Dutch student in Guadalajara, Mexico

Today it´s been two and a half weeks since I arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico. Here it is very different than where I come from (The Netherlands) but also very different from what I accepted to find here. The city looks in some ways very European. Especially the historic centre has beautiful buildings, plazas with modern sculptures and lots of fontains. There´s lots of traffic and it is very chaotic and there are a lot of big expensive American (USA) cars. With the Dutch group we visited Guachimontones which are round piramides, a tequila factory and Puerta Vallarta (a very touristic bay with modern clubs and a jungle as well).

My experiences so far with Mexico and Guadalajara are very good. The people are so nice, I have never met so many nice people in such a short period of time. They really take the time to understand you and they will try to speak in English you don´t understand. Yesterday we were offered a ride in the back of a pick-up truck together with some Mexican people. The gave us Coronas (beers) and took a lot of pictures of us (probably because some of us have blond hair).

The first two weeks of our stay we went to Univeridad Autonoma Guadalajara to take lessons in Spanish. This was great but in two weeks you don´t learn that much, unfortunately. At the moment I am at Mama AC. This is a organisation that offers children the possibility to study and to keep them of the streets. Together with my Dutch fellow student we will be working here for four weeks. Since today is my first day so I excided and curious about what we will be doing here. I will keep you guys informed about my experiences here in Guadalajara and especially at Mama AC.

Saludos, Gabor (Holanda, 25)