Halfway to EDC

Took another trip to the capital this weekend for Halfway to EDC! I love going to Mexico City, especially La Condesa. There’s so much diversity for one neighborhood and it’s just so cute! I feel so independent taking public transportation. I even knew where to go this time! I headed over to Julie and Anna’s apartment on Friday. Julie and I went for a walk around La Condesa and got fro-yo. Oh how I’ve missed fro-yo! Then Anna joined us and we got our butts kicked by a Crossfit class. It was in the garage of an apartment and the class fee included a protein shake. The moves weren’t even that difficult but I was sore for a good 5 days after. After our workout, we treated ourselves to sushi. And when I say treated, I mean TREATED. A roll of sushi was about $20USD. It was delicious though, and I would have expected nothing less! By the end of the night we were in a night club where there were about 7 dance circles with middle-aged people getting there groove on to 80s music. It was quite the sight. Then we somehow got into one of the best club in Mexico City by acting like we were non-Spanish speaking friends of a blogger from New York. I still don’t know how they believed us.

Saturday was the big day! We prepped by taking the subway system to the mall to see what we needed for the concert. The mall was a no-go so we headed over to some shops by the zócalo and low and behold, Forever 21 pulled though! We had the most delicious and largest tortas on the way home. Then we went to Halfway to EDC! Mexico wasn’t quite ready for EDC. There were no bejeweled bras or furry boots. We looked pretty crazy in our floral crowns and floral-print tops. There were strangers asking to take pictures with us. The awesome thing about EDC events is that they have music AND rides. For free. They even had an adult-size teeter-totter. One side of the event was for 20 and under and the other side was for 21+. The music was awesome. I even got to go to the VIP. Each table had their own server and bottle service. After the show, we used the same line to get into the same club as Friday night. The music was even better at the club Saturday night! I was surprised at the amount of English speakers. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was a sleep recovery day. When we woke up, we had Domino’s pizza for breakfast. That was a first. Then I headed back to good old Toluca. But not before I bought my tickets to the REAL EDC in February!

A Trip to the Capital

I had a huge weekend in the capital! My roommate Jess and I took a bus to Mexico City on Friday morning. We live about 4 blocks from the bus station which is really convenient. The bus ride took about an hour and 20 minutes. Then I took two trains and walked 25 blocks to get to immigration. But thankfully all went well there and I was able to get my student visa! I feel bad for whoever has to look at my mug shot on the card when I flash that puppy. After immigration, I met up with Jess in Bosque de Chapultepec where we walked around for a while. It’s this huge public park with a handful of museums and monuments. Then we walked to a restuarant with comida corrida. This is a phrase for a full meal. I got fruit water, soup, rice, sopes, and flan for the grand price of $35 pesos ($2.50USD).

I headed over to Condesa (what Lincoln Park is to Chicago) to stay at an apartment of some fellow Fulbrighters (Julie and Anna) for the weekend. The neighborhood is adorable: restaurants, salons, bars, yoga studios. It’s very quaint. We decided to cook dinner so we went to the grocery store (a mere 3 blocks away) and got ingredients for chiles en nogada. It was my first time making the recipe from scratch and it turned out great! We had pan dulce and the most delicious chocolate ice cream for dessert while we chatted about the Fulbright program and future plans. It was very motivating!

Julie and I started our Saturday with a yoga class. We did moves that I didn’t even know were associated with yoga. After we had some delicious omelets, we headed over to Bosque de Chapultepec to check out the Museum of Modern Art. On our way there we stumbled upon a little fair. It had samples of juice, chocolate, tequila, salsa, honey, and more! We satisfied our craving for sweets with gluten free chocolate cookies. At the museum, we got in for free with our student visa cards! They had exhibits about architecture, influential paintings, art critiques and many more. My favorite was the old propaganda that had on display about the Olympics. After the museum we walked around Bosque de Chapultepec and got tatted. We went out to dinner at a cute restaurant down the block from the apartment. We ended the day with a movie in Spanish on good ‘ol Netflix. At night we met up with more Fulbrighters at a pulquería. Pulque is an alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant. It had 4 levels with 2 dance floors and a terrace on top, which we enjoyed. The night ended with tacos, a sign of a successful night out here in México.

On Sunday I was able to find a beautiful church for mass about 10 minutes walking from the apartment. In the afternoon, Julie, Anna, and I took the bus to the mall. The mall not only had stores, but an ice rink, movie theater, and grocery store. Needless to say, the place was massive. We spent a good chunk of the day there. I got a later start home than I should have. It was already dark out when I was walking to the train station. I had some troubles figuring out where I needed to be but two kind souls helped me out. On the train, a man asked me the time, which I knew was a trick from living in Chicago. People who ask that just want to see/steal your watch or phone so I told him I didn’t have the time. When I got off the train I stuck with the people who helped me get to the right train. They walked me to the counter of the bus company I was taking back to Toluca. Then the lady behind the counter said I couldn’t use my American credit card for my ticket and that I couldn’t exchange my US dollars. I had run out of pesos (because we have yet to get paid). The couple paid for my ticket and wouldn’t accept my American money as reimbursement. So we became Facebook friends and I’m hoping to see them when I go to their home state next month!