The World Experiencing DeMya

My Travel Blog | Former RYE Student to France

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Forever grateful for my time here! Unfortunately, as always, I must await my next great adventure! 📸 credz: @mariana_car (at Queretaro, Mexico)

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Let's play a game called spot the tourist and ignore the napping locals 😉 Today marked the beginning of my nearly two week adventure in this wonderful city! (at Jardín Guerrero)

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They say you're not supposed to look directly into the sun... No wonder I'm so blind! #nofilter (at Punta Cometa, Mazunte)

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Day 24 in Mexico - Happy America Day

Ok so I know we don’t really say “Happy American Day” but my Canadian host sister said that to us Americans today and it just stuck!

Today marked the start of a new session with my classes. Last session I took three weeks of Intermediate I Spanish which left me with 3 credit hours of college credit. This session of four weeks I’ll be taking Intermediate II and Drawing I which will leave me with 3 credit hours of each class. Already I know this session is gonna be a bit harder because the class day is so much longer. From 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. to be exact. Meanwhile last session it was 9 a.m. to noon!

My early morning Spanish class is with the best Spanish professor ever named Araceli! I had her last session and thanks to her teaching I’m just at completely new levels in the way I learn Spanish. Last session I usually had a conversation class afterwards with a teacher named Jenny (who was the most fun teacher ever), but this time I just take my drawing class.

The drawing class is so weird! First of all, I’m the only student so the teacher to student ratio is 1:1. Second of all, my teacher said she remembered me from a bar I went to like two weeks ago… Awkward… Third of all, every Friday a nude model visits and I have to draw him/her. This is a lot considering the only thing I can draw is stick people!!! Most of my drawing classes are held off campus. Like today we went to Santo Domingo where I drew a lamppost and some stairs. Yeah very basic but it took me 40 minutes. I didn’t even realize how fast the time was passing. If I get better maybe I’ll show a progression of my art from the class.

Also, tonight we went out to eat dinner at a “French” restaurant. Why is French in quotes you ask? Because it was a crêperie that didn’t sell anything close to the quality crêpe I’d buy in France. First of all, my crêpe came with gravy on it. A basic ham, mushroom, and cheese crêpe! WITH GRAVYYYY!!! 😖 Second, there was salsa and jalapeños on the table to add as toppings!!! HUGEEEEE no no with French food! I ate my entire plate because I was hungry but let’s just say I won’t be revisiting or recommending that place to anyone anytime soon!

Well, that was my 4th of July for the año 2016! It’s been three 4th of July’s since I’ve been home for one. Way back in 2014. I don’t even remember my last tbh. Maybe next year I’ll at least be in my home country to celebrate it… Maybe!

Until next time,

DeMya

7-4-16

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Day 23 in Mexico - See You Later

July 3, 2015: I said "see you later" to one of the most incredible groups of exchange students that I had ever met! 6 countries, 12 days, 35+ exchange student and a lifetime worth of memories. We came together as mostly strangers and left as a family. Some of the hardest "see you laters" I've ever had to make. I remember continuously crying on the bus, and then later on the floor of a Paris train station as all of my friends took their respective trains! 💔 July 3, 2016: 5:10 a.m. and as I left the bathroom I hear crying downstairs. I've never ran so fast in my life but I made it just in time to say see you later to one of my Oaxacan host sisters as her ride left to the airport! Less than one hour later I had to do the same for 3 other host sisters as they left to return back to the States as well! And as I've mentioned on this blog before, the "see you laters" never get easier. Even after what seems to be hundreds of them within the last two years, it's still not any easier. I'm so grateful to have been apart of such a large family my first three weeks here in Oaxaca. And though I didn't shed any tears this time (nor the past few), I hope that all of mis hermanas here know how much of an impact they've had on my time here. From being big sister figures that I've never had, to our crazy dinner "punishments" and shenanigans, everyone of them has helped me in one way or another grow in my Spanish language skills and even human skills. So to all my July 3rd friends/family out there: I miss you all greatly and can't wait to see what the future holds for us all! Thanks for being apart of this journey called life! July 3rd will always be a day full of memories for me. Here's to seeing what the next one has in store! ❤️❤️❤️❤️, DeMya 7-3-16

