Life is better with friends, with adventures and love. It´s been almost one month since I left U.S. and I already have love in Monterrey. Since, August 2 I have gotten to know 11 Europeans. Life works in a mysterious way because I lost a friend and I received 11 new friends. They have been with me since the day we decided to go to “Las luchas libres.”
We took an “Integrate” party bus from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), which took us to see the fight and have fun before school start. I am Mexican-American, but I have never been to Las luchas libres. Going to a place you do not know with people that you do not know sounds a little bit crazy, but when you are in another country, craziness is the key to fun.
I had been doing things that I have never thought I would do. For example, I am not a very sporty girl, but ITESM offers to all their students amazing activities. So, I decided to enroll in boxing and in the reading-poetry club. Also next week I will start a social service opportunity where I will help kids who live in poor areas learn Spanish. The campus life is amazing and there are always activities you can do – and most of them are free.
When I am not on campus, I am with my friends visiting all the amazing places that Monterrey has to offer. On August 20, we decided that it would be a great idea to go to Chipinque, a huge mountain located only 30 minutes away from ITESM. So, we woke up early and decided that it was time to do some hiking. The experience was amazing. On our way up we could not stop laughing about our weak condition. We were walking on rocks and trees.
When we decided to go higher, the sky decided to start a crazy storm. So, we started to go back before the storm got worse. Funny story, the storm got worse while we were going back, so we were all wet and cold on our way down. Even though the drops were cold, it was beautiful – they made us feel great and happy to be alive. I was in a wonderful place were wonderful people.
We also went to Monterrey downtown and visited all the museums (on Sunday they are free). The food is also delicious I had been eating like crazy – everything is cheap. I love Monterrey so far. I do not know Monterrey slang but I know Spanish slang from Spain, which is really funny.
Anne-Claire, Mikel, Marta, Fran, Urko, Leire, Olatz, Roman, Romain, Vanessa and Fabian are like my family right now, I could not being more happy to have them in my life.
I have learned one thing in this month: you cannot buy happiness. But you can go to Mexico, and that´s pretty much the same thing.
Sije Vargas is earning a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at the SDSU Imperial Valley Campus. She is attending Teconologico de Monterrey for fall semester 2016.
The global experience, as told by SDSU students 
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