I'm in Xalapa Now

My host-parents are actually from Spain, which is evident in their appearance and certain aspects of their lifestyle (the table setting, house decoration, music, and some food). It’s neat to experience, but I’m grateful that I lived with my host family in Cuernavaca so that I know that some of these things are not Mexican.

My host-dad is an ex-bullfighter, which is displayed by the numerous photos in the entrance hall of him sticking his pelvis out at bulls. He's pretty old now, and has trouble walking. He's hard to understand, but very smiley. My host-parents’ 47-year-old daughter also lives here with HER daughter, who is gorgeous and I would guess in her late teens. They have two dogs, who are little and spoiled and dressed in t-shirts, and talked to in baby-talk all day. There’s another guy living here too. He rents out a room somewhere on the other side of the house, but doesn’t eat with us or anything. Actually, once again, no one really eats with me. My host-mom or host-sister (the adult daughter) makes my food and talks to me while I eat it. Everyone is super nice. My host-mom compliments me on my Spanish almost daily, which is weird because the compliment is usually preceded by my misunderstanding something she’s said.

I’m told that the house is very traditional to Xalapa, which I wouldn’t have guessed. It’s very long and narrow. My room is spacious, and has its own bathroom. Again, I was placed in the house with the best location. It’s right downtown, very near to the School for Foreign Students and Rob’s house.

Xalapa is a pleasant and charismatic city. The roads are short, narrow, and winding – exactly how I like them. Like the other Mexican cities I’ve seen, there isn’t much to be said for residential versus business districts. There are tiendas and lavanderias and cafes (so many cafes!) and bookstores (so many bookstores!) and homes buddied up next to one another, making for a lively atmosphere right outside my bedroom window while I try to sleep at night. I feel a lot safer here too. Our first day of Xalapeño orientation, we did a scavenger hunt of sorts, in which we asked a lot of questions about the city to various people around town, and only once did I feel like someone could have been friendlier (a cop, of course).

One interesting aspect of Xalapa is that the University of Veracruz is much more integrated into the city than any U.S. university I’ve ever heard of. Each school is in a different area of the city rather than mostly being in its own part of town. For example, the humanities building is very far from the School for Foreign Students (which suits me, since I’m only taking classes from the School for Foreign Students). I don’t know if this is a characteristic unique to the University of Veracruz or to Mexican Universities in general, but I like it.