Hola Amigos

Gallery: Semana Santa

supaswan — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:59:00 GMT

Gallery: Hmm Stuff....

supaswan — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:57:00 GMT

Random Pics....

Chilli Peppers!!!

supaswan — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:34:00 GMT

Ok so I have to start with last night because it was just so damn awesome!!! Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert in Mexico City!!! Actually it didn’t start off so great. There were 11 of us (7 french, 1 dutch, 1 swedish, 1 peruvian, 1 mexican and me). The weather was a bit dreary when we left and it took us 2 hours to get to the stadium from our house – and as usual we were running late. As soon as we arrived at the station for the stadium it started raining…suddenly it was pissing down and we find out it is actually an open-air concert!!! So we are soaking wet, cold and it is time for the support acts to start. Lets just say we were not really in the mood.

So we decided, that instead of watching the support bands we would go to a nearby bar and consume a litre of beer each and a bottle of tequila between us :) We were now in much better spirits and by this time the rain had all but stopped. The Peppers were awesome and it was almost completely a stand-up concert with a mosh of thousands of people. Luckily we had some guys to lift us onto their shoulders to get a fantastic view of the band and the crowd.

I think that the photos in my journal pretty much show the places Ive been visiting and its probably boring to hear a big long spiel describing places that you’ve never been so I’ll just skip that and give you guys a bit of an idea of what life generally is like for me.

Really I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging but it is amazing. I mean its not all great – last weekend my bag was stolen with my camera, phone, keys, jumper etc. That really sucked and was a massive hassle. Also it is incredibly hard to be a vegetarian here when eating out or at people’s houses. They literally just do not understand. Mexicans’ first reaction is usually to laugh to ask if I’m serious. When they finally realize that I am actually not going to eat meat I usually end up with a meal consisting largely of cheese:) (which here is generally completely tasteless – I haven’t yet figured out the point of adding the extra fat to your meal with no actual flavor) I have eaten more cheese in the past 2 months than in a year in Australia. Also everything here has so much sugar in it (well not sugar but sugar-replacement usually) – the milk, bread, yoghurt, cereal – its frustrating. That being said, I have tried so many new meals and had some really great food. In fact, I have been eating out so often – its fantastic.

Uni life here is very easy for me. I do not study except for the homework that is required for marks and about 2 or 3 hours before the exam (I know many of you probably do not believe me but it is absolutely true). In spite of this I am still getting really good grades. So, as I am not working either I have lots of spare time. Its great.

The people in Mexico are really amazing. Generally, they are all so friendly, helpful and generous. Despite the fact that most of the international students are only staying one semester the Mexicans at uni are all keen to make friends, invite you (and usually drive you too) to parties and take you places.

Speaking of parties – there is still so much of that. Usually it is every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Its really crazy – Mexicans do not believe in sleep. Most of the time you pay $15-$25 to enter a bar and it is open bar all night. Also, women usually pay less than men which is awesome for me:)

Now mum, I know you think all the drinking is very bad but there is one positive side to it – my Spanish is so much better when I’m drunk ;) But really, my Spanish has improved A LOT in the past month. At first it was really difficult because a lot of Mexicans do not speak English and if they do it is often very basic and they don’t like to speak it a lot. I really didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere for the first few weeks and I was a little frustrated. But now, I am starting to learn a lot faster. I actually do learn a lot more from going to parties and speaking with Mexican friends than going to class every day – but I guess class is necessary for the grammar.

Well I don’t know how many of you are still reading so I’ll stop here and add some pics which I’m sure is much more interesting.

Xxoo.

Gallery: Veracruz

supaswan — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:26:00 GMT

Gallery: Puebla

supaswan — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 10:16:00 GMT

Gallery: Acapulco

supaswan — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 06:55:00 GMT

Acapulco

Gallery: Mexico

supaswan — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 05:03:00 GMT

Adios estados unidos; Hola mexico!!

supaswan — Mon, 8 Jan 2007 05:49:00 GMT

Buenas dias!

I have been in Mexico for about 6 days now and am absolutely loving it!!!

It was a bit of a disaster getting here, however, because US Airways would not let me on my flight from Boston to Mexico without a return ticket to the US! It was 4.30am on the 2nd of Jan, I´d had 2 hours sleep and was trying to understand why they would not let me on the flight. In the end I had to buy a full-fare return ticket that would be fully refundable, just so I could get on my flight. It was a little stressful having to put $1000 USD on my credit card for a flight I wasn´t going to take!

