and Valerie also went to see him at the fair on friday morning, but we were a little bit tired from the night before... Anyway, we had a great stay in the city! Went to some good clubs, hung out by the pool and relaxed. For me and Anders it was maybe easier since we've been there before, this way we were never stressed about walking around and doing sightseeing. And we didn't go crazy shopping like the girls either...
We did some planning of our Mexico trip in december, or at least decided not to plan it too much ahead. We kind of know what route we are taking and that we will be in Playa Del Carmen for New Years. Then I'm flying back from Merida to Monterrey on the 4th of January. Will be an awesome trip!
Flew back on sunday afternoon, but we had to wait in the plane for 1.5 hours since there was a big thunderstorm outside. Finally we could take off and 3 hours later we were back in Monterrey. Now it's monday night and I have a normal week of school ahead of me. Let's see how normal it can be, in Monterrey you never know what the day has to offer...
Oct. 11
Finally done with the second partials! The last couple of weeks have been a lot of work on projects but now I'm done for this time. Actually, I have my last two presentations tomorrow but the work has already been submitted. First really free weekday evening in a long time and it feels good!
Anyhow, there's not just studying to write about, even if it feels like that's the only thing I've been doing lately. A bit more than a week ago we went on a trip to the states - South Padre Island in Texas. Marcello was kind enough to take me, Valerie, Ulla-Maija and Sanna in his car so the five of us drove up to the border. Big thanks Marcello! It's said to be the most dangerous higway in Mexico, but we had no problems. Might have been worse if we drove at nighttime, but we went in the middle of the day. After about two hours drive to the border, two more hours of waiting in a car line at the border, and then another hour we arrived at our hotel. Turned out that it was low season so there were almost no people on the island. No problem for us, we still had a really good weekend. Just took it easy, chilled by the beach and pool and went out for food. There were like two bars open but they were close to empty. A funny story is when we just came to the hostel, we went to the pool to grab a beer. Sat down with some americans who turned out to be proper rednecks. Some quotes from them:
"- I'm a true Republican! F*ck Obama, f*ckin socialist!"
"- Oh you're from Austria? Cool, that's where they make the Glock. They sure know how to make guns in Austria"
"- I don't speak Spanish, just Rdneck-English"
"- We're Americans, we don't kill people"
And last but not least (this was said by a guy who sat right next to Marcello):
"- If I see a Mexican crossing the border I will shoot him straight away"
Pretty soon we realised that we didn't have much in common with these guys so we bounced. Luckily we didn't run into them again either. Not even at the "afterparty for the fishing festival" where we apparently went. We thought we just went to the only open bar to get a drink.
We left South Padre Island on sunday morning and stopped at three places for some shopping on the way back. First an outlet mall, then Best Buy and finally a big mall. All of us came back with a lot of good deals.
The other day I got an email from a friend of friend, this girl is a photographer and wanted me to participate in a project as a model. Sounds like a fun thing to do! :) She also wanted a blond girl, so tomorrow me and Lisa will go to a pretty special location for a photoshoot. Must say I'm a bit excited, it will be interesting to see how the result will look like.
On thursday I will fly to Las Vegas! I'm flying there with Lisa and Matilda, who already bought tickets for this trip since way back. Once there I will meet up with my good friend Anders "Enjoyer of life" Västfält, who is currently studying at UC Davis in California. I'm really looking forward to it! We will also meet up with Valerie, Ulla-Maija and Malin who are now on a trip in California. I'm a bit jealous of them I must admit... But no need to complain! Still loving life here and the weekend will be awesome!
And just to mention the security situation briefly. Things have gotten a bit worse over the last couple of weeks, since there has been shootings every day, and now also in the daytime and against civilians. Normally it's just narcos fighting each other or the military and police. Campus even got closed an efternoon last week, since there was a shooting not far away. Because of these recent events, the school now offered us the opportunity to either transfer to another campus (which only makes sense if you're here for two semesters) or finish the courses online. We signed up for the online courses, but it will take some weeks before it can be definite. We just did this as a backup-plan, nothing is decided yet. At least good to have the option to go somewhere else even it gets a lot worse. But most likely we will stay here, so far I don't know any of the people I'm hanging out with who are leaving. We will see what happens. Even though the situation is crazy, I don't feel scared and life goes on as normal. But it puts things in perspective, makes me feel blessed by living in such a safe country like Sweden. Also makes me think that the "problems" we have back home maybe aren't that troublesome after all. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
That's all for this time! i will try to put up a post maybe in Vegas, or at least after the weekend. Buenas noches!
Anyhow, there's not just studying to write about, even if it feels like that's the only thing I've been doing lately. A bit more than a week ago we went on a trip to the states - South Padre Island in Texas. Marcello was kind enough to take me, Valerie, Ulla-Maija and Sanna in his car so the five of us drove up to the border. Big thanks Marcello! It's said to be the most dangerous higway in Mexico, but we had no problems. Might have been worse if we drove at nighttime, but we went in the middle of the day. After about two hours drive to the border, two more hours of waiting in a car line at the border, and then another hour we arrived at our hotel. Turned out that it was low season so there were almost no people on the island. No problem for us, we still had a really good weekend. Just took it easy, chilled by the beach and pool and went out for food. There were like two bars open but they were close to empty. A funny story is when we just came to the hostel, we went to the pool to grab a beer. Sat down with some americans who turned out to be proper rednecks. Some quotes from them:
"- I'm a true Republican! F*ck Obama, f*ckin socialist!"
"- Oh you're from Austria? Cool, that's where they make the Glock. They sure know how to make guns in Austria"
"- I don't speak Spanish, just Rdneck-English"
"- We're Americans, we don't kill people"
And last but not least (this was said by a guy who sat right next to Marcello):
"- If I see a Mexican crossing the border I will shoot him straight away"
Pretty soon we realised that we didn't have much in common with these guys so we bounced. Luckily we didn't run into them again either. Not even at the "afterparty for the fishing festival" where we apparently went. We thought we just went to the only open bar to get a drink.
