Preparations and Parties

Last Thursday and Friday were our Orientation Days here at UAM. It was a much welcomed change of scenery from our days of being in the house and we learned all sorts of useful things about the culture, the city and especially, transportation. One of the hardest things in Managua is the lack of independence I feel because I simply don't have a car. Therefore, our transportation option are: friends with cars (which we only have a few of so far), taxis, buses or walking. Our lovely Nica friends, Celia and Scarleth, have been incredibly welcoming, inviting out and taking us to dinner, but since our house is a little bit out of the way, our main drivers have been taxis. Taxis here are relatively inexpensive, unless a) you are a chela (white person) b) you don't speak Spanish or c) you don't know how far things are in the city. For Jessica and me, a) is not going to change anytime soon, b) is improving at an excruciatingly slow rate, and c) has seen the best progress, especially after our adventures this weekend. So for now, we have taken to walking to school as much as possible and spends the rest of our time praying for friends!

Post-Lunch Photo!

During orientation, we listened to different presentation about culture shock, school activities, safety, banking, transferring credits and the Nicaragua Way. During the day Thursday, we toured around the city to restaurants, the bank, the downtown center, hospitals and the market. Mary Helen, the director of International Programs, had information about everywhere we went and put to rest a lot of fears and worries about the travelling and exploring inside and outside the city. Friday, we had to take a Spanish Placement Exam to assess our Spanish skills. 

During the Test...

Needless to say, this was by far the least exciting part of our week and none of us thought we would pass. Apparently, we all did well enough (or bad enough) to warrant taking a 3-hour Advanced Spanish class every Tuesday. So maybe we'll eventually learn Spanish.... Maybe. 






The rest of Friday consisted of signing up for classes, recuperating from the test and getting ready to celebrate the birthday of one of our new friends! The local hot spot for all activities is the called Las Galerías. It has EVERYTHING. Discos, Movies, Shops, Soccer fields, Restaurants. So for Anna's birthday, we went to the local "hotspot," Moods. Overall, it was a new/interesting/exciting/really loud experience, perfect for the weekends, but not somewhere I'll go for a drink after a long day of classes. We celebrated with Gringas and Nicas alike and ended our first week in Nicaragua with a fiesta fantástica! 

-Maggie Frazier