I am living in a house with 9 other people - 7 French, 1 Swedish & 1 Dutch. The house is very nice, new and clean and we have a cleaning lady who comes 2 or 3 times a week:) We have, however, had a few problems with our landlord, Victor, who is currently living with us!! We had a few people over last week for the birthday of one of our flatmates and Victor did not appreciate this at all. It is very strange, however, because he justs sits there and watches us while we have dinner.

Everyone in the house is so friendly and we all go shopping together and take turns cooking for everyone. Grocery shopping for 10 people is really quite difficult and we have to go every few days. The international students and some mexican students who have been helping us have all formed a close group already so I have many new friends. There are only 2 other australians here and the majority of international students are french.

There have been many parties and I went out to a nice (but expensive) club on Friday night. The alcohol here is genearlly very cheap - a 1 litre bottle of Barcardi is only $10! The food and transportation is also very cheap.

My classes started today. They are very strict with attendance here, you fail the subject if you do not attend 80% of the classes and if you are more than 5 minutes late to a class they will not let you in! I have classes every day and I begin at 7am on Tuesdays and Thursdays!!! Its not too bad though because it takes a few minutes to walk to the campus from our house.

The university also offers many workshops and sports classes as part of their normal tuition fees. I am going to be taking tennis lessons twice a week and also Photoshop classes. I can use the gym whenever I wish and they have some other classes such as Pilates that I might take. Also we have a few weekend trips organised by the university in the next few months and most of the international students want to travel on weekends so its going to be a very busy semester!

I hope everyone is well and I will try & put some more photos up but it is hard without having a computer at home.

Lots of love,

Amy xxoo

Operation World Party...for the Win!!

supaswan — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 13:33:00 GMT

I hope everyone had a fantastic New Years because I certainly did!!! I was lucky enough to be included in a New Years celebration in Barnard, Vermont: Operation World Party, that has been held every year for 12 years. (Sorry I didnt get to see you Rosey but it was very last minute and there was no cell phone reception!!).

I spent 3 nights in a 5 brm cottage right next to a beautiful (frozen)lake with 6 very cool people, including my friend Nathan, and 3 gorgeous dogs. One of the dogs is so beautiful - she is a Canadian Newfoundland and is about as big as I am. (I will upload a photo). There was much drinking (thanks Drew:)and fun and games (including a 4.5 hour Settlers of Catan match!).

I woke up on Saturday morning and looked out the window and it was snowing. It was so beautiful and absolutely stunning looking out at the view to the lake. It snowed all day so I got a late white christmas :) On Sunday during the day we went into a town that proclaims to be the 'prettiest village in America´. It was incredibly pictureseque and apparently a classic New England town.

Our New Years festivities began with a few drinks to wake us all up after the big night we had the night before;) We made an awesome dinner of schpud (spelling??) and mixed up a lethal scorpian bowl! (For the aussies that is pretty much just a big cocktail in a salad bowl and you put straws in for everyone). I finally got to try Barcardi 151 which I dont think we have in Australia as it is 80% alochol.

At about 11pm I was introduced to the annual rituals of the party (Im not sure if these are a secret so I wont go into detail). We rugged up and went out onto the (semi) frozen lake. We rolled around in the snow, created snow angels and filled a pineapple with Bacardi 151 and set it alight. It was definitely one of the most memorable New Years I have ever had and rates in my top 3! (for the win!).

There were, of course, some further antics but considering the wide audience of this journal I shall have to conclude here :)

We celebrated by last night in the US by feeding my chocolate addiction with an amazing dessert at a very well-known dessert restaurant in Boston.

Happy 2007 everyone!! xxoo

Gallery: Operation World Party

supaswan — Tue, 2 Jan 2007 13:19:00 GMT

Hot times at Xmas!!

supaswan — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 20:55:00 GMT

While most of you are enjoying the hot aussie sun I am freezing my ass off in Michigan but without the snow!!! I am having a fantastic time though.

I met up with Maria in St Louis where we stayed for a few days while she finished up her uni semester. It wasn't very eventful - we just caught up on the last 5 months, did a little shopping, I checked out Washington University and tried to get used to the cold. On Wednesday we did a 7 hour road trip from St Louis to Chelsea, Michigan where Maria's parents live and where I am now.

Her family is fantastic and not only does her dad cook but his cooking is amazing!! There is chocolate fudge all around the house and so much great food all the time.