We left South Padre Island on sunday morning and stopped at three places for some shopping on the way back. First an outlet mall, then Best Buy and finally a big mall. All of us came back with a lot of good deals.
The other day I got an email from a friend of friend, this girl is a photographer and wanted me to participate in a project as a model. Sounds like a fun thing to do! :) She also wanted a blond girl, so tomorrow me and Lisa will go to a pretty special location for a photoshoot. Must say I'm a bit excited, it will be interesting to see how the result will look like.
On thursday I will fly to Las Vegas! I'm flying there with Lisa and Matilda, who already bought tickets for this trip since way back. Once there I will meet up with my good friend Anders "Enjoyer of life" Västfält, who is currently studying at UC Davis in California. I'm really looking forward to it! We will also meet up with Valerie, Ulla-Maija and Malin who are now on a trip in California. I'm a bit jealous of them I must admit... But no need to complain! Still loving life here and the weekend will be awesome!
And just to mention the security situation briefly. Things have gotten a bit worse over the last couple of weeks, since there has been shootings every day, and now also in the daytime and against civilians. Normally it's just narcos fighting each other or the military and police. Campus even got closed an efternoon last week, since there was a shooting not far away. Because of these recent events, the school now offered us the opportunity to either transfer to another campus (which only makes sense if you're here for two semesters) or finish the courses online. We signed up for the online courses, but it will take some weeks before it can be definite. We just did this as a backup-plan, nothing is decided yet. At least good to have the option to go somewhere else even it gets a lot worse. But most likely we will stay here, so far I don't know any of the people I'm hanging out with who are leaving. We will see what happens. Even though the situation is crazy, I don't feel scared and life goes on as normal. But it puts things in perspective, makes me feel blessed by living in such a safe country like Sweden. Also makes me think that the "problems" we have back home maybe aren't that troublesome after all. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
That's all for this time! i will try to put up a post maybe in Vegas, or at least after the weekend. Buenas noches!
Sep. 23
I started writing the following text a few days ago, but it turned out to be a lot so I didn't finish it until just now. Anyway, it covers our whole trip for 8 days last week, and if you get bored of reading, there's also photos on Facebook.
Back in Monterrey! The last 8 days have been so good! 9 of us went on a trip together to celebrate the 200 years of Mexican independence. Of course it's a huge event here every year so there's a couple of days of official holidays, so we took advantage of this and left Monterrey. The week before was very hectic as I had a lot of schoolwork to finish before going away, but it was worth it! We also had a meeting with the Swedish consulate, who had come from Mexico City to inform us about the situation here. Turned out they went because they had received many calls from worried parents. The meeting was nothing new to us, just the same information we have heard before. There's a lot of stuff going on here now and the war on drugs is huge. So far it hasn't affected us and we're doing our best to stay safe.
Anyway, back to the trip. We went to the airport on friday afternoon and already there we met a lot of other exchange students who were going away as well. When checking in we realised that we had to print our boarding passes online before going to the airport, so we all had to pay 400 pesos extra to get our boarding passes. Boring cost, but we were still happy when entering the plane and leaving Monterrey.
Ready for Puerto Vallarta! The flight only took about 2-3 hours (I'm not sure since I was sleeping the whole way) and then we were on the south west coast of Mexico. Got a really nice hotel with good rooms and for a decent price. The first day we got on a bus to take us to a beach that was supposed to be really nice. Turned out that the beach was close to an area of hotels, but since it's low season we were practially alone on the beach. Except for all the people trying to sell us crap. I guess the youngest seller was about 5 years old and the oldest one was 70. Was still very nice to just relax on the beach a whole day! The next day we went on a boat tour that took the whole day. The first stop was for doing some snorkeling but we saw almost no fish at all. A bit disappointing but the next stop was a lot better! We hiked barefoot for a while through a forest and a couple of rivers, until we finally came to a waterfall. Very cool and totally worth the hike through the mud! Afterwards we were pretty tired, so it was nice to spend the night on a bus taking us to Guadalajara. Arrived at 7 in the morning and after finding our hostel we took a nap for a couple of hours. Then set off to see the city. We were told that a place called Tlaquepaque would be a nice place to see so we took a cab there. It felt like a small city, although it was just a part of Guadalajara, which has around 7 million inhabitants. Colonial style buildings and streets, so a nice place to spend an afternoon. In the evening I met up with Fabiola, who was in Sweden as an exchange student last year. She drove me around showing me some parts of the city, and then we had a dinner at a nice restaurant. Met up with the other guys afterwards to go to a club, but didn't find one. Apparently monday is the day of the week when people in Guadalajara doesn't go out. Thankfully we stayed at an awesome hostel though, so we just hung out there instead.
The next day we checked out from the hostel and took the bus to Tequila, a small town where (obviously) Tequila is from. Just like Tlaquepaque, it was a nice feeling to walk around in a small city, very unlike Monterrey. Much more calm and beatiful! We also took a guided tour which took us thorugh the city and showing us a couple of Tequila factories. Of course we tried some different flavours and brands, and I bought myself a bottle of coffee-flavoured Tequila. Really good! Came back to Guadalajara to celebrate Fabiolas birthday at a bar, but we could only stay for a couple of hours since we had a ticket for another night bus.
