Fiestas, Nuevos Amigos y Tatuajes

Two nights in a row with little sleep. It is not a good idea and now I will have to go to sleep ridiculously early tonight so I can be ready for mi clase de Tae-Kwon-Do at 8:30am. Last night I did not take my chances at the movies again, instead there was una "fiesta" in Mariscal, which is actually a pretty sketchy place for foreigners to be, but it was organized by people from the university to welcome us new students internacionales. many people had fun getting drunk - something easy to do at high altitudes, but for me it was a bust. At about 7pm Galo picked Christy and I up from my house in his car and we went to his apartment to meet up with some other people. This was probably the most fun of the night since my fellow classmates downed an entire bottle of liquor in 20minutes, mainly by means of a drinking game. While in Ecuador I guess. Then it was the bus to Mariscal y la fiesta. I mainly attached myself to a friend named Christina and we met some new people and enjoyed watching the dance stylings of drunken Americans. Through the "graciousness" of having a tummy ache I finally persuaded Christy to leave with me around 11pm. Oh taxis durante la noche! It was fine and we got safely back.
Still, 7hours does not mean happiness for the first day of classes especially when that first class is at 8:30am and you have to leave for the bus by 7:10am. I suppose I should at least be thankful that I knew which buses to take to get to school, and that Christy, another student that we met on the last bus and I made it to USFQ by 8am. using the map to find my classes had to be like reliving the first couple days of freshman year all over again. As if I do not stick out enough with my lighter hair and light skin, I just have to carry a map around too. Yet, i found my first class just fine and there were three other students - only one a guy and he is the only student that is local and not international. Fabulous! I am already not the best writer in Spanish and now I have to "compete" against a native speaker in my creative writing class. This will be a long semester but at least I am going to learn plenty. When that horror was over and I was done embarrassing myself I met up with Christy and we did some exploring before my last class which included her spilling blue ink from a pen that busted on the plane all over where we were sitting in a cafe-like area. Those blue dots are going to be there for a long time. Relief washed over me a little later when I entered my advanced grammar class. All the students are American and I knew three of my classmates. Praise God for those small blessings. The professor is hilarious. Even though she is like 50, she insists on us calling her Ana maria and not professore or senora. We also found out that she married one of her college professors and we all joked about the fact that she did in fact get an "A" in the class. It will be a fun semester to have her as a professor except for the fact that we have oral presentations, my least favorite things in the world no matter what language. i had a little time to kill before Christy got out of her jewelry making class, so I decided to explore the book store for some class materials. Epic fail. At least she got out of class early and after some meandering through campus we went for some lunch off-campus.
Envision this. I Love NY Pizza sized slices of pizza for $1! I got two slices and a bottled water for only $2.50!!!! What is not to love?! It was also here that an adventure began. Christy and Galo both had one more class and I was going to wait for Christy so we could ride buses back together at 4pm. That so did not happen. What did occur was a decision was made that in order to celebrate the first day of classes, my fabulous friends would skip their classes and we would co to Caracol so that galo could get an ear piercing and for Christy to get her third tattoo. Since I was done with classes I was game and we drove off in Galo's car. What transpired afterwards was a run to my house to get them money and my camera, them "pre-gaming," then bargaining for lower prices, and subsequently a new tattoo and piercing for a grand total of $67 and barely no money left to my name for the time being. There were still three beers left at the apartment and the two locos wanted to finish them, which was then followed by more friends, Keon and Anna, coming to visit. Needless to say I was not getting home very soon. Instead we eventually went to Christy's house with her wonderful host parents who I had met the day before (omw her host dad, Washington, makes the best juice ever!) and we had dinner there. Rosario happily fed us rice, salad and a spaghetti dish that had overkill cilantro. It was a great time and I feel ike that place is a second home. She is even allowing us to have a birthday celebration for me on Friday where will are going to cook rosario and washington an American meal complete with chocolate cake, corn on the cob, fired chicken and biscuits! This will be one of the best birthdays ever!
But all good things must come to an end. This end took place when I got locked out of my home for the second time. Oh the third floor people double-bolting the darn door. If two women ahd not been leaving I would have had to make a couple phone calls again. Lupe graciously spent a few minutes teaching me how to open the door when it is harder with the double bolt. hopefully, i will not have cause to test that new skill out. That is more or less my last day and now I can barely keep my eyes open and just want some sleep. A couple Bible chapters, a few hours of sleep and a decent shower will do me some good and prepare me for the glory of my second day of classes. I cannot wait to see Christy in her costume for tae-kwon-do class.