The other day we went out to a sauna in the woods and after we were warm enough ran outside to the frozen lake, cracked the ice and jumped in to cool off!!! Well when I say we I mean Maria, Mark - her boyfriend, and Antonia - her sister. I did not partake in swimming in an icy lake. I watched though :)

Today we drove to Detroit and went to the Eastern Markets and the Art Museum. Now most of us know that Detroit is one of the most dangerous cities in the US and our experience today certainly supports this:

Maria was a little confused as to where we were parked so as we were walking back to our car she asked loudly 'Oh is that our car?' and a guy who was rummaging in the boot of the car behind ours turned around and said 'Oh is this your car?'. The guy was african american and probably in his 40s - he looked a little crazy.

We said that it wasn't and he laughed and said 'Yeah its my brother's car'. It was all very suspicious and as we were packing our stuff in our car we were wondering what we should do. The guy started walking down the street with a few things from the car including a long beam of wood, when a young woman, the true owner of the car, arrived and when we told her about the guy she ran after him yelling 'Hey, give me back my shit right now!'.

We amusedly watched this little scene where the guy apologised, told the girl his brother told him to take the stuff, gave the girl her stuff back, and then just kept walking down the street. It was pretty hilarious (but maybe you had to be there ;)

Merry Christmas Everyone! xxoo

San Diego

supaswan — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:32:00 GMT

I have just had the most awesome time in San Diego! I was staying with my friend Kat and she lives in this really cool hippie-ish suburb walking distance from the beach. Even though she had to work every day we went out every night.

San Diego is a really fun city - I like it a lot;) There are a lot of cool bars and restaurants - you can't walk a block without seeing a Mexican restaurant (or a Starbucks for that matter). So we did a lot of drinking and eating.

Kat's boyfriend Dave was really cool and hung out with me during the day. He took me to the San Diego zoo and then to a cool little dark hole-in-the-wall bar for an awesome lunch of breaded shrimp.

Two of Kat's roommates are in bands and there is live music going in many of bars in San Diego all the time so I saw some great live music. On Saturday, her roommate Jesse's band 'On the One' (www.myspace.com/ontheone) were playing and it was an awesome, awesome gig. Kat & I helped them out by selling cds at the end of the gig so we got free entry and free drinks ;)

On Saturday Dave drove us to Mexico!!! We bypassed Tijuana (I don't think I spelt that right) and went down to Rosarito (?) and La Fonda - both coastal towns. Despite our lack of sleep it was a lOT of fun. We had the best lunch ever at a beachside restaurant - complete with incredibly strong Margaritas!

Overall I had such an awesome week - Thanks Kat!!!

I'm adding some more pics to the USA photo album so check them out.

And the fun begins...

supaswan — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:47:00 GMT

Well it was exactly a week ago since I left Oz - although it seems like much longer.

Homebake was awesome - Silverchair and Scribe rocked.

I arrived in LA tired and jetlagged after about 3 hours sleep but was happily greeted by lovely Simone and Tony. Our first stop for the day was breakfast at ihop (international house of pancakes) and then we were off to the world of showbiz! We watched the tv shows 'Jeopardy' and 'The new adventures of old Christine' being filmed. It was interesting and a lot of fun. We also checked out Hollywood, Rodeo Dr and the Santa Monica Pier. The 2 days flew by as I enjoyed catching up with Sim and Tony before they headed back to Australia.

After a sad goodbye I flew up to Spokane, Washington to hang out with Markus. This time I was greeted by snow and below freezing temperatures! After spending a night in his cabin in Idaho we drove up to a small ski town in Canada and spent a few nights there. We went to a hot spring in Nakusp which was an amazing experience. Sitting in a relaxing hot pool in a bikini admiring the towering, snow-covered mountains while the outside temperature is below zero is quite surreal(for a queenslander!).

Markus had to go to work as usual on Monday so we drove back to the cabin taking in the fantastic landscapes of the Canadian mountain ranges and the snow-covered fields in Idaho. I spent a relaxing day reading and watching movies at the cabin and then arrived safely in sunny San Diego this morning.

Hope all is well with everyone.

luv amy xxoo

PS. Don't forget to check out my photo album on the right hand side of the main page.

Gallery: USA

supaswan — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:30:00 GMT

And the fun begins...

Adios mis amigos!

supaswan — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 18:30:00 GMT

Hi All,

Well it is only 12 days until I leave sunny Brisbane bound for the land of tequila, sombreros & tacos - Mexico.

I will be making a stopover in Sydney to say goodbye to this beloved country in the best way possible - rocking out to some of the best aussie bands at Homebake!

I know how much you all enjoy my epic travel emails so instead of clogging up your inbox with long emails and photos I have created this travel journal that you can browse at your leisure :) Don't forget to sign up your email address so you can be alerted when I update it!

Anyway, I must say farewell to all my friends and family in Australia and I will of course be thinking of you while drinking 50c Coronas ;)

Much love,
Amy