This time leaving to Mexico City! Us four guys had booked a hostel and the others were staying at friends. The four of us spent the whole day walking around the city centre, which was closed for traffic. Perfect for us, since we were able to walk all the big avenues. Before going to Mexico City, I was a bit curious how they would take care of the security issue. After all, 20 million people live there, and celebrating 200 years of independence is a massive event. Turned out they took the safety very serious. Never in my life have I seen so many cops! Every 5 metres there was cop on each side of the street, almost every intersection had a group of around 20 cops. Plus even bigger groups of maybe 30-40 here and there, mobile watch towers, buses parked and full of cops. Metal detectors and safety barriers that you normally just have in airports, was also something you had to pass while going to the main plaza. After we bought hats with ”Viva Mexico” written on them, we got a lot of attention and many people wanted to take pictures with us. We were even in an interview with a TV station on the main avenue! Luckily, Antonio did the talking, I just probably looked lost standing next to the reporter. Later at night we went to meet up with others at a small part of the town, to take part of the independency celebrations. The next day we got up early and went to the park, which is huge! When at the entrance, the military did a fly-over with around 15-20 helicopters, which was pretty cool to see. Apparently there was a big military parade through the city, and we got to see some of it from the paddle boat we rented on the lake of the park. Later we met up with the girls, and went on a boat ride. It was just a small canal but with loads of boats, which all went around in a slow pace. The concept is that you rent one and then sit there and have a few drinks, it was really nice! The evening we spent in the hostel, playing Uno and drinking Tequila.
Back in Monterrey! The last 8 days have been so good! 9 of us went on a trip together to celebrate the 200 years of Mexican independence. Of course it's a huge event here every year so there's a couple of days of official holidays, so we took advantage of this and left Monterrey. The week before was very hectic as I had a lot of schoolwork to finish before going away, but it was worth it! We also had a meeting with the Swedish consulate, who had come from Mexico City to inform us about the situation here. Turned out they went because they had received many calls from worried parents. The meeting was nothing new to us, just the same information we have heard before. There's a lot of stuff going on here now and the war on drugs is huge. So far it hasn't affected us and we're doing our best to stay safe.
Anyway, back to the trip. We went to the airport on friday afternoon and already there we met a lot of other exchange students who were going away as well. When checking in we realised that we had to print our boarding passes online before going to the airport, so we all had to pay 400 pesos extra to get our boarding passes. Boring cost, but we were still happy when entering the plane and leaving Monterrey.
Ready for Puerto Vallarta! The flight only took about 2-3 hours (I'm not sure since I was sleeping the whole way) and then we were on the south west coast of Mexico. Got a really nice hotel with good rooms and for a decent price. The first day we got on a bus to take us to a beach that was supposed to be really nice. Turned out that the beach was close to an area of hotels, but since it's low season we were practially alone on the beach. Except for all the people trying to sell us crap. I guess the youngest seller was about 5 years old and the oldest one was 70. Was still very nice to just relax on the beach a whole day! The next day we went on a boat tour that took the whole day. The first stop was for doing some snorkeling but we saw almost no fish at all. A bit disappointing but the next stop was a lot better! We hiked barefoot for a while through a forest and a couple of rivers, until we finally came to a waterfall. Very cool and totally worth the hike through the mud! Afterwards we were pretty tired, so it was nice to spend the night on a bus taking us to Guadalajara. Arrived at 7 in the morning and after finding our hostel we took a nap for a couple of hours. Then set off to see the city. We were told that a place called Tlaquepaque would be a nice place to see so we took a cab there. It felt like a small city, although it was just a part of Guadalajara, which has around 7 million inhabitants. Colonial style buildings and streets, so a nice place to spend an afternoon. In the evening I met up with Fabiola, who was in Sweden as an exchange student last year. She drove me around showing me some parts of the city, and then we had a dinner at a nice restaurant. Met up with the other guys afterwards to go to a club, but didn't find one. Apparently monday is the day of the week when people in Guadalajara doesn't go out. Thankfully we stayed at an awesome hostel though, so we just hung out there instead.
The next day we checked out from the hostel and took the bus to Tequila, a small town where (obviously) Tequila is from. Just like Tlaquepaque, it was a nice feeling to walk around in a small city, very unlike Monterrey. Much more calm and beatiful! We also took a guided tour which took us thorugh the city and showing us a couple of Tequila factories. Of course we tried some different flavours and brands, and I bought myself a bottle of coffee-flavoured Tequila. Really good! Came back to Guadalajara to celebrate Fabiolas birthday at a bar, but we could only stay for a couple of hours since we had a ticket for another night bus.
This time leaving to Mexico City! Us four guys had booked a hostel and the others were staying at friends. The four of us spent the whole day walking around the city centre, which was closed for traffic. Perfect for us, since we were able to walk all the big avenues. Before going to Mexico City, I was a bit curious how they would take care of the security issue. After all, 20 million people live there, and celebrating 200 years of independence is a massive event. Turned out they took the safety very serious. Never in my life have I seen so many cops! Every 5 metres there was cop on each side of the street, almost every intersection had a group of around 20 cops. Plus even bigger groups of maybe 30-40 here and there, mobile watch towers, buses parked and full of cops. Metal detectors and safety barriers that you normally just have in airports, was also something you had to pass while going to the main plaza. After we bought hats with ”Viva Mexico” written on them, we got a lot of attention and many people wanted to take pictures with us. We were even in an interview with a TV station on the main avenue! Luckily, Antonio did the talking, I just probably looked lost standing next to the reporter. Later at night we went to meet up with others at a small part of the town, to take part of the independency celebrations. The next day we got up early and went to the park, which is huge! When at the entrance, the military did a fly-over with around 15-20 helicopters, which was pretty cool to see. Apparently there was a big military parade through the city, and we got to see some of it from the paddle boat we rented on the lake of the park. Later we met up with the girls, and went on a boat ride. It was just a small canal but with loads of boats, which all went around in a slow pace. The concept is that you rent one and then sit there and have a few drinks, it was really nice! The evening we spent in the hostel, playing Uno and drinking Tequila.
