hello everyone,
it’s been about over a month since i’ve been writing and a lot of things has happened.
first off, i was able to study abroad to la paz, mexico during my winter intercession. it was absolutely fantastic, and i made a ton of great friends. all of which i’ll be meeting this friday again to make tamales since i found baby jesus in the rosca.
day 1:
the main point of the study abroad was to immerse the students of Cal State Fullerton into La Paz, Mexico. by doing so, it would teach us about the culture that Mexico has to offer. so here we were, 25 complete strangers all meeting together to embark on a journey of a lifetime.
day 2:
we took a tour of Mural City and viewed most of the artwork. all of the murals have a meaning and a story behind each piece of art. most of them are about the city’s culture and how they incorporate historical events. other parts of art portrayed essential figures in society.
an example of this art is the image to the left. as you can see, there is a real man who is mostly holding hands with the lady in blue. from an outside perspective, this doesn’t entirely make sense, but the image is meant to show how the people of the land works along with the sea. it also indicates harmony and that by working together, a city emerges from nothing and will one day represent la Paz. 
the next photo is of a woman with her piano and a painted heart. this woman is actually a significant figure in Mexico. she was a self-made pianist who performed for many people. the triangle in the middle represented her idea of equality and love for music and her country.
as for the last mural, it is an image of a whale with a bunch of faces and hands. the color is meant to display la Paz’s vibrancy, and the faces are the people. it shows how the vitality and people are there to help protect the whale sharks from extinction in La Paz. personally, this was my favorite mural. ❤
we even stopped by the local market and got to view all of the little stores and shops. we also got to see the governor’s house and the beautiful cathedral.
afterward, we visited NOS headquarters and met the local community. they told us their mission statement and their environmental projects. most of which was to help restore extinct animals and repopulate the bay. we then rode around the bay on fisherman boats and got to see the bay in person. the fisherman then introduced themselves and talked about how their work was really improving the environment.
after the boat ride, we returned back to the NOS headquarters and learned about the local community. we got to meet the kids and play icebreaker games with them. once the introductions were made, we sat down, and they explained how their community was a RED ZONE. (red zones environments indicate high activity of violence, drugs, cartels, gangs, and kidnappings) due to that reason, they needed our help to restore a soccer field and rebuild their community. we agreed as a group and we ended the meeting. from there, we ran outside and played an exhilarating game of futball and lost terribly. still, it was entertaining and no doubt a great day.
to be continued…
las bandas 