Its strange the things you take comfort in when you find yourself living in a culture and country different than your own. This Tuesday, one of my favorite Mexican bands, Reik, will perform here in Mérida. Today, my friend Ruthie and I decided we could no longer procrastinate and needed to finally go and purchase tickets. After waiting over 30 minutes for the bus to come, we arrived at the coffee shop where one can buy tickets (yes, here there is no such thing as Ticketmaster. Instead, tickets are purchased at random stores or restaurant such as Italian Coffee Shop or Burger King.). We asked for two general tickets and were told that the people who actually sell the tickets weren’t there. The employee had no idea when they would decide to come back. Frustrated we left the coffee shop only to hop on yet another bus to go to another ticket selling place. Everything that would normally take 20 minutes in the United States (or in this case two minutes) takes three hours here in Mexico. Anyway, to make a long story short, we arrived home with Reik tickets finally in our hands. However, the fact that people sold tickets without any form of schedule made me realize that while so much of Mexico is so familiar and comfortable, there are some things that are impossible to get used to.
Additionally, I have noticed that I take comfort in things that I never before realized where so important to me. While in the U.S., I am either blasting reggaeton or musica ranchera , here I find a strange comfort in country music. When I am upset I find myself turning to Brad Paisley or the Zac Brown Band instead of my typical Spanish music. The irony lies in the fact that while I did listen to country in the U.S., I never CHOSE to listen to it. Another weird comfort: mashed potatoes. I have never really been a potato person, and while at Thanksgiving my brother would always build giant dams with his mashed potatoes and gravy, I never really enjoyed the food. However, this week my host mom, Rebecca, made instant mashed potatoes and I was in heaven, not so much for the taste but because it reminded me of the comfort of home. It will be very interesting to see what other strange things I crave over the next six months that I am here in Mexico.

Wow. I can’t believe I only have one month left before I have to head back to the states. Lately, I have been thinking if I have done everything I set out or wanted to do while I was here. I have short list to dos before my flight on December 13. My list includes a few things I still want to capture pictures of and souvenirs I need to purchase for my family and friends.

Recently, I went to Dublin for a few days just to experience a new change in scenery from Cardiff and London. The people were really nice in Dublin. While I was there I thought that if I traveled by foot everywhere it would be more scenic journey than if caught a cab. Needless to say I was able to take lots of great pictures of the Dublin Castle, City Hall, the quay, and numerous other attractions. One thing I really liked about Dublin is that all of the attractions are rather close to each other. Even though I had known I was going to be visiting Dublin beforehand I still did not tell my mom till afterward, since I did not want them to worry about me.

Now I’m not encouraging anyone to go anywhere without your family. I decided to leave all my details with my cousin just in case something happened she would know where I was. I decided to mail my mom and granny a postcard from Dublin. I can’t wait to hear their reactions, when they get card in the mail.

On another note classes are getting better each week. It has been rather frustrating at times to adapt to UK academic standards of essay writing and test-taking. One the main differences are here the students are given more freedom in their essay structures to develop it however they want. In the American system many teachers think the more freedom you give students the more errors can occur. But I guess the key is just to keep a positive attitude and not to give up, because no one said studying abroad was going to be easy.

Though I am very anxious to get back home and see my family and friends, I realize that I will definitely miss Cardiff-the people, the atmosphere. I am already trying to figure out how and when I am going to come back. It looks like I could be back in the summer depending how a few things turn out. Well I have to run now.

Cheers,
Brandi

p.s. this week’s pictures are from Dublin

I normally frame a scene by what I’m eating and what music I’m listening to.  But this time it didn’t fit.  My sandwich wasn’t good, the music was normal for me; the two criterium separate, and not enhancing.  I was on the train to Derry for Halloween.  The sign that lists the stops calls it London Derry/Derry, the British name slash the Irish name, the Protestant name slash the Catholic name.  The only walled city in Ireland.  Out of the left side of the window are farm fields, on the right steel cold coastline.  And while the structure of my words matches, it’s an anti-symmetry.

While much of Europe is unimpressed with Halloween, Ireland celebrates Halloween.  A Celtic pagan holiday where the boundaries between the living and the dead fall for a night in autumn.  The lighter half of the year transitions to the darker half of the year.  People dress up all week.  I think about masks and the strangers sitting next to me.

We are led on a tour by a Buddhist.  From the walls I see that a cannon is pointing at a butterfly intended to symbolize peace.  Underneath us is the Bogside, a site of the Easter Uprising with a 1972 massacre bearing its name.  The murals embalm their past in black and white, glimpses of what has happened.  The present slash future is in color; rainbows, doves, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King.

