�Qu� pobrecita cansada soy! Well, I made it-- I�m here in M�xico and have been for almost a week. The culture shock hasn�t really hit yet (the foul sewage breezes in M�xico made me choke frequently, but I�m not sure that gag reflex shock is the same as culture shock). I wonder if it will be like Per�, how I didn�t have culture shock until I got home.

So. M�xico. The first few days were enjoyable, if wildly busy. We rushed like crazy people from one museum or archaeosite to the next, hitting bars and discotecas all along the way. There�s another teetolater in the group, and I�m immensely happy to be more than the sole sober girl (also, a few of the others don�t drink heavily and that�s fantastic). Highlights were climbing the temples of the sun and moon at Teotihuacan (so much more painful than the stairs at the Rocks, Melissa!!), visiting the Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional (tear-jerker for myself and fellow art-history-nerd Rebecca), wandering through the charming mountain mining village of Taxco, getting let into the Mayan observatory at Xochicalco solely because Prof. Curti knows the docent, and a boat ride along a canal at Xochimilco during which we learned many useful things about our current home (like, the M�xican term for TFB is "fresa", a wedgie is "un calzonchino", and that Guadalajara has the largest homosexual population in M�xico). Our Guad coordinator, Javier Orozco, was with us on the whole trip, and I didn�t realize how special that was until we got here to Guad and CEPE (la escuela). Turns out he runs student services for the whole school but for some reason he spends special time and energy on the Metro students. He�s fantastically funny and cute, and I have never seen him without a smile. I have a feeling he�ll make our lives here infinitely easier than they�d be without him.

Update on the host family situation-- this is the craziest house I�ve ever lived in, including the Estrogen Nightmare Palace in Provo (twelve women in one house-- believe me, you�d have been worn out, too). The family has been hosting four to seven students at a time, year round, for over twenty years. There are five of us there right now. We really feel like boarders, and I think the Se�ora is pretty easily offended. I�m not too worried baout treading lightly, though, because after my classes today (first day) I think I�m going to be living in the library and spending very, very little time at "home". I don�t know exactly how many people live in the house-- I think the parents and three children, but the two oldest daughters are married and are there with their kids almost constantly. It�s very loud almost all the time, and simply not conducive to studying. It�s a clean, nice house in a quiet upscale neighborhood really close to the school, which are all good qualities, but the noise noise noise noise NOISE!!!! Six of the other Metro student live within a block and a half, so we walk to school together. Socially things are working out well. I haven�t found an LDS chapel yet, but I�ll get on it soon. Making friends doesn�t seem too difficult, wither-- the other students are almost all friendly. Um, men. About that. Everyday my resolution not to get involved here gets stronger. The extremely cute but extremely weird kid in the Metro group lives in a neighborhood on the other side of campus, which I think is a good thing. He�s cute, but his bizarre behavior might become more annoying than novel if I were to spend much more time with him. Hmm. Might. I had a longish chat with a super-dreamy Quebecois yesterday, but I think he knows just how attractive he is. Big heads are so very unsexy (He might also be gay, which is another turn off). The local population just hoots and whistles, so I�m not terribly distracted. Honestly, too, I�m just not going to have the time. At the moment I�m sitting with Braden in the internet caf�, but he�s like a kid brother and we�re out getting things done, and I just don�t have the energy to waste on anything other than such safe and platonic associations. Men are generally the direct cause of any bad grades and/or late papers, so I�ll have to wait until the end of April or so (stay tuned to watch me eat those words).

Speaking of grades, classes started today. Ouch. Yesterday we had one last placement test (oral) before they posted the final class assignments this morning. My hopes and fears are confirmed-- I tested past skill classes and was placed in content courses (conducted entirely in Spanish, if you didn�t catch that). At ten I have Literatura M�xicana Contemporanea with a darling little literary man, Dr. Hugo Medrano. He gave us an overview of the authors we�d be reading this term (all whopping five weeks of it), and I think I can handle this. The term paper is due in 32 days, so I�d better crack the spine on that novela corta by tomorrow (the first part of the course is all short stories, essays, and poetry). At noon I have Readacci�n I, (composition) with a fairly brutal profesora who might just be Frida Kahlo�s evil short-haired twin. I was strangely fascinated by her orange and red streaks. She could be the first non-male cause of a lousy grade. I guess I�ll just suck it up and deal, though-- I can do anything for five weeks, �no? I wonder what classes I�ll be taking second term.

And that�s a (very) brief summary of the the last six days of my life , though it feels like much longer-- I�m not accustomed to such indulgent overstimulation. My eyes are going to pop with wide-eyed wonder.

Stay tuned for more-- same bat-time, same bat-channel.