La Estudiantina

Friday night most of our group got to enjoy the entertainment of one of the “Estudiantinas” of Guanajuato. To start with, I guess I short explain what an estudiantina is. One guide site describes the estudiantinas like this:

Guanajuato's evening "estudiantinas" - also known as "callejoneadas - comprise what is undeniably one of the city's most enjoyable traditions. On weekend evenings around 8:00pm, head down to the Church of San Diego, right off the central Jardín de la Unión, where the estudiantinas get things started. During festivals, you can expect the music and merriment each day.

The tradition, said to have originated in Spain, features a group of light-hearted professional musicians and singers dressed to the nines in traditional garb. Once a good-sized crowd has gathered, the whole mob - led by the musicians - snakes through the winding alleyways of the city to the sounds of singing and playing. Between songs, they tell stories and jokes to entertain the crowd and keep them entertained.

I would say that this is a pretty accurate description of my experience with the estudiantina. Sometimes they include wine and other alcohol, but since we were going as an official group with the director there was, of course, no alcohol.

The group met up at the stairs in front of the Teatro Juarez where we waited for the event to start. The director of our program hired this particular estudiantina just for our group. Which may or may not have been a good thing. It was nice that we could see without any problem but, on the other hand, we didn’t know any of the songs so we didn’t participate very much with the singing or anything.

A bunch of students waiting

Me waiting for the festivities to start

Once we were all there and ready, the estudiantina began. They started by singing to us there in front of Teatro Juarez.

Then we were off and walking. Through the callejones of the city.

As you can see, we covered a decent distance in our travels through the little alleys (callejones). The whole time they were singing and telling jokes. Even did a little bit of dancing too. It was a rather amusing experience all around. I even got a couple of pictures with the members of the estudiantina afterwards!

Lo siento!!

I'm so sorry everyone! I've apparently gotten rather lazy about my blogging this week. I guess it's mostly that not a lot of super interesting things have happened thus far. I'll try to write a quick little update here though to hold you guys over until something more interesting happens!

The week started off on a pretty rough note. I was terribly, horribly homesick Monday. To the point that I started crying for basically no reason while I was sitting in my room at the house. Looking back it seems rather pathetic....but I was just feeling super lonely and out of place. I obviously don't fit in with the Mexican culture and that was rather expected...but I realized that I didn't fit in well with the American students either and that's when the loneliness really hit hard. I wanted nothing more than to go back home on Monday. I called poor Nathan sobbing and complaining and he was very, very understanding.

I sucked it up on Tuesday and it turned out to be a MUCH better day. Classes were fine and I even went out and did something that night. One of the girls from MSU invited me to go to the market with her and some of her friends...so we walked around and did a little shopping. Then a group of about 10-15 students went out for coffee and then to see a play at one of the theaters. I can't really say that the play was exceptionally good...but it wasn't bad and it was nice to go out with the group. I don't really think that I'll ever quite "fit" with them...I'm not really a social butterfly and I never have been. I don't drink anymore, so that pretty much puts the bar scene (which is what most of them do in the evenings) out of the picture. I don't dance or go to the gym...so that gets rid of those sorts of activities. I'm basically stuck with a lot of nothing to do...but as long as I manage to get out of the house a couple of times in a week I think I can stick it out for the next 6 and a half weeks. The absolute best thing about Tuesday, however, wasn't going out...it was getting INTERNET!! That's right, we have wireless internet in the house now!! Miracle of miracles!!! I can keep in contact with my family and friends from home via skype, facebook, and e-mail. That has really made all the difference in these last few days!

The group (minus me) that had coffee together

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much just standard, regular days. Nothing at all of import happened on Wednesday, just went to classes and then back to the house to spend time with the family, read, and catch up online. Thursday my roommate and I went shopping for our host mom's birthday which is June 26 (Saturday) which is rather coincidentally also my mother's birthday! Rather interesting little coincidence in my opinion. Other than that I read for awhile and was on the computer. Obviously there were meals and time spent with the family included in there (I played pictionary with the kids).