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Day 17 in Mexico - Conversations with Jime

“You’ve been here for less than month and you already lived through an earthquake and national crisis 😂” - @jimegu

Just experienced what seems to have been a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, and not only that but it was my first earthquake! It’s only been a bit more than two weeks now! 😂😂😂 There isn’t any damage in my house and there doesn’t seem to be any damage in my city but the epicenter was in my state of Oaxaca and felt all the way in Mexico City where Jime currently is! 😅

Until next update, DeMya 6-27-16

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A summary of how Mexicans feel about Donald Trump!

I ❤️ Tlayudas Men’s Restroom, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico 📷 credit: Christian Y.

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My Oaxacan host family consisting of 7 other American students, a visiting couple from previous years, and my incredible host mother! Oh and let's not forget the dog! ❤️ Picture taken on day 9 in Mexico, Sunday, June 19th.

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Day 8 in Mexico - Difficulties breathing

To those of you that are aware of my asthma, don’t be alerted! I wasn’t hospitalized this time! 😁

Today I hiked a 3,000 meter mountain. We started at about 3,000 meters and ended at about 3,500 meters. It was great except for the fact that my crappy lungs left me (at times) as far as 10 minutes behind the rest of the group. Luckily I had my program director and one of the tour guides stay back with me! They were absolutely magnificent. You know what else was magnificent? THE VIEWS!!! And not just talking about Drake’s album 😉

It took us about 3 hours to scale the mountain and we spent about an hour/hour and half zip lining our way through these incredible views just literally hanging hundreds if not thousands of feet over the forest floor at times! It was exceptional and fortunate enough for me I got some prime video footage thanks to my action camera and some photos and videos taken of me by the program directors during take-off and landing. I doubt I’ll be able to post any of my action camera footage here anytime soon as I have over an hour, maybe even two, of video recordings! If the photos are posted to our Facebook group within a timely manner I’ll be sure to post the ones of me here!! 🙂

So I’ve been napping on-and-off ever since we left at around 5 p.m. and now it’s nearly 11:30 p.m. and I think I might go to bed for once and for all now. Tomorrow is Father’s Day and because I don’t have a host dad, I’ll be using my free day probably sleeping, possibly exploring some of the city!

Until next time,

DeMya

P.S. Anybody know when Finding Dory will be released in Mexico? Doesn’t seem to be in my local theater!

6-17-16

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Day 6 in Mexico - Never Have I Ever!!!

So… My morning started out pretty typical. I chatted with my host mom then walked to school 20 minutes before classes started. During morning break a mysterious guy sat between my group of friends/fellow study abroad students. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Right after that, in my conversation class he went to my classroom peeking in the window, not once, but TWICE!! We gave him some glares back and he finally left. Fast forward to after school and I’m sitting at the end of a bench and the same guy sits next to me, about 2 feet away.

Well I got up to go talk to someone across the courtyard and my group decided we would leave for lunch soon after. So one of the girls that was sitting near me gets up to grab her stuff but she couldn’t find her phone, which she had just had during the class. We spent about twenty minutes looking for it before declaring it stolen, probably by the mysterious man. Everybody was bummed about how it could have been any of us because we all have highly sought after iPhones that in a country like Mexico would be worth a lot when it comes to being stolen and being put on the black market.

We decided to go eat lunch at this market where the meat is displayed and though all the vendors have the same meats they’re constantly yelling out how there’s is the best. My friend, Emily, and I were the only ones eating from the vendors because everybody else had packed lunches. We decided on a meat stand (solely because there were two women working instead of the 20 other men surrounding them #feministmuch?). We sat down and a waitress came to offer us toppings for our tortilla and carne asada that was to come. We picked out three and then a man came around offering us drinks so we got two Coronas. The meal arrived and it was HUGE!!! There was so much meat and tortillas that we offered them up to the other girls so we wouldn’t be wasteful. The meal was good and after splitting the bill it ended up being on the pricier side for local food ($12 USD). It was definitely a great experience and now I know that next time if I eat there two could feed four and that could definitely help keep the cost down!

