Goodbye 2015 // Hello 2016

Alright who said it could be 2016??! When I was a little kid I swear it took FOREVER to

get from holiday to holiday, from year to year, but now I blink and BAM its 2016 and I will be 21 this year. What the what. I mean seriously yesterday it was January 1st, and I blinked or something and now it's more than half way through the month and I'm two weeks into my 6th semester up here at college and I've been home from Mexico for just over a month.  I miss Mexico like crazy, I can't believe how fast that adventure went by- It was like a dream or something. Alright enough ramblings- To the POINT. I haven't made any blog posts since I've been home, I mean it's not like it was a habit or anything like that it just became something I did in my spare time. And right now, for some odd reason I have spare time. So here I am, writing my rambling thoughts. Just reminiscing 2015 and thinking, how in the world will 2016 compare? LET me tell ya- THIS IS MY YEAR. I've been thinking, if going to school and working is the only thing that happens this year, I'm doing pretty good. I mean I have a roof over my head, I have food, I have a car. If anything, Mexico taught me to be grateful for the things that are right in front of me and that things don't actually matter.

On the topic of school. School is great. School is terrific. School will always be school. I'm gaining an education and it is GREAT. I seriously love learning  I mean I'm getting a lifetime of knowledge and that is priceless. It is still really weird to be home and cold ALL the time, but I really can't complain. I am rooming with my Best Friend, and I live really close to campus. Life is actually really great. I eat about 80 fruit snacks, 3 granola bars, and probably too many gold fish every day. Literally life as a college student. And no, I don't eat Ramen Noodles for every meal. I eat Pasta Roni for every meal, and when that's gone and I'm still hungry, I crack out the cold cereal. Also I take naps. Lots of naps. I live for naps and snacks. That is the college life. Oh yeah and I work. So between school, eating, and taking naps I find the time to go People Watch and get paid for it.

Alright confession time. I'm that person who makes fun of those who take selfies like a second religion. "But first Let me take a selfie". Let me tell ya, Aint nobody got time for that- and then I got Pinterest and a smart phone. It's a piece of cake to just pull out your phone whenever and snap a photo. What does getting Pinterest have to do with this? Ideas. Stupid freaking Ideas. But in my humble opinion I think I found a pretty solid idea that I did for a whole year. Haha yeah laugh, I did this Idea for a whole YEAR. Ready? I saw this really cool collage of someone who took a selfie a day and when they looked back they could see how they changed. I was like WOAH and I was so intrigued. Before you ask "did you take a selfie EVERYDAY for a whole year?" I'm going to shut that idea right down. I did not take a selfie everyday for a whole year, I took a ONE selfie every week, so instead of having 365 pictures, I only have 52. I don't know why I did this crazy experiment on myself, but I think it turned out really cool. And I don't have a million useless selfies on my phone. Its crazy to see how much one person can grow in a whole year. Now obviously I couldn't fit 52 Pictures into collage. So here are 14 of them. Two from January and Two From December and One from every other month. 2015 was a dang good year.

Anyway. Rant over. That's it.

Mole Cactus Chicken.