Next day was mostly spent on the bus going to Zacatecas, the last stop on our trip. We arrived pretty late in the evening but wanted to go to a special club, which is placed below ground inside a mine. Unfortunately we got there too late so it was already full, instead we found out that there was a city festival, which was a lot of fun. A lot of people dancing in the streets and people banging on drums everywhere, perfect combination! The night became late but we still got up early the next day to see the city. Started with a guided bus tour around town, then went on a tour in the mine, and finally a ropeway over the city. Great day! In the end we were all tired and actually looking forward to get some sleep on the bus back to Monterrey. It took us a bit longer than we expected so we didn't get back to Monterrey until 6 o clock on sunday morning. But no question about it, it was a great trip and we got to see a lot of stuff!
Sep. 5
The updates have been poor here on the blog recently, and I have nothing to blame but my lazyness. I'm gonna try to make them more frequently, especially since my good friend Anders (www.vastfalt.com) recently started blogging again. Hopefully we can push each other to be less lazy.
So what happened since last time I wrote? I'll try to sum it all up quickly.
Went to a concert of Passion Pit. I didn't listen to them before so I didn't know what to expect, but I liked it. It was a mellow concert and not the one where the crowd goes crazy. Nice venue too, so I think there's gonna be more visits to that place. In general Monterrey should have a lot more concerts since it's a big city, but I think it's also a matter of us not knowing where to look for them. One concert we definitely won't miss out on is Black Eyed Peas, who are playing here in the end of september. It's pretty cool that they actually play in the arena on our campus. I'm not a big fan of them, at least not their new style, but it's gonna be a hell of a party!
Last weekend we went to a music festival held at a baseball arena here in Monterrey. The festival was just during one day so it wasn't that big, but we still had a good time. Especially watching The Sounds - partly because they're from Sweden, but mostly because they had a really good show. The only strange thing about the festival was how they had planned the gigs. After The Sounds you would expect some other energetic band/dj playing up-tempo music, to continue the party... but instead some hippie band was playing and for me the atmosphere just died. This band would have been nice to listen to while chilling in the afternoon but now it was just a party pooper. This was fixed by the band Zoe who played after, and they also had a pretty sweet 3D show on the screen while playing, so everyone in the audience wore these really ugly 3D glasses. But all in all, it was a very nice festival!
This past week has been quite a lot of school work, since it's time for project presentations next week. We're actually finishing the projects some days before deadline, since we booked a 9 day long trip! September 15th is the celebration of the Mexican independence, and this year it's very special since it's the 200th anniversary. Because of this, we get some days off from school, so most people are taking the opportunity to go travel. We will miss a few extra days of school but that's no problem as long as you plan the amount of abscenses. Anyway, the trip will start on this coming friday, when we fly in the evening to a place called Puerto Vallarta. It's by the beach on the west coast of Mexico and there's 9 of us going. I'm really looking forward to get some days by the ocean! The only thing is that this place got flooded last week because of heavy rain, and one of the two big bridges connecting it to the mainland is now gone. But we will see how it looks like in a week. Anyway, after staying in Puerto Vallarta for a couple of days we take the bus to Guadalajara. It's only 3 hours away so that's an easy trip. We're staying there for a couple of days too, and then we're heading for Mexico City. This is the final stop on our trip and we're planning on staying there for 5 days. This is also where we're gonna celebrate the independence. It's gonna be an experience for life, definitely!
This friday we went to a friends house for a barbeque and a pool party. We were a bit unlucky with the weather since it started to rain just before we got there but it was really nice anyway. And the pool was heated so the rain wasn't really an issue. Just hanging out with good company, having food and a few drinks in the pool made it a really nice day!
It' been rainy the last few days here, and when it rains you really feel it. The amount of rain hasn't been anything extraordinary but since there doesn't seem to be any sewers here, all the water is just flowing in the streets. An hour of rain and it looks like small rivers everywhere. No wonder they get hit by floods!
This week will be mostly work since there's a spanish exam on friday and 3 other projects to finish. On tuesday night there's a soccer game on the campus arena which I will try to get tickets for tomorrow. It's the Mexican national team playing Colombia so that would be really nice to see! Other than this it's focus on schoolwork and then vacation for 9 days... can't wait for it!
So what happened since last time I wrote? I'll try to sum it all up quickly.
Went to a concert of Passion Pit. I didn't listen to them before so I didn't know what to expect, but I liked it. It was a mellow concert and not the one where the crowd goes crazy. Nice venue too, so I think there's gonna be more visits to that place. In general Monterrey should have a lot more concerts since it's a big city, but I think it's also a matter of us not knowing where to look for them. One concert we definitely won't miss out on is Black Eyed Peas, who are playing here in the end of september. It's pretty cool that they actually play in the arena on our campus. I'm not a big fan of them, at least not their new style, but it's gonna be a hell of a party!
Last weekend we went to a music festival held at a baseball arena here in Monterrey. The festival was just during one day so it wasn't that big, but we still had a good time. Especially watching The Sounds - partly because they're from Sweden, but mostly because they had a really good show. The only strange thing about the festival was how they had planned the gigs. After The Sounds you would expect some other energetic band/dj playing up-tempo music, to continue the party... but instead some hippie band was playing and for me the atmosphere just died. This band would have been nice to listen to while chilling in the afternoon but now it was just a party pooper. This was fixed by the band Zoe who played after, and they also had a pretty sweet 3D show on the screen while playing, so everyone in the audience wore these really ugly 3D glasses. But all in all, it was a very nice festival!
