Mexico

Well, the reason for me starting this blog was to keep the world updated on my travels, particularly when I went to Mexico in May.  If you all haven't heard of the swine flu, look it up (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8021958.stm).  It is because of this that the Mexico May term is cancelled.  Therefore there is an excellent chance I'll be stuck in the USA instead of stretching my boundaries and throwing myself into something completely different (the lark).

There is a (slight) chance that I will be going to Bolivia with my friend Charlotte Anne. Her parents are both professors and they are doing research in Sucre.  There is a language school nearby where they are and they have an extra room in their house.  Hopefully this works out; it'd still be one hell of an experience.

Needless to say I'm bummed out about all of this.

España

¡Voy a ir a España en el proximo semestre primavera!  ¡Por 15 semanas estudiaré en Valencia, totalmente en la cultura y la vida de España y la lengua!  

Translation:

I'M GOING TO VALENCIA, SPAIN FOR 15 WEEKS NEXT SPRING SEMESTER!  

Gender Bender

So, there's this tradition at Earlham.  At the end of Pride Week (LGBTQI) there's the Gender Bender dance.  The whole point is to dilute gender lines and of course, dress in drag.  The evening consisted of the men stuffing themselves with socks, going through the pains of putting on panty hose, getting make-up put on, and realizing why women have great quad muscles.  For us ladies, we put on some huge pants, got facial hair, and stuffed out hair up in hats.  It was fascinating watching how differently everyone interacted.  They were more comfortable expressing themselves and acting crazy because they were under the influence of stereotype different from their own personal norm.  It gave us a chance to unleash the wild side and opened the door to understanding (a little) better the opposite gender.  O yes, social experiments gone wild.