pyramid-climbing at teotihuacan and tula over the weekend was a success. by weekend´s end, somewhere between 5 and 8 pyramids were climbed (do the small ones count? i´m not sure...) and my thighs are not quite sure whether to thank me or eat themselves. the stairs on the pyramid of the sun (and the pyramid of the moon, for that matter) were higher than my knees, which made climbing into quite the workout! the views from the tops were lovely (as always) and i´m STILL attempting to find a website that will let me upload my pictures (other than facebook, which is the only place i managed to get a few up). stay tuned...

i also paid a visit to a church called san francisco javier and it was almost completely covered in gold inside. then i visited a convent / museum that had a huge exhibit about crowned nuns (they dressed like queens!) and mel and i decided to maybe become nuns, as long as they let us dress like queen elizabeth I...

in other news, i´ve discovered a fair trade coffee shop, a tetera (tea room), and a lebanese restaurant near campus. all places i´d like to visit this week!

all this pyramid climbing is making me crave an indiana jones movie night. also, i believe that the next two places on my travel itinerary will have to be egypt and peru, as i might be on a slight pyramid / ancient ruins high...

next week i´m going to start volunteering at an orphanage in puebla. i´m a little nervous (because i´m intimidated by kids who can speak better spanish than me!), but really excited. the trip to the orphanage includes 2 busses and some crossing of very busy streets - all of which i´ll have to do alone. after this semester, i´m pretty sure that navigating cincinnati´s metro system will be a piece of cake.

the homework level is increasing slightly, but is nothing like valpo last semester. thank god!

tomorrow is one of my roommate´s birthdays and we´re all going out to a restaurant that gives you tons of free food when you order a couple of pitchers of beer (i´m afraid my german / irish ancestry is finally becoming evident) and then to a hookah bar. by the way, i adore my roommates!

all is well and i´m not sunburned yet, so that´s good. still not drinking the water and still no aztec two-stepping... also good. i hope everyone´s enjoying the snow that seems to be falling everywhere in the states!