This past week has been quite a lot of school work, since it's time for project presentations next week. We're actually finishing the projects some days before deadline, since we booked a 9 day long trip! September 15th is the celebration of the Mexican independence, and this year it's very special since it's the 200th anniversary. Because of this, we get some days off from school, so most people are taking the opportunity to go travel. We will miss a few extra days of school but that's no problem as long as you plan the amount of abscenses. Anyway, the trip will start on this coming friday, when we fly in the evening to a place called Puerto Vallarta. It's by the beach on the west coast of Mexico and there's 9 of us going. I'm really looking forward to get some days by the ocean! The only thing is that this place got flooded last week because of heavy rain, and one of the two big bridges connecting it to the mainland is now gone. But we will see how it looks like in a week. Anyway, after staying in Puerto Vallarta for a couple of days we take the bus to Guadalajara. It's only 3 hours away so that's an easy trip. We're staying there for a couple of days too, and then we're heading for Mexico City. This is the final stop on our trip and we're planning on staying there for 5 days. This is also where we're gonna celebrate the independence. It's gonna be an experience for life, definitely!
This friday we went to a friends house for a barbeque and a pool party. We were a bit unlucky with the weather since it started to rain just before we got there but it was really nice anyway. And the pool was heated so the rain wasn't really an issue. Just hanging out with good company, having food and a few drinks in the pool made it a really nice day!
It' been rainy the last few days here, and when it rains you really feel it. The amount of rain hasn't been anything extraordinary but since there doesn't seem to be any sewers here, all the water is just flowing in the streets. An hour of rain and it looks like small rivers everywhere. No wonder they get hit by floods!
This week will be mostly work since there's a spanish exam on friday and 3 other projects to finish. On tuesday night there's a soccer game on the campus arena which I will try to get tickets for tomorrow. It's the Mexican national team playing Colombia so that would be really nice to see! Other than this it's focus on schoolwork and then vacation for 9 days... can't wait for it!
Aug. 22
So I'm gonna try and review the past week. School was easy and so far no major assignments. We even got an email from back home which confirmed that we only have to take 5 courses. This means I'm dropping one! No more school at 7.30 pm on mondays and wednesdays...
Wednesdays are half prize in the cinemas, so we went to see The Expandables. 3 euros for a movie is definitely affordable! And they serve the nachos with melted cheese, which I have been missing ever since Windsor. Win! I think pretty much every wednesday night will be spent at the cinema.
I also participated in a table tennis tournament. Well, saying tournament is giving the event too much credit. We were 7 people. But it was a lot of fun! Definitely going there next time as well.
The highlight of this past week was absolutely the weekend. After just a few hours of sleep after a long night of partying on friday, we went away on saturday morning for a trip. The goal of the trip was a small city called Real De Catorce. After about 4 hours in the car we thought we were finally there - only to find out that we had go up a big mountain and then through a tunnel. Almost at the top of the mountain we stopped to take some pictures and the view was very nice! Went further on and got to the tunnel, which turned out to be so tight that traffic could only pass one-way. This was in fact the only way you can get access to the village, so it really was an isolated place. But well worth it! What a contrast to Monterrey it was. Very calm and easy going, people selling food, candy and souvenirs in the small streets. And with the scenery, being so high up in the mountains, this was a really cool place! To reach the top of the mountain we actually went horseback riding. I think the only time I've been on a horse before was like 20 years ago. So I must admit I was a bit nervous before we set off, but it all went down perfectly fine. The poor horse I was on was a small and lazy fellow that didn't like to speed up no matter how much I tried. But I don't blame him, he looked pretty weak and probably had to walk up and down this mounatin every day. Once he slipped and almost fell, and at some points we had some fender benders with meeting traffic. It felt like driving a bike with poor steering and bent wheels on a highway, but was still a very cool experience. The way up took about an hour and once there we were surrounded by old ruins and a spectacular view of the mountains. Definitely something I will remember for a long time.
So the weekend was really good, and now it's back to the everyday life of Monterrey. Still feels a lot like a holiday though...
Wednesdays are half prize in the cinemas, so we went to see The Expandables. 3 euros for a movie is definitely affordable! And they serve the nachos with melted cheese, which I have been missing ever since Windsor. Win! I think pretty much every wednesday night will be spent at the cinema.
I also participated in a table tennis tournament. Well, saying tournament is giving the event too much credit. We were 7 people. But it was a lot of fun! Definitely going there next time as well.
The highlight of this past week was absolutely the weekend. After just a few hours of sleep after a long night of partying on friday, we went away on saturday morning for a trip. The goal of the trip was a small city called Real De Catorce. After about 4 hours in the car we thought we were finally there - only to find out that we had go up a big mountain and then through a tunnel. Almost at the top of the mountain we stopped to take some pictures and the view was very nice! Went further on and got to the tunnel, which turned out to be so tight that traffic could only pass one-way. This was in fact the only way you can get access to the village, so it really was an isolated place. But well worth it! What a contrast to Monterrey it was. Very calm and easy going, people selling food, candy and souvenirs in the small streets. And with the scenery, being so high up in the mountains, this was a really cool place! To reach the top of the mountain we actually went horseback riding. I think the only time I've been on a horse before was like 20 years ago. So I must admit I was a bit nervous before we set off, but it all went down perfectly fine. The poor horse I was on was a small and lazy fellow that didn't like to speed up no matter how much I tried. But I don't blame him, he looked pretty weak and probably had to walk up and down this mounatin every day. Once he slipped and almost fell, and at some points we had some fender benders with meeting traffic. It felt like driving a bike with poor steering and bent wheels on a highway, but was still a very cool experience. The way up took about an hour and once there we were surrounded by old ruins and a spectacular view of the mountains. Definitely something I will remember for a long time.
So the weekend was really good, and now it's back to the everyday life of Monterrey. Still feels a lot like a holiday though...
Aug. 15
I really, really wanted to be in Gothenburg because of the Way Out West festival. Crazy line-up. Although, yesterday made me completely forget about it. We went to a mall for some shopping, and I found some clothes. Went back after a few hours at the mall, just to get changed for a pool party. And what a party it was! It was at some sort of residents but it looke more like a hotel to me. It was literally like a scene from Entourage. No cover to get in, free drinks at the bar, free food and desserts, tons of beatiful girls, and a nice view over parts of the city. All of this, in company with good friends, made it one of the best parties ever. Apparently there's a lot of pool parties around here but it's very unusual that they are like this one.