After eating we returned to school to meet up with everyone and we walked over to volunteer with Oaxaca’s Street Children. Originally we were supposed to try to help them with homework or English but the three kids that I interacted with said they didn’t have any homework and didn’t know English so my group of volunteers just used it as another chance to speak Spanish with native speakers. We left there after about an hour and a half.

It wasn’t until we left that it started raining so a group of six of us girls decided to walk the direction of home and find a taxi. Well the rain stopped by the time we came across a street with some taxis so we just decided to save some money and walk. Not even 5 minutes later it started raining again. We continued walking. But then all hell broke loose and the rain was unbearable. We stopped under a pavilion in the Zocalo (an open air market where the teachers are currently protesting/camped out). We stayed there for about two minutes and the rain lightened up to a near stop. But by the time we had reached the end of the Zocalo the pouring rain was back and I had had enough and luckily as I was the last of the group to cross the street at a red light I noticed an empty taxi right in front of me so I got in and the other 5 girls followed suit! Keep in mind these aren’t your fancy New York City taxi hybrids. This is a tiny little Nissan from the 90s. Well the configuration we formed was 5 on the backseat and 1 on the front passenger seat. And now I understand where the expression “packed in a car like a bunch of Mexicans” hails from. Because we truly were. And though I’d seen taxis like that before throughout the city, apparently it was very uncommon for tourists to do this. So uncommon that a guy on the back of a passing motorcycle took a photo of us. Then that gave Emily (in the front seat) the idea to take a photo of all of us. Even the taxi driver took a selfie with all of us packed into the car!

Never have I ever experienced such a mess in one day! What a day!

DeMya

6-16-16

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Day 3 in Mexico - First time for everything!

Today was the first day of classes!!! I began my day at 8:30 with an orientation of sorts that consisted of everyone making sure they were in a Spanish class they felt they fit into. Because I've only had one year of college level Spanish I am taking Intermediate I, which is the third level of six. My class consists of 5 other students, 4 of which are aged 15-16 and are still in high school! After my 9-10:50 grammar class we have a 20 minute break. I decided to use that opportunity to run across the street to grab a morning snack. Little did I know how cheap it would be! I bought a bottle of yogurt and a bag of Original Sabritas (Mexican Lay's equivalent) that is usually worth 99¢ alone in the USA. Well... My grand total for both: 99¢. Not even one whole dollar! It was quite splendid! So next I returned to class, this time it was conversation and it went by soooo fast, finishing at noon! I then walked home with one of my housemates and we ate a wonderful lunch! I then took a well needed siesta and woke up just in time to walk back to school. After heading downstairs to tell my host mom I was leaving she told me the roads were too flooded to walk through and insisted on my housemate and I taking a taxi. She called one up and 5 minutes later I was taking my first yellow cab! If there is one thing that I know about taxis in most of the places I've visited, it's that they are $$$ (I mean Uber is sooo much cheaper for a reason 😜) So we took the taxi to school and what was usually a 20 minute walk turned into an ~8 minute taxi ride that after splitting the cost, costed me a grand total of $20... Oh wait... That was pesos!!! It cost me $1.06 USD!!! Yup! A $2 taxi! Apparently taking the less reliable bus would have only costed 19¢ since I'm a student and receive a half price ticket!! I'm going to stick with my $2 taxi from now on. The program director said they could cost as much as $3.71 depending on where in the city we're trying to get too. Not too shabby! When I arrived back at school we had a quick orientation of rules and an overview of transportation methods. Then we headed out into the city at about 5:15 p.m. to do a walking tour of downtown Oaxaca. It was one of the most enchanting places I've ever visited. Open markets everywhere, vendors, street food, EVERYTHING!! One market we went to even had a vender that sold pets!! And though I didn't try the street food per se, I did try my hand at a street snack! Our program director bought a small handful of fried grasshoppers! They weren't the tastiest snack I've ever had but I could totally see myself eating them again. According to a girl in my program's host sister, if someone eats the grasshoppers in Oaxaca they're bound to return to Oaxaca in the future. That's according to a local legend. We'll see if that's true and I'll definitely be updating my blog if it is! 😜 I also got to taste test some local Oaxacan chocolate at what I've deemed Chocolate Town (a street full of chocolate vendors). We also learned the history behind some historical places and saw up close the teachers' strike that I mentioned before. Apparently the teachers are camping out in tents in front of the Governor's Palace. Tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of a teachers strike that ended very violently here in Oaxaca so teachers from all over are here protesting! When I was standing in one very crowded corner learning this, little did I know that people were super fascinated by my dreadlock hairstyle. Like SUPER fascinated! I turned around just in time to catch one woman TOUCHING a loc! The girl standing beside me said that she had noticed people reacting to seeing my hair! 😂 Considering Oaxaca usually only gets clean cut white tourists, it's not as odd to see a black person as it is to see any person with dreads! I wonder what would have happened had I been in China?? So we ended our tour with ice cream and though there were very typical flavors like vanilla, chocolate, mango, etc., there were also flavors that were local like Oaxacan chocolate. But I, I did something very crazy and bought tuna ice cream! Ok... So it wasn't actually tuna like the fish but tuna in Spanish (at least in Mexican Spanish) is the equivalent of what many would call a "prickly pear fruit" or "cactus fruit." So yeah... "Tuna" ice cream! That was definitely a first! I really liked it! If anybody knows a good place in America I can get tuna ice cream on the regular, please do tell! Things I learned today: • My level of Spanish is much better than my French when I arrived I France. All my classes are held in Spanish and even at home the students in my house have to speak only Spanish at the dinner table and I've found that I understand almost everything give or take a few words here and there. My level is probably that of my French after being in France for 6 months. • Mexican people are very fascinated by my hair. • Tuna = cactus fruit and atún = tuna • Oaxaca markets are the best markets • I want to eat every type of street food If you read this whole post you deserve a gold star or better yet, my autograph! Unfortunately I can't give you either at the moment but we can make some arrangements! 😉 Well that's all folks! I need to start on my homework for tomorrow! Until next time, DeMya 6-13-16