One week left and so much has happened this last month! All of November went by really fast. At the beginning of the Month we Celebrated Dia De Los Muertos. Kind of... The school celebrated and we just tagged along. All the kids dressed up and decorated their face one way or another. I couldn't tell you a lot of details about the Holiday, but I do know that they pick an ancestor that has passed on and they make an alter for them with lots of flowers and lots of bread. They say they usually make the alter in the cemetery and then spend the night and wait for
the spirit to come..  Or something like that. That is as far as I understand the Day of the Dead. Its a great holiday. Which reminds me, their idea of Halloween is really weird. Let me elaborate- there will be kids in the streets dressed up in some kind of mask, one will be laying on the ground and the other will be standing over him pretending to kill him- THEN off to the side there will be a bucket for money. Its quite the experience to see. Either that or kids will come up to you BEGGING for money. So of course as I am walking down the street some little kids come up to me wanting money- instead I just gave them what I had left of a pack of gum. Haha they went crazy!
Lots of things happened in November. Nothing completely specific. Other than the fact that I life in Mexico and life is great :) I have good friends to spend the weekends with. One time Valerie and I went and got GIANT cups of Orange juice- even though we had to pee a lot it was totally worth it. Another time Laney and I got Friday Shirts and wore them on Friday. This last month we have really gotten to know Pachuca, where as before we were trying to go out and do lots of things out of town and venture Mexico in General. I will tell you what- Mexico is Mexico, the food is great where ever you go, the people are still great and kind- the only thing different from city to city is the streets. Everywhere you go its just a little bit different. Anyway. There was one night I took a bite of a GIANT Torta, that was an adventure in and of itself. Another time we went to our kids Soccer Game. They were so Cute and they won! Also if anything I've learned that Pachcua is COLD. During the day it could be 70 or 75
by the evening it is 60 or 50 or 45. ITS COLD. Of course its not cold enough to snow or anything like that, it's just cold in general. If I would have known to bring a long sleeve shirt or two I would have! Sometimes just a sweatshirt doesn't cut it.

On one random Monday, we didn't have school, so we ventured to the top of the hill we live on, and reached the flag at the top! It was really cool looking over the city and identifying buildings and streets. At the beginning of the semester we had been at the top just looking over the city and I remember thinking HOLY COW. Because the building structure is SO different here, there was no way I was going to try to identify buildings. But now that we have lived here, it is easy to identify where we have stepped foot in the city.
I missed my first Holiday at home- Thanksgiving- it's one of my favorites because all of my family comes together. Anyway we celebrated it here and it was great. The school had a little breakfast thing where they all ate Chicken Nuggets and French Fries, I had a PBJ. That reminds me, as Laney and I were walking to school this lady on the street gave us a piece of bread she had already been eating. At first I was so confused, why would someone who is more poor than I give up food that she needs? After I thought about it for a long time I realized that some people are just kind. If anything I have learned that Living in Mexico people are KIND everywhere you go. They will spend their whole day
with you just to show you around. Its part of the culture and I LOVE THAT.

Wow. Now that I have rambled A LOT... We had our own Thanksgiving dinner. We bought a Mole Cactus Chicken, made some smashed potatoes and stuffing, some rolls- and we had ourselves a small Thanksgiving.
I will always remember the Thanksgiving I had Mole Cactus Chicken instead of Turkey. Not that I am ungrateful for the food I had, I am Beyond Grateful, I will just never forget it.
That weekend Valerie, Laney, and myself all ventured out to Puebla! We just spent a little over the night/ day trip! It was super fun! It was also Laney's first time outside of Pachuca- her first

vacation! I wish Laney had come on ALL of our Vacations- she is such a blast- but I'm super glad she came to Puebla :) Anyway she had a friend in Puebla and she was the kindest soul who gave up everything for two days to just follow us around and take us places. While we were in Puebla we went to this little city called Cholua- just 15 minutes outside the main city. From what I understand, Cholua has a church on every corner, it was a big city of religion. So we climbed a lot of stairs to the top of a hill so we could see a big church and the look over the city. Needless to say, the mini vacation was a BLAST. I will go to Puebla over and over again!

When we got back we had a big wave of realization hit us: We had two weeks left with our kids. Two more weeks of being with each other 24/7. Two more weeks of lesson plans. Two more weeks of Streets Tacos. Two more weeks of Mexico. I literally can't believe that it has already been four months. This semester went by so fast! I look back at the beginning of the semester and it seems like it was just a dream. I have accomplished so much in the last four months, its almost mind blowing! I found out that I love traveling, meeting new people and seeing all the different sites. I'm so glad I saw and took this opportunity, it has been a life changing experience- definitely something I will NEVER forget. Here's to two more weeks in MEXICO!! #vivamexico