Ferias y Festivales

Exam week. My professor told us last Wednesday that he’d come to class Monday to answer any questions we had over the exam. He didn’t show, so I spent that time studying. For the second class, he had told us last Wednesday that he’d bring pictures to class that we would use for our final paper. He didn’t bring them, but he gave us a little more detail for the paper than “write a paper.” I do like the guy, he’s really kind, I just don’t think he makes a good professor (although I may feel differently if I actually spoke Spanish). That afternoon I went to mi madre's sister's house and we made tiramisu.
Tuesday I spent studying.
Wednesday I went to class for the exam at 9. The professor showed up twenty minutes late and then looked worried when he found out that the students had a class at 11, as it was going to be a long exam. Part of the test involved reading a text and analyzing it. It was in español antiguo (Old Spanish), so that was interesting. When I got to a word that I didn’t understand, I had to wonder if it was just a Spanish word that I didn’t know, or a Spanish word that I did know but couldn’t understand because of the different spelling or usage in Old Spanish.
Thursday I worked on my final paper all day, and would have finished if I hadn’t then decided to redo one third of it. I finished Friday, which means the rest of my time in Mexico is free time! The paper isn’t due until June 14th, making this the second paper in my life (ok, maybe my highschool/college life) that I have finished more than a day ahead of time.
Friday I met up with Ricardo, the guy who used to live here, for crepes in el centro. It was the first time I had seen him since March, so we had a nice time catching up. Then I met up with three of the Hope girls, and we went to Laurel’s house to make brownies. We couldn’t figure out how to light the oven though, so we ended up eating brownie batter…not that that’s a bad thing.
Saturday Kelsey, Laurel, and I went to the National Wine and Cheese Fair in Tequisquiapan, about an hour from Querétaro. We saw the main plaza, walked through the markets, and were on to the Fair, which was really crowded. It was a big tent with different stands. Most sold bottles of wine and/or cheese, but there were some with mixed wine drinks too. I had a flotante, which is basically a root beer float, except with white wine instead of root beer and orange nieve instead of ice cream. (Nieve is kind of like a slushie.) I’m not a huge fan of wine, but when you mix it with something sweet…it was delicious. We met up with some other kids from la UAQ and hung out for a bit before heading back to Querétaro.

Sunday we went to Parque Bicentenario (Bicentennial Park), which is like a smaller Michigan’s Adventure, just outside of Querétaro. It was the third annual Festival of Foreign Communities. There was a huge tent with stands from many different countries. Most of the stands had food, and at the end of the tent, there was a stage where they would have performances of different countries. We saw Venezuelan dancing, Irish dancing, Arabic dancing, Martial Arts, and Flamenco dancing.
Venezuelan dancing:

Belly Dance:

Flamenco:

It was really well organized. It started raining really hard at one point, so EVERYONE crowded underneath the tents. There are also a few rides, but by the time we got around to wanting to ride them, they were closing down. Oh well. We went downtown and hung out for a bit before going back home.
Pictures:
random other pics I've taken in Qro:
Querétaro
from the Wine/Cheese fair:
Tequis
a few randoms and the Foreign Communities festival:
Querétaro