some pics

Here is my bed, I made it for this picture

This is the tall glass building I wrote about

This is my room, I have food

This is a building on the main campus that people call el servietero, the napkin holder, it is a building for computer science and computer engineering I think

They call these pavorreales, royal turkeys, it's crazy to see peacocks walking around

This is the inside of the church I go to, San Juan Bosco, it's beautiful and air conditioned,

This is the outside of the church

I posted more on Facebook, I thought it was about time to put some pics up

Survive and Advance

Not only is Survive and Advance the mantra of NCAA basketball teams in March Madness, it is what I am doing here. I am happy to say that I have survived my first "trimester" by completing my Finance and Operations Management classes. We took our OM final today and I passed with a flying 86. Slightly lower than my miraculous midterm performance of 97, but I'm still happy just to earn a passing grade.

Those 2 classes met twice a week for 4 hours each session for 5 weeks. I am currently in two classes, Statistics (and by currently in, I mean this literally, the teacher is talking about Analysis of Variance and I am paying attention amazingly well), and Practical Strategies for New Markets that only meet once a week so they are still going on. We don't get much time to relax, as our next 5 week classes, an Economics class and an Accounting class start next week.

However, some of the people in the MIB program are going to a cabin outside of Monterrey for the weekend so that should be fun. I'm bringing my frisbee. We deserve a break, after spending about 20 hours per week in class not to mention studying, group projects, and homework, it will be nice to relax.

This program and the university is legit. In Nicaragua, the classes were at a lower level than I was used to, these classes are definitely at a higher level. I am learning a lot, and I know my Spanish is improving.

The majority of the teachers have their Ph.D. and the school is this crazy seashell design. Apparently they spend a lot of money on building designs because on the main campus, there is a building that looks like a napkin holder and another that is a 12 story building of all glass, it looks like it could have come straight out of Chicago.

The students in my program are all really nice and really smart. We do a lot of group work and I am usually trying to add my small 2 cents, but everyone is patient and helps me with my Spanish and repeats things when necessary. We are a group of 17 students, all between 21 and 25 years old. I love having this small group because everyone knows everyone and I'm not afraid to ask the teacher a question if I don't understand.

Today I went to the Migration office and signed a bunch of things and gave my thumb prints so I will be legit with a FM3 student visa in the next 10-14 days (supposedly). One less thing to worry about.

Also, I will be moving to a new apartment on July 31st and I am really excited. When I arrived in Monterrey, I had no place to stay so I went to a Holiday Inn Express, and the next day, I found the first, easiest thing that was something cheaper than 80 bucks a night, but it kind of resembles a nice freshman dorm, 15 by 12 feet, shared TV & kitchen outside my room, but I had my own shower and AC, which is a must in the constant 100 degree heat.

Lucky enough, another student from my program mentioned last week that he was having a hard time finding a one bedroom apartment. So we looked for a 2 bedroom to share and boy did we find a winner.

This place is just across the street from the Tec, which will cut down on my walking distance about 10 minutes each way, it has 24/7 security, Central Air Conditioning (Which is HUGE!) 2 bedrooms each with a shower and bathroom, Legit kitchen with fridge/freezer, microwave, and stove/oven, a nice living room with couches that are included, and a small study room! It is also right next to another student in our program so that will make carpooling easier too, since our classes are in a different building about 20 minutes by car away.

Overall, I would say that I am really enjoying my time here and I am very grateful to all the people who helped me along the way and helped me to get to where I am today.

Thank you for reading, hope you're doin great

Jarryd va a esperar

Yes, I'm going to wait. Patience is something that I am having to constantly work on here. There are many things that are exhausting: the constant 100 degree heat and humidity, the 4 hour long classes of Operations Management, Finance and Statistics that are taught in Spanish, the long, hungry hours put in outside of class in group work, studying, and homework, living in a new country and city and trying to get used to all of it.

What I am currently waiting on is getting my Visa process going. It is a big job to line up university forms, proofs of residency and dinero, copies of visa and passport and of course unsmiling pictures.

I got my unsmiling pictures taken last week and I mentioned to the lady who took them that it was the easiest part of the Visa process. Spoke too soon. She said that they would be open all day on Monday and there wasn't even a lunch hour that I had to worry about. Apparently not.

So hopefully I'll get that figured out tomorrow so I can move on to the next thing, getting in contact with some of the Rotary clubs in my area. A few weeks ago, during what apparently was lunch hour (hours...1-2:30 or 3!) I called some numbers of clubs I found on rotary.com, and left some messages hoping someone would call me back. No luck, but one of my friends showed me the hotel where 2 of the clubs meet, and it happens to be close to my school.

So far, I think I can say that I am settling in well. I am making friends with the other students in my program, I understand almost all of the classes. My Spanish is definitely improving and that's one of the main reasons I came. This city is legit and the university is amazing.

So all in all, I feel blessed and happy to be here and I am looking forward to keepin on keepin on.

Thanks for reading!

God bless!