Getting ready

Hey guys!

This post might make you feel better if you are a last-minute sort of person. I had known I was going to come to Mexico since October, but it took me a looooong time to actually get ready for my trip. And even when I took the plane, I wasn't really ready. For example, I only bought the ticket less than two months before the start of my internship, even if I knew it might have been cheaper booking it earlier. I have a good explanation though! Well, sort of...Basically, on average, I've been taking a plane every two or three weeks in the last year or so. Yes, I know, not good for the environment, but you have to consider that my family is in Italy, I live in the Netherlands, one of my best friends is in the UK....and I love travelling!! ;) As you can imagine, then, I'm constantly on websites where you can book your plane tickets. Seriously, CONSTANTLY!! At a certain point I was in Italy, had booked my flight to come to Mexico but in the middle I had to go to the Netherlands and come back (as my flight was leaving from Bologna). The return journey Italy-Netherlands was not booked though...Well, it just isn't easy to juggle all the trips so that dates will match, and I don't end up having my flight for Mexico a day before my flight for Italy. I'm really not complaining, I know how lucky I am to have the opportunity to travel so much, and I even love organizing trips (the booking part too). It's just that sometimes it'd be nice to have months of 60 days! ;)

The other part of my life that I had to prepare before leaving Europe, was supposed to be the internship/research plan. I don't remember if I already wrote it: I have to do a research for my university, on something linked to what I'm doing in my internship. As I was the first one among my classmates to have found the internship, I was expected to have this sorted out pretty quickly. ....You wish! We did sign a document called "internship agreement" (basically like a contract between me, the internship organization and the internship supervisor at uni) soon enough, but the plans for the research are just taking such a long time! Yes, are, because I haven't written my plan yet and, by the way, I've just decided to change my topic. Fun times! :P I wanted to do it on the issue of migration as part of Mexico/USA relations, but now I'm realizing that I have this amazing opportunity to interview migrants, so I should do something with it. Right now I'm therefore considering focussing on the violence they encounter in their journey, but we'll see...

Last but not least, my spanish. To come to Mexico for more than a week or two, you need to speak spanish. To be honest, you're likely to need it even if you come for just a week, unless you go to reeeeaaally touristic places. Not many people speak english here (I do feel at home, as it's very similar to what happens in Italy), so unless you are one of those people who really don't care if their taco is made of beef or of larvas, I suggest you learn some basic words! (OK, they don't make tacos of larvas, as far as I know, but they do eat them in some parts of the country!) I have an advantage, since italian and spanish have (almost) the same grammar and several words in common. Plus, my father works with a spanish company and I have lots of memories of me sitting in the car with him talking - often shouting - in spanish (please note, on bluetooth or headphones...don't use your phone in the car!), and I picked up some words here and there. Before coming here I was supposed to start studying it for real but, well, you can all guess how that went...Between duolingo and Mexican tv series on youtube (let me know if you need some titles!), I learnt enough, and now I'm making progress every day. I hope.

I'm gonna leave you know, if anything else comes to mind about getting ready for Mexico I'll write another post. Oh, two last words. One on clothes: always check the weather of where you're going! And, if you're coming to Mexico, chances are you won't need a coat. Seems fairly obvious, but I have met people with the weirdest kinds of clothes for the place they were in. Lastly, I was just talking about how I like booking plane tickets...Well, yesterday I discovered eDreams decided to cancel my booking for the return flight. Without telling me. How nice of them! So, now I have that to sort out, and that is something that I do NOT like!

Cool, 'till next time!!

Caterina