Also, we just got tickets to a festival called Hellowfest today. It's only one day and I don't know many of the bands, but it should still be fun. Always nice to get to see live music. This is two weeks from now, next weekend is probably gonna be a trip to a small village 4 hours away from here. I don't remember the name of it but it's supposed to be something like a ghost town (not Detroit) where they shot some movies. There's also a day trip to some caves just an hour away from here.
I was gonna sign up for some sports this week. Had to try out for tennis, since I didn't want to be in the beginners group. So I went out looking for a racket but only found one, which was way too expensive for me. So no tennis lessons for me... I think I will still have stuff to do though, since I'm also in a beach volley team and gonna join some table tennis tournaments. Plus there's school, gym and partying...
Also, we just got tickets to a festival called Hellowfest today. It's only one day and I don't know many of the bands, but it should still be fun. Always nice to get to see live music. This is two weeks from now, next weekend is probably gonna be a trip to a small village 4 hours away from here. I don't remember the name of it but it's supposed to be something like a ghost town (not Detroit) where they shot some movies. There's also a day trip to some caves just an hour away from here.
I was gonna sign up for some sports this week. Had to try out for tennis, since I didn't want to be in the beginners group. So I went out looking for a racket but only found one, which was way too expensive for me. So no tennis lessons for me... I think I will still have stuff to do though, since I'm also in a beach volley team and gonna join some table tennis tournaments. Plus there's school, gym and partying...
Aug. 11
There's been 3 days of class now and it's been a lot more to compared to last week. It started off with a basic spanish course on monday morning, which probably is gonna be the most valuable one for me. At least for this semester, since no one speaks english in Mexico. Except for some of the students and some of the staff on campus. Although I never took any spanish classes before, and the teacher only speaks to us in spanish, I was able to understand most of what she was saying. And I guess it's the best way of learning the language. In general, I hear spanish almost all the time. Lots of friends speak it so I'm being forced in to getting in to conversations every day, and I think it's just good for me.
We had another class which was a bit harder though. It turned out it was in spanish, although the teacher speaks english. She told us that it was a bad course for us to take and that we should change it. So we spent a couple of hours at the office of industrial design, trying to sort it out. Finally we were signed up for a new course, which turned out to be for architects. The course still seems ok for us since it's mostly about 3d rendering, the only con is that it runs between 7.30 - 9.00 pm, two times a week.
The other courses are about sketching, car design and digital visualisation. They all seem interesting and I just hope that the workload won't be too heavy. Have to have time for seeing friends as well!
I also got to experience a bit of mexican bureaucrazy yesterday, or rather swedish-mexican communication fail. I was going to the international office to pick up some paper needed for the immigration process. Took a long time finding the right room since no one knew where to direct me (or I was too unclear explaining). Finally I found the place but I didn't get the paper and had to go back today to pick it up. The immigration process is one of a kind, and will probably most likely include a lot of hassle. It's just going to be a lot of bullshit, and it will be even more frustrating since I don't speak any spanish. So I just payed a lawyer at school to do it for me and now it's gonna be an easy process for me. It will still be a long process, I'm not counting on getting my passport back in less than 2 months.
Oh yeah, another funny thing that happened yesterday. When I walked out from campus the military was posing just outside. 3 humvee's and at least 10 soldiers, fully armed and equipped were standing just outside the entrance. Everything seemed to be ok so I think they just marked their precense. I wanted to take a picture but I'm not sure if that would have been a good idea. Next time maybe...
Nos vemos!
We had another class which was a bit harder though. It turned out it was in spanish, although the teacher speaks english. She told us that it was a bad course for us to take and that we should change it. So we spent a couple of hours at the office of industrial design, trying to sort it out. Finally we were signed up for a new course, which turned out to be for architects. The course still seems ok for us since it's mostly about 3d rendering, the only con is that it runs between 7.30 - 9.00 pm, two times a week.
The other courses are about sketching, car design and digital visualisation. They all seem interesting and I just hope that the workload won't be too heavy. Have to have time for seeing friends as well!
I also got to experience a bit of mexican bureaucrazy yesterday, or rather swedish-mexican communication fail. I was going to the international office to pick up some paper needed for the immigration process. Took a long time finding the right room since no one knew where to direct me (or I was too unclear explaining). Finally I found the place but I didn't get the paper and had to go back today to pick it up. The immigration process is one of a kind, and will probably most likely include a lot of hassle. It's just going to be a lot of bullshit, and it will be even more frustrating since I don't speak any spanish. So I just payed a lawyer at school to do it for me and now it's gonna be an easy process for me. It will still be a long process, I'm not counting on getting my passport back in less than 2 months.
Oh yeah, another funny thing that happened yesterday. When I walked out from campus the military was posing just outside. 3 humvee's and at least 10 soldiers, fully armed and equipped were standing just outside the entrance. Everything seemed to be ok so I think they just marked their precense. I wanted to take a picture but I'm not sure if that would have been a good idea. Next time maybe...
Nos vemos!
Lucha libre!
Today has been one of those lazy hangover sundays. Which was really nice after a hectic week with lots of parties and stuff. A couple of nights ago was a big party at a huge terrace of one the student residents. Lots and lots of people, a good dj and a pool. Well, one of those small inflatable pools you can buy in grocery stores, but still a pool! :)
Yesterday me and Alex spent the afternoon in the city centre with his roomie Clo and her friend Andrea. Great fun! Alex went to become part of a street show (two white guys in the streets of Monterrey gets a lot of attention) and then we went on the canal. There's this artificial canal that runs thorugh a part of the city, and you can go on a boat tour. Along with it are waterfalls, fountains and some small restaurants. We took the boat one-way and walked along it on our way back. Had some food and watched Alex standing in line for 10 minutes for some dessert... only to find out he was in the wrong line. So no dessert this time! Later in the evening we went to this bar not too far from where I live. The place was packed and we had a great time for a few hours, before leving to another club. I wen't home "early" though, which is around 4 am...
