Los Ultimos Dias

After returning from two weeks on the Ruta Maya with the other exchange students, it was Christmas time! I had Christmas with my first host family, the Herrera's in Mexico City. I had just come back from the Ruta Maya and managed to get really sick from the change in altitude (Mexico City is 2 250m above sea level) and the cold weather. We arrived two days before Christmas and spent time shopping and walking around the markets where we went in March for my first trip with the family. It was really special and to make it even more memorable we had dinner at Bellini, the world's largest revolving restaurant which is on the 45th floor of Mexico City's World Trade Centre.

I wasn't expecting a hot Christmas like in Australia but I wasn't expecting it to be 2 degrees either, considering that I got sun burnt the week before. All the travelling and sickness caught up with me on Christmas Eve at the family gathering. We all got together with Mamá's side of the family to celebrate and eat together. We arrived at about 9pm, ate at about 11:30pm and I ended up asleep on the couch at about 2:30am. On Christmas day after about five hours of sleep, we talked to Dany (my sister from my first family) who was celebrating Christmas on her exchange in France and then we drove back to Veracruz. I instantly started to feel better when we got back because the air was easier to breath and my head didn't feel like it was in the clouds.

New Years Eve celebrations went by soon after. I spent New Years Eve with my second host family and family friends in Veracruz. I was in the generation between the parents and the kids so there was no one my age there but I still had fun learning about the traditions for the celebration of New Years in Mexico. Like any good celebration, we had a feast and sat down together to enjoy it. A typical Mexican game especially for New Years and birthdays is the piñata. The lolly filled, paper mache sphere was decorated in crate paper frills and cones which were used to collect the lollies that we scrambled for when the piñata was smashed to pieces. From youngest to oldest, we took turns in taking a swing at the piñata until holes appeared for the lollies to fall out.

The piñata

Another tradition is to light paper lanterns for good luck. Only three of the five that we lit floated away. One of the other two caught fire while still on the ground and the other started to fly away but the wind caught it making it crash back down to the ground.

A paper lantern being lit

A tradition that I hadn't heard about before which we all did that night was eating twelve grapes at midnight. The twelve grapes symbolize the twelve months of the years and as you eat each grape, you make a wish. I can't remember everything I wished for but I know that at least four of those wishes have come true in the past couple of months.

My last couple of weeks in Mexico flew by and I was back on the plane before I knew it. The farewells were hard but it was made a lot easier knowing that I had booked a return ticket for six months later as a Christmas present for myself. I spent a lot of time with the other exchange students in my final days, knowing that some of them would have already left by the time I got back. They were my biggest support because it felt like everything that I had built up in the 12 months leading up to my departure was about to disappear. The friendships I had made, family that I had become so close to and a city that I came to love are all going to still be a part of me but leaving it at that time felt like the end of the world. I know it sounds dramatic but any exchange student knows that getting on the plane to go back is that part that is dreaded. But we never say 'goodbye' it is always 'see you later.'