Cholula Vist and Day 3!

So it is day three! Today was really cool, and the start of the real stuff. Last night, we went out to eat and to hang out in the hot spots where the kids hang out at UDLA in cholula, the town right next to puebla, all of which is within walking distance. We met up witha lot of people from our trip and it was our first night out together. It was a lot of fun, it stays warm all night, and it was just a great time being on our own here. More importantly, today was our first day of classes. We walked there on our own this morning, and got there at 8:30. The school itsef is extremely luxurious. There are tvs and smart board type things in every room, and the rooms have glass walls which make it really nice and outdoorsey. There´s palm trees and fountains everywhere, its like an oasis. Another cool fact, theres a giant active volcano that overshadows the town. It´s like a lone mountain. It´s so tall that there´s snow at the peak and smoke rises from it all day. My classes were really good, my teacher is a spanish speaker, but she is very good at helping us undertsnand not only spanish culture, but the language. Its going to be difficult, but ive already learned so much Spanish outside the class im not even worried about it. My second class, the culture class we learned about Oaxaca (where we are leaving for our excursion tomorrow) and the Indiands of the region, and the early history. And it was atcually really interesting. This part of mexico has a really interesting combination of Native American and spanish culture. After classes, we went to Cholula, the town adjascent to UDLA and Puebla (within walking distance) and toured an old Indian pyramid which overlooks downtown cholula where we went the first night. The pyramid is in ruins now, and only parts resemble a pyramid, but it is so tall that you can see the cathedral built on top of it from everywhere in the city. It looks like a mountain to the naked eye. We went to a museum that explained the four layers of the pyramid, and then not only did we climb it, we got to go inside it in the tunnels they used to excavate it. Some of them I barely fit throught hey were so small, and we could actually see the different buildings inside it. We were deep in the heart of the mountain. Then we got to climb up and we got an amazing view of the surrounding towns. Then we went to a local cultural shopping center/market. After spending abou an hour there we came back. We walked home (it was like 75 today and will be 85 in oaxaca!) and now im waiting to eat dinner! The classes were great and amazingly interesting. They went by really fast even though they were 2 hours a-piece. I´m having a great time and will keep you updated.

Adios!
--Nick