Time with the parents, my birthday (Mexican-style), and a visit to Puebla

Ballet Folklorico

Ballet Folklorico

Mi familia y yo a mi cumpleanos!

Turning 20!

The food we made at our cooking lesson

Zocalo of Puebla

At the hotel

Mmmm frozen yogurt :)

Beautiful Puebla!

Taking artsy pictures :)

Iglesia de Santo Domingo - covered in gold leaf!

Fonda de Sta. Clara

Shopping in Puebla

Soooo it's been an even crazier week than ever. More tests and assignments, of course, my birthday, and two weekends in a row in awesome hotels.

My parents came to visit last weekend, and we had a really great time! I stayed with them at their hotel in Centro Historico right near the Zocalo, and it was a really nice getaway. The first night (Saturday), we went to a medieval-style Spanish restaurant, which was just so-so. It was a fun atmosphere, but none of us much cared for the food. The next day, we went to the Templo Mayor museum in the Zocalo (where I got to show off the crazy knowledge that I now have of the Mexica culture to my parents, haha) and then to Cafe Tacuba for lunch. The food was really good, and there was an awesome mariachi band! I would totally recommend it to anyone visiting Mexico City.

In the evening, we went to the Folkloric Ballet at the Museo Antropologico, and it was beautiful! The costumes were bright and well-representative of the many facets and colors of the Mexican culture. Afterward, we went to Vips for dinner.

On Monday morning, my parents and I took a taxi to my homestay house in Colonia Roma so I could make it to school on time and they could see my neighborhood and school. It was pretty fun to have my parents walk me to school - it felt like kindergarten! They got to see the school and have some coffee, and after that they went exploring the city on their own. We met up again that night to have dinner with my host family, which was a lot of fun. It was so great to see my parents - I'm so glad they traveled so far to see me!

Tuesday was a day full of studying until my host family surprised me with a birthday party! I was surprised that so many of my classmates came since we had a test the next day. I had a great time celebrating with everyone - my homestay family is so generous! Tere made two types of mole, beans, tortillas, gelatina, the works. They even got me a beautiful cake (which of course I couldn't eat, haha), and I got to blow out the candles and get my face shoved in the cake (a Mexican tradition!).

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty uneventful (aside from a fun little cooking lesson!), but Friday afternoon, after our second test of the week, we left for Puebla! I never imagined Puebla to be so beautiful. For one thing, the hotel was a wonderful luxury. And, to my surprise, we were only two-to-a-room. I thought for sure our teacher would cram us four-to-a-room, but it was WONDERFUL having a double bed to myself :). The buildings were in the colonial style and all sorts of pretty colors. The zocalo was full of balloon venders and Italian coffee shops and pretty little restaurants. And the churches were breathtaking, especially Santa Domingo, the walls of which were covered in gold leaf. One of my friends and I had so much fun just walking around the city and taking pictures of the buildings. The shopping in Puebla wasn't bad, either - I spent all of Sunday spending almost as much as I'd spent the first four weeks of the trip! But it was totally worth it.

Now it's back to the reality of school and studies. Less than two weeks left!