I´m here!

After a long day of traveling, I´m finally in Merida.

I flew to Cancun direct from Denver. There were a lot of Spring Breakers on the plane -- mostly people in their early twenties and then families with kids around age 6 - 10. It seemed like an odd mix of people.

I flew on to Merida, and the only Americans on the plane were about my parents´age. It´s a nice change of pace after flying with a big group just ready to party.I met one fellow student when we landed, and I also met another Colorado resident who´s doing an immersion program that´s all arts based... learning Spanish via the arts, which seems pretty cool.

My host ¨dad¨ Fernando came to pick me up at the airport. We had a pretty funny and awkward drive home, since I speak no Spanish and he speaks very little English. He´s terrific -- he showed me around Merida, where there are lots of hospitals and a well regarded medical school. From what I could see after dark, it looks a lot like Los Angeles or even parts of Denver. I feel really good about the city.

Fernando made me a sandwich for dinner when we arrived. This is a terrific house. He lives here with his wife and two of his three children. I haven´t met the esposa Cecilia yet. I did meet Fernanda, the 18 year old daughter. She´s my neighbor with the bedroom next to mine. The house is two floors and covered in tile. It has large windows and is so well ventilated -- which is fantastic since it´s cool and crisp here. And crickets are chirping! It´s a real contrast to Colorado this time of year. Oh, and the house has a pool, which Fernando warned me is too cold for him, but I´m free to take my chances...

And perhaps one of the nicest surprises is Fernando will let me use his laptop, the Internet and Skype! I got to video chat with Mike, which is pretty fantastic.

Tomorrow I start school...