I know it's been a while since my last post. This past week has been really busy with work. I've had two group projects to work on in addition with other work (I have two exams and a paper coming up). Anyways, last week I got to go to Mexico City's historical district. It was my first time on the Mexico City metro! It wasn't as clean as Washington's, but definitely better than New York's subway. The one thing I had to get used to was the fact that everyone pushes to get on and off. I even had a little girl (about 7 or 8) shove me to get on in time! Also, there are always people moving from car to car selling things like snacks, notepads and CDs. The guys who sell CDs wear a backpack with a speaker inside and blast the music on the CD they are selling (the first time scared the crap out of me lol).
Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I had a nice blog post worked out for today, but then my computer froze so I lost it :(
Therefore, below are the videos that I took on my trip yesterday to Teotihuacan, one of the largest ruin sites in Mexico. I will post more about my trip and the photos I took tomorrow.
So, today's post is mostly a catch-up about what has been going on here since my last post last week. Although I didn't go away this weekend, I still had a good time. Saturday night we went to see the Last Airbender, my first 3-D movie. It was an interesting movie, I liked seeing some of the action sequences in 3-D. This is kind of a rant, but I always wanted to know why just within the last year or so that movies have been made in 3-D? It has been around for a while (wikipedia says it started to gain popularity in the 80's). Maybe it's just me.
Sunday, we went to a local ranch to ride horses and go shooting. Unfortunately, it was raining all day so all we could do was shoot pistols at glass bottle in a bullfighting pin. I shot my first gun! Like my Facebook status said, I was a little deaf by the end. I came close to hitting a bottle, but that was all. After we finished shooting we had a big lunch with the other people at the ranch.
I have definitely enjoyed all of the food I've had here so far. The produce here is fresher than back home, plus I've been told they don't use pesticides like home. I never saw orange egg yolks before I came here! Plus, I know we've all heard about how spicy the food is here, and now I am setting the record straight: it's true. The dips for chips are SO hot! One little bit (and I'm talking like a flake) and my mouth feels like it's on fire! I've also gotten used to seeing chili powder and lime juice on everything. I have to admit it was a surprise one day when I asked for popcorn and I was asked if I wanted lime juice on it. The peanuts with chili powder are good though :)
Classes are going well; I have my first exam this Friday in my Operations Management class. For my International Business class, we are reading the Ascent of Money (or el Triumfo del Dinero) which is really interesting. It's about the history of money and how it has involved into what it is today. I just finished reading the section on how bonds were used by the English to finance their war against Napoleon. The readings for my Green marketing class are just as interesting. Today I read about how our economic and scientific systems fail to include sustainability, waste or social welfare in their models, and how "grey marketing" has helped promote over-consumption. While I'm not saying that I agree with everything I read (or maybe I do... :-D), it has been eye-opening.
So, that's all I have for today. I know there were no pictures or videos, but I hope you found some of this interesting. If not, that's ok because I have rewarded you again with this clip of two cats. Apparently they are having some martial issues...
I know there are some out there who might be wondering that with all of the traveling and sight-seeing that I have done, where's the time for school? Rest assured, I have plenty of time for school, and I am enjoying all of my classes. I only have four this semester, which I thought would give me time to travel without putting too much pressure on schoolwork. My classes are:
Administración Internacional (International Business) - This class is basically goes over the basic concepts of international trade, International Organizations and Agreement (i.e. the EU, NAFTA), and International Investment. One of the bonuses of taking this class abroad is that it is taught from Mexico's point of view, which means I get to learn about their economy and their role in international trade.
Mercadotecnia de Servicios (Services Marketing) - This class is the one taught in English. We basically go over how marketing services differ from marketing products. We have a lot of case studies and group projects, but they promise to be interesting.
Mercadotecnia Ecología (Green Marketing) - This I think promises to be my most interesting class, where we learn how to develop strategies to market environmentally conscious companies, services and products. So far, I've done a lot of reading on current environmental trends, and how sustainable development can benefit both the business and society as a whole.
Administración de Operaciones (Operations Management) - This class focuses on decision theory, how to minimize risks with investments, and quality control. So far we've gone over break-even point analysis, and different approaches to analyzing risky investments.
I know that this hasn't been the most exciting post, but I still hope you found it interesting. To reward you, I decided to post a parody of the ending to the movie "There Will Be Blood" called "There Will Be Pokemon". If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.
So it just occurred to me that there was one video that I forgot to post from my trip last week. It features these strange creatures that I have never seen before. One of them actually jumped on me because I had food in my pocket, but all went well. Let me know what you think of them.
In case you haven't already noticed, I have no idea what these creatures are called.
Today, all of the exchange students (intercambios) took a trip to some ancient ruins outside of Mexico City. It was amazing!!! Below are many pictures and some videos. I will put the rest up tomorrow, I am way too tired. I tried to put them in order of when they were taken, hope everyone enjoys!!!
The first group of pictures are from the small town right next to the mountain.
The next section of pictures were taken on our climb up to the pyramid. It was about an hour hike up the mountain. I have never been so exhausted!!! Here is where the videos start. They are short, but still worth seeing.