So as I was saying, today has been lazy. We were going with some mexican guys to a flea market, but since you don't really make plans here, we didn't. Instead we went for lunch at a nice seafood restaurant. Afterwards, those of us who aren't from around here, wen't to see a luch libre show. Which is this mexican version of wrestling (not proper wrestling, but the acting version). It was so much fun to see, and nothing you can experience back home. There were so many kids there and they were huge fans. Some of them wore typical lucha libre masks, and in between fights they rushed in to the ring and played like they were wrestling. So a few of us went in there as well and played along. The kids seemed to love it, especially since they got the chance to beat up some europeans. The were punching hard too. This one kid punched me in the dick, but I couldn't really tell him how to stop since I don't know spanish. But it was a lot of fun and we got some great pictures. Will definitely go back, and next time we're getting front row seats. I also bought a mask, which will be a nice souvenire. I've been trying to upload some photos here but our internet is working mexican style, saying manana manana. So for now you'll have to go to Facebook to get a look of what's going on.
Tomorrow is the start of classes, hopefully this first week will be mostly introduction. We have to have a slow start!
Yesterday me and Alex spent the afternoon in the city centre with his roomie Clo and her friend Andrea. Great fun! Alex went to become part of a street show (two white guys in the streets of Monterrey gets a lot of attention) and then we went on the canal. There's this artificial canal that runs thorugh a part of the city, and you can go on a boat tour. Along with it are waterfalls, fountains and some small restaurants. We took the boat one-way and walked along it on our way back. Had some food and watched Alex standing in line for 10 minutes for some dessert... only to find out he was in the wrong line. So no dessert this time! Later in the evening we went to this bar not too far from where I live. The place was packed and we had a great time for a few hours, before leving to another club. I wen't home "early" though, which is around 4 am...
So as I was saying, today has been lazy. We were going with some mexican guys to a flea market, but since you don't really make plans here, we didn't. Instead we went for lunch at a nice seafood restaurant. Afterwards, those of us who aren't from around here, wen't to see a luch libre show. Which is this mexican version of wrestling (not proper wrestling, but the acting version). It was so much fun to see, and nothing you can experience back home. There were so many kids there and they were huge fans. Some of them wore typical lucha libre masks, and in between fights they rushed in to the ring and played like they were wrestling. So a few of us went in there as well and played along. The kids seemed to love it, especially since they got the chance to beat up some europeans. The were punching hard too. This one kid punched me in the dick, but I couldn't really tell him how to stop since I don't know spanish. But it was a lot of fun and we got some great pictures. Will definitely go back, and next time we're getting front row seats. I also bought a mask, which will be a nice souvenire. I've been trying to upload some photos here but our internet is working mexican style, saying manana manana. So for now you'll have to go to Facebook to get a look of what's going on.
Tomorrow is the start of classes, hopefully this first week will be mostly introduction. We have to have a slow start!
Un Indio, por favor
The first post with a spanish title must be about beer or tacos, right? This is one of the two...
Life's treating us pretty good right now. Beers in the evening, no worries about coatcheck (the worries are more about inapprapropriate sweating). Waking up when you feel like it, going to the gym, getting some cheap tacos for lunch. Then spending the aftenoon at the campus pool. You don't see me complaining...
Obviously it's gonna change a bit though next week, and the reason for this spells: 6 courses, school monday - friday. Some people got lucky with their schedules, some lucky bastards only have class on tuesdays and thursdays. In my case I guess the pros are that I will have a harder time running out of money too soon, and that I only have like 2-3 hours of class every day. But then again, you don't see me complaining...
I'm gonna put up some photos soon, either here or on Facebook. Or both. So far there's been a lot of the typical "gather as many people as you can find and pose for the camera"-pictures. This is also part of the exchange experience, getting the team together :)
Bye for now, it's beer o'clock I think.
Life's treating us pretty good right now. Beers in the evening, no worries about coatcheck (the worries are more about inapprapropriate sweating). Waking up when you feel like it, going to the gym, getting some cheap tacos for lunch. Then spending the aftenoon at the campus pool. You don't see me complaining...
Obviously it's gonna change a bit though next week, and the reason for this spells: 6 courses, school monday - friday. Some people got lucky with their schedules, some lucky bastards only have class on tuesdays and thursdays. In my case I guess the pros are that I will have a harder time running out of money too soon, and that I only have like 2-3 hours of class every day. But then again, you don't see me complaining...
I'm gonna put up some photos soon, either here or on Facebook. Or both. So far there's been a lot of the typical "gather as many people as you can find and pose for the camera"-pictures. This is also part of the exchange experience, getting the team together :)
Bye for now, it's beer o'clock I think.
Finally it's on!
There's been a couple of good first days. Started off on monday morning with me and Malin going to see some people at the Industrial Design office to get everythig sorted out with courses and such. Turned out we were both registered in all our courses, except for a spanish course that I was yet to be signed up for. After a quick visit to the international office this was fixed! So now we both have 6 courses, and unfortunately no days off. Except for weekends... I'm gonna do my best to avoid the "all day every week"-studies from back home. After all, got to live a little while here, right?
Later on it was time to pick up our "information package" and have a walk around tour on campus. Campus is really nice, there's a lot of cafeterias and places to hang out. There's also a pool, a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Plus there's a zoo... kind of. There are animal walking around on campus; roedeers, peacocks and ducks. They've been planted there of course, for what reason I don't know.
