First days and impressions

"Hola wei!"

Those are the words I always hear walking down the street and through our beautiful campus. Mexicans really are some of the most friendly people I've ever run into, and it has made my transition here in Guadalajara much easier!

I'm all moved into the dorm now, which is located right across the street from campus. All of my roommates will be Mexican (they haven't moved in yet, I had to arrive early for orientation), so I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice Spanish in my apartment.

Here are some of my first impressions of Guadalajara: it's HUGE, has a lot of soul, but is still in a state of development. There is an interesting mix of beautiful colonial architecture and newer, but sometimes just dirtier, buildings in between. Here are some of the beauties:

Palacio de Gobierno de Guadalajara 

Teatro Degollado

There's also a ton of street art, here's a lil sample:

So all in all, despite a bit of culture shock (the city is much more crowded and LOUD than I'm used to), things are going well! The international students are all good cookies. Most of them are from Europe, Southeast Asia, or Australia, which I guess makes sense, but I was very surprised to find out that Alex (my friend from USC studying here) and I are the only Americans! Kind of cool... This is the first time in my life when it's felt special to be from the US. But for whatever reason, everyone I meet thinks I'm German! Tall and blonde hair, that's all it takes.

Something that I found interesting: Tec de Monterrey conducts random drug tests for all students throughout the semester. I've never heard of a university doing something like that before, but I guess given Mexico's struggle with drug trafficking, it makes sense. 

More to come! Stay tuned folks.