Estamos contigo

Hace 10 días. It´s been 10 days.

Two weeks ago I was assigned a project in my intercultural communication class to do a compartive presentation of funeral ceremonies in the world. I emailed some friends around the world for research help.

One friend responded that when a person dies in the Pedi culture (in NE South Africa) they mourn 3-10 days depending on who it was that died. Oddly enough, a tradgedy occured just hours after he sent me the email.

It´s been 10 days. I wonder who´s still mourning.

For the first few days I didn´t do too much mourning. I couldn´t. It was parcials week last week and school here hadn´t stopped. My emotions were so mixed. They still are.

This past Friday, the prefectos gathered everyone on campus where all the international flags onced waved in front of CIAP, but now all were gone. All flags were off their poles except for 3: the Mexican flag, the Tec de Monterrey flag, and the US. The latter 2 hung at half-mast in honor, while the Mexican flag waved high for hope.

The sign below read: En Memoria de los alumnos y profesores de Virginia Tech Fallecidos en 16 Abril de 2007. In memory of the students and proffessors of Virginia Tech who died April 16, 2007.

I dedicate this entry to Ryan, a great and loved prefecto.

¿Que Que Que? ¡Querètero!

Feburary 17-19 we took a roadtrip to Querétero, one of the most lovely historical places in the center of México about 2 hours away from D.F.

About 40 of us (10ish prefectos and 30ish residents) took a 12 hour bus ride down through the desert, mountains, and (yes) cactus of Méxcio to the Tec campus in Querétero for a Campus Conference.

We got there late night Friday night and were welcomed by a bondfire and Carne Asada to icebreak and welcome all the campuses that were arriving from Puebla, León, Monterrey, Quereterro, and some others.


Then, even though it was about 1am by this time, the prefectos there (which were literally 4 for the entire campus!) showed us around their residencias and campus. They only have 1 residence hall with 3ooish people, but nevertheless a beautiful place.

It´s 4 floors tall. Two floors are boys and two floors are girls. Just like in Monterrey, the female/male rules apply. Prefectas still have to take role at 11pm. However, if someone´s not in residencias they have to look all over campus until they find them...sometimes this can take until the wee hours of the week nights!).



Also, boys and girls are not allowed on each other´s floors, but they can cook together in the kitchen. They have 1 big kitchen that everyone can use. Probably the most adorable part are the lockers that they have in the kitchen. On one side of the kitchen are the appliances and tables. On the other side are these rows of lockers.

There´s one locker for every resident. And although there is a cafeteria on campus, most residents still cook often: even the male residents.

So after the tour, we headed to bed in the host residencias to prepare for Saturday.


The next morning we were up early for the sporting competitions. That, afterall, was one of the main reasons we came together. Each campus had fútbol championships on their campuses at the beginning of the semester. Now was a time for each of the campus winners to play each other for the champion of all of Tec in México!

The guys team from Monterrey played great, but saddly still lost. However, the girls team from Monterrey (of whom invited me to be their goalie :)) were able to play great and won!


During the fútbol championships, there were also table tenis tournaments and pool table championships going on at the same time inside the lobby of the residencias.

Monterrey, again, did pretty good. We walked away with a few winners, but everyone walked away with a smile on their face. Although Mexicans can be very competitive during sports, this somehow turned out to be a great way of integrating campuses and building friendships between different areas of Mexico.



After the championships ended that night, the Querétero campus took everyone out to do what Mexicans love to do best...eating and dancing! First they took us downtown to taste the Enchilladas of México (truely the best) then they brought us out to dance. Here´s a pic with all my roomies from the weekend: Moni, Tatis, and Coni. They are three of my co-workers and local heros of the Monterrey area.

The next morning we got up early for a tour of colonial Querétero. It reminded me a lot like it could be the Williamsburg of Mexico. There were indigenous people colorfully dressed, Arabic-Spanish architechture, and the best extensive 18th century Aqueduct...truely incredible!.



Seeing the acqueducto was almost as incredible as the entire weekend of getting to know another campus and getting to know others from our own campus. With 12 hour bus ride there and back, I can´t imagine a much better community builder.

People sleep, people eat, people talk, and people get a chance to develop a community outside the residence hall (and even campus) to build a stronger community in the hall and on the campus.

This is one idea I would love to bring back to VT.