I’m crying! I’m so sad that it is over. The last week of classes went great. I got A’s and B’s in my classes. I am so sad that I wont see these professors again. They told us to keep in contact with them so I will have to once i’m back in Oregon. All of my friends are ready to go home. I think Mikayla and I miss our family back home but the idea of leaving our new family makes us really sad.

I’ve enjoyed everything about my trip. The new food, the people, the places I went. All of it was great.

My host mom made me cry. She surprised me with a goodbye dinner and invited all of the family. She made my favorite meal. She is the sweetest. I’m gonna cry so much when i actually leave.

I want to come back one day. I will come back one day.

-Anahisse Gonzalez

This weekend we took a trip to Mexico City. It was so much walking. I’m hurting now. My feet hurt and i’m badly sun burnt. We went to many museums. I learned a ton about the history. It was so interesting to hear about my culture. I learned so much. I called my real mom this weekend and told her all about it. She was impressed I remembered it all. I was off on some names but she was proud. I also brushed up on some of the information with my host mom and sister. They helped so much. I have an assignment for class about the history so this should be super helpful when writing about it later. On our trip we also went to the Frida Kahlo Museum it was amazing. I took so many pictures. it was nice getting to read about her story. We walked La Casa Azul which is very famous world wide.

We climbed the pyramids in the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The steps were so steep I had to stick with my friend Mikayla who was crawling up the pyramids. We partner crawled up. It was scary but so much fun. It was also the best view. I will have to go back one day.After we ate in the town and enjoyed a feast and shop the local shops.

Everyone around me is beginning to feel homesick and all I can say to them is that they will soon see their real families but they should enjoy the time here without constantly being reminded of home. I have been. I just wish they could enjoy the time that we have left the way I will.

-Anahisse Gonzalez

Classes have been going extremely well. I love my communication class the most. I am able to understand almost everything the professor is saying. I just wish I was able to practice more with my group of friends. We try to speak Spanish most of the day when we are together but since we all understand English it is much easier just to switch over to it. It is also a little break from the Spanish. My home stay has been the best. I love the food my host mom makes me more and more. I love her white rice with zucchini soup. It is my favorite so far.

We visited La Peña de Bernal. It is the second tallest monolith. With the support of my friends I was able to make it to the top. I’m super out of shape and don’t hike/climb much anyways. It was so worth it. I wish my real family could have seen it. One day I will bring them and have them climb up.

-Anahisse Gonzalez

It took us forever to get here. But it is so worth it. Everything about Queretaro is super beautiful. I’m so happy that I choose to go on this trip. The plane ride wasn’t too bad. When we got to Mexico we finally got onto our three hour bus that would take us to our finally destination. The bus we rode is one of the nicest buses I have ever been on. It had wifi so we were about to communicate with our families from back home and the seats were able to almost lay all the way back like a bed. I had a really good nap. I think everyone did. When we finally got to Queretaro It was nice to have Carmen around. Being one of the ones that spoke Spanish the best I would have to translate a lot. Carmen gave me the role right away. I didn’t want to step on any toes so I would let others take over when asking for directions but at the same time I need to work on my Spanish as well. I’m happy that Carmen decided to stay around for a couple of days. It made the transition stage a little easier. She also helped us get to know the centro in order for us to have a little bit of an idea where we could meet once we were reunited with our host families. Before meeting our host families we stayed in a hotel for three days. It was nice because the six girls and I were able to explore the city together and got to know each other before we had to begin school for the summer. We met locals who quickly became our friends and we had out favorite restaurants and night clubs. All seven of us plus Carmen had a blast. It was nice having Carmen around because I able able to get to know her as a person not just an adviser.

When it was time to meet my host family I was nervous once again. I wasn’t sure how I would greet them. Should I hug them or should I just give them a handshake. Once I did meet them I couldn’t believe why I was so nervous. My host mom lives alone. She has a daughter who is expecting and a niece that is three years old; Penny. Penny has days when she loves to play with me but also days where she doesn’t. Its a love hate relationship. So far I would say that this trip is going to be amazing.

Ps. I’ve never felt so bad about all of the plastic water bottles I haven’t recycled.

-Anahisse Gonzalez