We had a welcome dinner for the hundreds of incoming exchange students on monday night and it was great fun. Met a lot of cool people, most of them germans actually. Feels like half of Germany is here. Some of them knows spanish, which is awesome. It's impossible to communicate in english with mexicans outside of campus. I'm gonna need to take the spanish course seriously...
Yesterday was the same deal as monday, had some information sessions during the day and in the evening we went out for dinner with lots of people. Found a great place nearby were we got a great deal on food and beer. Overall, food and alcohol is super cheap here. Compared to Sweden, a beer in the club is almost for free. If it's 5 euros at home, it's just over 1 euro here. Food is about half the price. I love it.
Today I'm gonna go and have a look at the gym, or if I'm lazy I might just go to the pool instead. In a couple of hours there's an information session on sports activities that is organized through school. I'm gonna see if there's a possibility to take some tennis lessons.I know they organize it, let's see if it fits my schedule.
It's nice to be back in the whole exchange experince, I feel that this is gonna be a great semester!
Later on it was time to pick up our "information package" and have a walk around tour on campus. Campus is really nice, there's a lot of cafeterias and places to hang out. There's also a pool, a gym and an indoor swimming pool. Plus there's a zoo... kind of. There are animal walking around on campus; roedeers, peacocks and ducks. They've been planted there of course, for what reason I don't know.
We had a welcome dinner for the hundreds of incoming exchange students on monday night and it was great fun. Met a lot of cool people, most of them germans actually. Feels like half of Germany is here. Some of them knows spanish, which is awesome. It's impossible to communicate in english with mexicans outside of campus. I'm gonna need to take the spanish course seriously...
Yesterday was the same deal as monday, had some information sessions during the day and in the evening we went out for dinner with lots of people. Found a great place nearby were we got a great deal on food and beer. Overall, food and alcohol is super cheap here. Compared to Sweden, a beer in the club is almost for free. If it's 5 euros at home, it's just over 1 euro here. Food is about half the price. I love it.
Today I'm gonna go and have a look at the gym, or if I'm lazy I might just go to the pool instead. In a couple of hours there's an information session on sports activities that is organized through school. I'm gonna see if there's a possibility to take some tennis lessons.I know they organize it, let's see if it fits my schedule.
It's nice to be back in the whole exchange experince, I feel that this is gonna be a great semester!
I'll have... Tequila! Tequila!
Ok, so I'm actually gonna try running a blog! For those of you who don't know, I'm doing one semester as an exchange student in Monterrey, Mexico. I'll try to keep the updates coming as often as possible and just... well, tell you what's going on in this part of the world. Pretty sure it's gonna be 6 awesome months! Hopefully you guys will enjoy reading it as well.
My trip started 4 days ago in Gothenburg and took around 30 hours in total to get here. I met two guys from Spain who were also going to Monterrey to study, but for a shorter period of time. On the same flight were I met these two, I was seated between two american girls, who started off being really nice. That did change though. They kept skulling glasses of wine for 10 hours, and when I woke up after a nap at the end of the flight, they were completely smashed. It was hard to go back to sleep at that point, but thankfully I could ditch them just as we got off the plane.
Once in Monterrey I met up with Malin at the airport and we caught a cab to take us to our acommodation. 3 other girls from my school back home (Lisa, Sofia and Matilda) have been very good to us, hooking us up with acommodation. So the 5 of us (plus a french guy arriving in a couple of days) have 2 big apartments riht across the street from campus. Pretty sweet.
So these first few days have been not so action-packed. Basically we've been buying stuff we need for the apartment, making food and drinking very beers. Last night we had a group of danes over for drinks and it was really nice. They had plans of going to see some wrestling earlier today and we were going to tag along. But it didn't happen so me and the girls went to the movies to see Inception. It's interesting walking down the street with 4 swedish girls here, since a lot of the cars passing by are honking. And I don't think it's because of me...
Tomorrow is the start of the kick-off week, where there's a lot of information for all incoming students, and hopefully some good parties as well. I heard there's something between 600-1000 exchange sudents this semester and I'm really looking forward to meeting many of them. Plus all the mexicans, of course. We're also going to try and get our courses sorted out tomorrow morning, the online selection wasn't too helpful. But I'm sure it'll work out fine.
That's all for tonight, over and out!
My trip started 4 days ago in Gothenburg and took around 30 hours in total to get here. I met two guys from Spain who were also going to Monterrey to study, but for a shorter period of time. On the same flight were I met these two, I was seated between two american girls, who started off being really nice. That did change though. They kept skulling glasses of wine for 10 hours, and when I woke up after a nap at the end of the flight, they were completely smashed. It was hard to go back to sleep at that point, but thankfully I could ditch them just as we got off the plane.
Once in Monterrey I met up with Malin at the airport and we caught a cab to take us to our acommodation. 3 other girls from my school back home (Lisa, Sofia and Matilda) have been very good to us, hooking us up with acommodation. So the 5 of us (plus a french guy arriving in a couple of days) have 2 big apartments riht across the street from campus. Pretty sweet.
So these first few days have been not so action-packed. Basically we've been buying stuff we need for the apartment, making food and drinking very beers. Last night we had a group of danes over for drinks and it was really nice. They had plans of going to see some wrestling earlier today and we were going to tag along. But it didn't happen so me and the girls went to the movies to see Inception. It's interesting walking down the street with 4 swedish girls here, since a lot of the cars passing by are honking. And I don't think it's because of me...
Tomorrow is the start of the kick-off week, where there's a lot of information for all incoming students, and hopefully some good parties as well. I heard there's something between 600-1000 exchange sudents this semester and I'm really looking forward to meeting many of them. Plus all the mexicans, of course. We're also going to try and get our courses sorted out tomorrow morning, the online selection wasn't too helpful. But I'm sure it'll work out fine.
That's all for tonight, over and out!