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Today was a good day 🌞 (at Monte Albán. Zona Arqueológica)

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Day 1 in Mexico ☑️

6:30 p.m. - Arrived at Airport. Met program director. 7:10 p.m. - Arrived at host mom’s house. Met the “family” aka the 8 other women that are studying here for various lengths of the summer. 7:30 p.m. - Dinner with the family. No English at the dinner table. If so, there is a castigo (punishment) which consists of performing (singing, acting, etc.) for the dinner table. 8:40 p.m. - End of dinner 8:50 p.m. - Invited to see Neighbors 2 with two housemates. Took the 10 minute walk to the mall. 9:15 p.m. - Showed up late to the movie. It’s okay. Also the movie was completely in Spanish. Surprisingly I understood the majority of it! :) 10:30 p.m. - End of movie. We decided to go get snacks at what seemed to be the Walmart equivalent of Mexico. Naturally, I bought a Kinder Surprise Egg 11:25 p.m. - Made it home.

Things I learned today: • DON’T FLUSH THE TOILET PAPER | THROW IT AWAY!!! • There are lots of teacher strikes going on in my city right now • I arrived in rainy season. Hot in the morning with scattered showers throughout the day. • Apparently Oaxacan water isn’t safe to drink for the American immune system so I have to drink bottled water. Even the fresh veggies have to be cleaned with treated water! • Americans are paying too much for bottled water! I bought a liter of a popular water here for just under 45¢!

• You can buy a cheap motorcycle ($800-$1200) in the store I've deemed Mexican Walmart

Well I have orientation tomorrow and we’re going to go discover the Monte Alban Ruins so I need to go to sleep now!

Until next time, DeMya

6-11-16

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4 days until Mexico!!!

On the afternoon of Saturday, June 11th I’ll be boarding my flight and once again saying “See you later” to my family members and friends. Once again, within a two year window, I’ll be leaving my quaint little life to explore more of the world. Closer to home: sure! But still far enough away to keep my family worried! So once again I must thank all my followers and just people who happen to stumble across my blog to read.

