Undercover operations

After a moderately successful 19-day period under the radar, I can now inform you that I am sitting on a not so comfy futon in Pirate House, North Manchester, Indiana. That's right, I'm not actually in Mexico. I had to keep you all in the dark as part of my elaborate operation to surprise my friends here on campus.

Some of them caught on, but my primary goal of making my ex-roommate Aaron flip out succeeded. So, please call, e-mail or comment if you are in North Manchester and want to hang out! If you don't get in touch with me I take no responsibility for us not spending quality time together because left to my own devices with so much to do, I'm likely to just sit on this futon and keep internetting away.

Or, if I'm really motivated, I might go to the Oaks and internet away while drinking a mocha.

So far my break has been mostly uneventful. I spent a little time with some of my friends in Goshen, but passed most of my time at home just staying in the house with my computer, my guitar, my brother, and our X-Box. The shocking life of a college student on break has now been exposed to you.

Since my blog theoretically has something to do with Mexico, I do have a couple more study-abroad related thoughts to share... I speak English. I speak a lot of English. I speak English with my American friends and my Canadian friends and, occasionally, with my Mexican friends. So any jokes about forgetting English are really not at all associated with the truth. I am, however, in social Spanish mode. By this I mean any day-to-day interactions beyond my friends are, I assume, to be conducted in Spanish. This first became apparent when I would have a thought that interested me academically and I'd imagine bringing it up in a class back at Manchester. "How would I express that in Spanish?" I find myself thinking, before realizing I don't have to. This phenomenon became all the more obvious as I traveled back to the States. If I had anything to ask of a flight attendant, a cashier, or a random person in the airport, I'd find the question forming in Spanish rather than in English. This worked in Mexico City, obviously, but it was less useful for the Dallas-Fort Wayne leg of the trip.

I could share plenty more about my travels (the stories are quite exciting and include, among other things, blinding snowstorms!) but I just secured a date for hot tea over at Elizabeth's. Hasta luego!