This past week I traveled from Prague to Berlin to Amsterdam by train.  I got to Berlin on November 9^th the 20^th anniversary of the wall being torn down.  I step out of the metro down the street from Brandenburg Gate and hear Hillary Clinton’s voice.  There was a huge crowd standing in the steel cold rain watching the ceremony.  Giant dominoes that have been painted by people in places torn by walls line the street.  Mexican artists.  Palestinian artists. The Berliners knocked them down.  I will come back to Belfast when the Peace Line topples.

This past week my parents flew out to visit me during La semana de Antropología, which is the week that the foreign exchange students don’t have school. We decided to go to Oaxaca for El Día de los Muertos as there are still many traditional events that take place in the cemeteries throughout the city and the nearby towns.
I grew up on road trips and enjoyed the fact that I would get to go on another one. I really feel that road trips teaches and exposes you to much more of the country than flying ever can. When you drive, you get to see how the geography of the country changes, and in turn how it affects the way of life of the people. It’s beautiful.
Our trip was amazing. We ended up driving almost 2000 miles over six days. Somehow we survived without any hiccups stuffed together in a tiny Dodge Atos.
Leaving Mérida, we passed through the open, sprawling savannah of Yucatán and Campeche and into the jungly mountains of Chiapas. The weather shifted drastically from overbearing humidity to a fresh, crisp fall night.
While everything drawls on in Yucatán, there is a lively, upbeat pace to San Cristóbal, Chiapas. The vibrant colonial town is home to an enchanting mixture of Ladinos (people of Spanish decent), Mestizos (a mixture of Spanish and indigenous decent), and Mayans. There is an obvious separation between the groups, yet despite the division, there is a charm and comfort that envelops the region.
Before heading off to Oaxaca, we stopped in Chumula, a traditional pueblo where the Mayan culture is very much alive. While there, we entered their church – a captivating mix of Catholicism and their traditional religions. The church is open 24 hours and at any moment you may find Chamulans inside the church praying over candles to the saints of their choosing.
In Oaxaca, we discovered a dry region full of red rock, scrubby brush, and the occasional cactus. Huge mountain ranges surrounded all sides of the Oaxaca valley. For the first time since I arrived in Mexico, I saw people dressed in jeans, button-down plaid shirts, boots, and sombreros – my stereotype of everyday clothing. In the centro of Oaxaca, people were friendly, yet unlike Mérida, did not haggle tourists. However, because we only stayed downtown, I did not get a chance to get a very comprehensive understanding of the city.
Coming home we drove through Veracruz and Tabasco, both of which were being hit hard by a huge storm. Rivers overflowed in Tabasaco, leaving tens of thousands homeless. Cars crawled through the flooded streets spraying dirty water onto the sidewalks. Pemex is the main employer in the region, and in the mornings busloads of people wearing bright orange jumpsuits hurry off to the petroleum plants. Closer to the coast, the people in the little pueblitos weigh out the day’s catch of fish, shrimp, and octopus.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip that provided me with a wonderful opportunity to see the striking beauty of the Mexican countryside as well as the many cultures that make up this intricate country. The more I travel and see, the more I realize that Mexico has many faces and is impossible to stereotype. Each region has its own unique culture and it is useless to try to simplify its complexity into one national culture.

Church in Chamula

Looking back I realize I haven’t said anything about my actual classes.  I am taking “Contemporary Cinema,” “Current Irish Cinema: Debates and Contexts,” and “Deeply Divided Societies.”  My film classes take place in the “Queen’s Film Theater” or “QTF,” which is an actual theater playing regular features at night.  It is a full sized screen with plush red seats that have mini pull-out desk tops.  If only I had a light-up pen!  These classes combine a lecture, a screening, and a discussion once a week.  In “Contemporary Cinema” we just finished our unit on Asian cinema (Hong Kong, Thailand, and South Korea), discussing what is new, what makes the films contemporary.  In my Irish cinema class I’ve learned about Ireland’s economic history and we’ve discussed outside views of Ireland verses internal identity.

My politics course has two lectures a week plus a tutorial.  We have studied South Africa, Yugoslavia, Israel and Palestine, the nature of violence, and nonviolent activism. It is a large class and I have been disappointed in the loose communication between the three lecturers and my tutorial leader.  The reading, lectures, and discussion don’t overlap much, and I feel I haven’t gotten to “unpack” what I’ve learned.

The semester officially ends in January.  The spring semester at my home university starts in early January, so I will be completing “alternative assessment” before I leave.  For my politics course, instead of an exam I will be writing two essays, and for my film courses I have to turn in my papers early.  This worries me, for in the UK school system one exam or essay usually constitutes 90% of your grade.  In my program in the states I receive written evaluations instead of letter grades, so these three grades will be my entire GPA.  And not all learning is done in the classroom!

So I’m trying to balance school work, travel, and keeping in touch with home.  I read my homework on jolting trains and buses.  So it goes.