La Orientación

Today we have Spanish at 9am, and then an Orientation at UNAM. Of course, I'm still working on that paper, so I can't really elaborate at the moment. Tonight, we've had 5 people here working on essays and group projects. Study party. And I am so ready for sleep. Just a few more pages...that's all the time we've got...'cuz I'm getting married in the morning.....no, I'm not delirious, just bursting into songs from musicals

Update:

So we had Spanish start at 9am because we had the UNAM orientation afterwards. I was a few minutes late, but some people were an hour late, because they had forgotten about the change. I don't remember what we talked about in class that day. After class, the Spanish professors and the program directors drove us to the CEPE (centrode enseñaza para extranjeros? - foreign student center) at UNAM. We signed our names and then got a packet, and entered the auditorium.

Lots of people welcomed us, and then we got to watch a half-hour long film on how great UNAM is, and what sorts of things people are working on here. Ok, it was interesting I guess, but I am already here; it's not like they need to convince me to come. Afterwards we got a bit of info on what we have to do in the coming weeks, and then someone from most of the schools said their name and a tiny bit of info, so that we would be able to get ahold of them. I was barely able to write anything down from that part; they all went so fast.

Then it was "mingle time"with food. There were rolls to be made into sandwiches with cheese, meat and some veggies, so I had a roll and veggies. I mostly hung out with other UC students, and asked the UC program director some questions. Then I got my passport back, with a form I have to take to the Immigration Office after the 28th of August, so I can get my visa.

Some of us decided to go to la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (kind of like humanities), to see the classes posted on the wall. we were told that these lists are more accurate than the internet, though none of the classes i was interested in were any different. Maru, who is originally from Korea, met some other exchange students from Korea, and so we hung out with them while looking at the classes.

I decided I should go the the library and look for a book that might be useful for my paper. But as we left Filosofía y Letras, we ran into some other UC students with some friends they had made that were also exchange students. They were heading to Ciencias Polticas y Sociales, and I thought it would be good to see the classes there too, as well as meet some cool people. There was a person from Montreal, a few from France, one from Colombia, and one from North Carolina. They had decided to walk, which seemed ridiculous to me, since it was so far, but I decided to go. Afterall, the book I wanted was supposed to be in the Political and Social Sciences library as well.

The guy from Colombia had been there before, so he led the way, giving us a sort of tour. I was tired, too warm, and wanting to get to work on my paper, so I was a bit frustrated, since talking about all the buildings took longer. And we went in a sort of zig-zag manner. But it was cool to talk to everyone.

The person from Montreal told me about Queer Tango in Argentina, where although the dance has typically been really gendered, anyone can chose to dance with anyone, and the roles sometimes switch in the middle. It sounded really cool. We also talked about the assumption that Queerness is more accepted in US, Canad, and Europe than in Latin America, and that this idea doesn't really recognize the complexity of identities, experiences, ad practices. Of course, all of this was in Spanish.

Once we finally got there, we realized that the offices would be closed, but we couldn't find where the classes were posted. After asking for a while, it was determined that they don't post them for this facultad, instead, everything is online. The room numbers weren't yet online though, and may not be up until Monday (when classes start - stressful!). Everyone else wanted to get something to eat, and after having spent an hour to get there, I was too stressed to even be around people. So I started walking to get to a bus stop. Of course, I had no idea where I was, but I asked a few people for directions and managed to get on a bus, and take it to a metro stop. I took the metro two stops, and got off right near my house.

I did homework for a while, and then Marijane and Rachel came over. Then Miguel came, and he Rachel and I worked on our project a bit. Neither of them were done, so we decided to meet the next day at 9:30to do a run through. Then Leti and Linda came over to work on their project with Rebecca, and do there were quite a few of us all doing homework throughout the house. It was fun, although a bit distracting. I ate tons of food. And then finally went to sleep.