Day 2: Culture Shock

So I REALLY need to learn Spanish. Trying to buy a phone today was a trip. Thankfully my RA Gary was there to translate, but not being able to communicate seriously stressed me out. I know enough to get by in most instances though. I successfully bought lunch today without Lauren's help. It was a pretty big accomplishment at that point.

I love that I'm not really chaperoned here (unlike in Italy, when they expected 14 of us to stay in a group at all times... not feasible and SUPER annoying.) They took us to the mall, and dropped us off with Gary. We had the option to stay with him and have him teach us to shop and catch a taxi and what not, but Lauren and I ventured off on our own instead. We found out you have to check any large bags when you enter a store (to prevent shoplifting) and successfully tried on shoes and bought our own groceries. We were overcharged by the taxi driver, but only by about $2 and we were both too exhausted to argue.

We only bought enough for dinner and breakfast, so we'll have to brave the supermercado again soon, but it was a reasonably successful first trip. That's a thumbs up, not me haling a taxi. You use your index finger for taxis here.

I'll post pictures of the apartment as soon as I finish decorating my room (bought tape for pics today) and I'll take pics of the campus, too. If you've ever been on a military base, then you know what this campus looks like. Square, uniform, white buildings.

Tomorrow we're taking a tour of the city, and Saturday is a tour of the canal and a local carnival. Lauren found a church, so we're braving the taxis again Sunday. They know we're coming and are excited to see us :)