To those of you that may know me in real life or a link brought you here, this blog will be the best place to follow my adventures. I’m going to try something that I’ve heard of from previous exchange students through Rotary. I’m going to try a 30 day/1 month blackout period on social media as well as personal communications (unless they’re in Spanish, of course!). The exception being my blog. Due to my short stay in Mexico (in comparison to my yearlong experience in France), I want to be as immersed as possible. So for the first 30 days of my stay, besides me updating everyone of my arrival on Facebook, I will be off-grid. During that time, any photos or stories I’ll have to share will be found here on my good ole blog just like old times (rewind to nearly two years ago).

Thanks again for all the support and as always...

Until next time,

DeMya

6-7-2016

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Time

Seeing all these 2015-2016 RYE students on Euro Tour is making me nostalgic... Then I remember that I have finals soon marking the completion of my first year of college and then that makes feel OLD!!! 😪😪

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Summer Adventures 2016

Hiya everyone!

If you all remember correctly, about 7 months ago I said I had big things planned for this upcoming summer and that I would announce them closer to time after lots of saving money and planning. Well... that date has finally arrived!

After lots of savings and a generous grant through my school’s study abroad office, I am proud to say that I will be spending my summer studying in Oaxaca, Mexico through a Spanish immersion program: Sol Education Abroad!

That’s not even the best part! After my 7 week stay in Oaxaca where I’ll be taking classes in Spanish, I’ll be traveling north to meet up with @jimegu (Jimena) who is a fellow RYE 2014-2015 France rebound, for those of you who don’t remember her!

I’m so excited for my next experience abroad and the opportunity ahead! I guess the wanderlust never truly leaves! ;) Thank you all for the support over these last (almost) two years with my adventures. I hope you all stick around for my next adventures to come!

Until next time,

DeMya

4-2-2016

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Spring Break 2016 - Montreal

So spring break was a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would try to update you all with a photo diary of my adventures during my week long trip to Montreal, Canada. I didn’t take very many pictures while I was there so that explains why there is not a lot of variety. Also, I got sick around Wednesday/Thursday so I couldn’t go out and explore with my friends. Needless to say, I fell in love with Montreal while I was there. It was a wonderful opportunity to speak French again and learn about a new (French) culture at the same time. So without further ado... I present to you: Spring Break 2016

The Canada Crew - (L to R) Me, Wik, Maca, Sally, Cris, and Michelle

We’re probably one of the diverse group of Spring Breakers you’ve ever met! Nationalities consisted of one Pole, one Irish-American, two Chileans, one Chinese-American, and Me, the African-American! :)

First stop: The Biosphere

As you can see, I was very happy to be at the Biosphere

This picture doesn’t capture just how happy I was to eat Kebab again! It had been an entire 8 months without it! Plus the restaurant (behind me) staff were just the kindest people! Check out Aladdin if you’re ever in the Plaza Côte-des-Neiges!

This is just a random Panda display in Chinatown that we just had to take a photo with! I hear it looks better at night!

So much flannel!! Does dressing like a lumberjack make us Canadian yet?

This is our squad right before we went out for karaoke with some other people from our college that were spending Spring Break in Montreal as well!

Kinder Surprises are illegal in America and my friend, Wik, had a bit of an addiction. How big? Well, she bought the King of all Kinder Surprises! Needless to say, she waited until our last night there to do this so she ate half the egg, took the capsule out and crossed customs the next day with an empty egg that was half eaten. That’s one way to find a loophole in American laws! ;)

Sally and I just chilling.

Look mom! I’m on top of the world... No big deal! :P

Observing the modern in Old Montreal. Hidden from this picture is the amusement park that wasn’t yet open across the bridge to the right!

Frozen docks

Our last night in Canada consisted of eating all of the food we had laying around our apartment (Kraft Dinner, ramen, etc.) and watching movies in bed.

Spending an entire week in close quarters with these 5 people really brought us together and I couldn’t imagine spending my spring break in Montreal with a more fabulous group of people.

My last view of the city skyline before the 10 hour bus ride back to college!