Friday (today) we went to the museum "Alhondiga de graniditas" with the whole group here in Guanajuato. It is a location of importance in the history of Mexican independence. Basically where the independence movement got it's start. There are some very beautiful murals there by a Mexican artist José Chávez Morado. There are also prehispanic artifacts as well as rooms dedicated to Mexican Independence and colonial life. Tonight we also have plans to go follow the "estudiantina" which is a group of people who go around the town singing and acting out legends of the city. It should be interesting. This weekend we have plans to go to San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful city near here. We will be staying overnight on Saturday...so I'm sure that I'll have a more interesting blog to write once we get back!

Me in front of the top of the mural

To give you an idea of the size of the mural

Visita al rancho

Yesterday we went to visit the ranch that our ‘father’ owns. I think it’s really more of a farm than a ranch, but they call it the “rancho.” The farm is located near the small city of Dolores Hidalgo, which is about 45 minutes from Guanajuato. We woke up early on a Saturday so that we could spend the whole day there. We all ate breakfast together at 8 a.m. and left the house by 8:40. All seven of us piled into the car that only seats 5. Alfredo drove, Dean sat in the front passenger seat, Jessica sat on the driver’s side of the backseat with Alejandra on her lap, I sat in the middle of the backseat, and Edith sat in the passenger’s side of the backseat with Fernando on her lap. With that many people in a car, seatbelts are obviously out the window.

The morning started off rather chilly and gloomy. Most of our drive through the mountains was in the fog. Perhaps it was more like clouds than fog since we were in the mountains after all. It was eerily pretty in the way that only fog can be. However, there wasn’t very much of a view through all the fog. So it turned out to be a rather long ride there. We did play a word game in the car….to help us with our vocabulary I guess (as well as pass the time). It was rather difficult, but provided a good distraction.

View from the window when it wasn't too foggy

It was still rather chilly when we got there…but t as bad. I’m trying to reinforce this idea that it was a cold cloudy start to the day, so there was a reason why I didn’t wear sunscreen. Anyways, we got a tour of the farm. For the most part, they grow alfalfa which they sell as feed for animals. During the appropriate times of year they also grow beans (‘frijoles’).

A field of recently cut alfalfa

They also have a random assortment of animals including dogs, sheep, horses, donkeys, and chickens.

Sheep

The kids feeding the sheep alfalfa

Dean and the dogs 

The donkeys

Petting one of the horses

After looking at all the animals, we went for a walk to see the various cacti in the area. It was interesting to see vegetation so different from what I’m used to in Michigan. Of course right after talking about the various poisonous snakes and tarantulas that were in the area both Jessie and I had to use the restroom and, go figure, there was no restroom. It was a rather frightening few minutes off the main path there…haha. The whole area is very appealing visually with the cacti and the mountains in the background.

Me and some pretty plant

Cactus

After we returned, it was time to ride the horses; or to be more exact, be led around while sitting on a horse. It was actually pretty fun and the view was even more fabulous from horseback. I was rather glad that I didn’t have to do the riding on my own…I don’t think that I remember the first thing about how to control a horse’s movements. With my swollen ankle (not sure if I wrote about this in the blog, but I twisted my ankle and it became swollen) I had to use a chair to help me get onto the horse’s back…but I managed alright.

Me on the horse

Me being led around on the horse

After the horse rides, we were done visiting the ranch and drove to visit the main plaza in the city of Dolores. There we ate ‘nieves’ which is something in between a snow cone and ice cream if I had to describe it. They had a million flavors that we tried, everything from ‘cerveza’ (beer) to more traditional fruit flavors. I had pistachio and some other type of nut flavored ‘nieves.’ It was rather appetizing as the day had gotten significantly warmer. In the main plaza was a beautiful Catholic church, a statue of Miguel Hidalgo, and a tree with a statue of Cortez crying under it representing the “night of tears,” or  something like that when Cortez cried underneath a tree after defeat in battle. We walked around for awhile and took in the sites of the main plaza.

Me in front of the statue of Miguel Hidalgo...and Alejandra too...she kind of got in the picture

The main church in Dolores Hidalgo

Me

Then we were off again, this time on our way home…but with plans to stop along the way for a picnic lunch. We stopped at a little campsite where we ate sandwiches for lunch. It was at this point in time when I realized that I had gotten well and truly sunburned. My face (again), my arms, and what was showing of my chest above my scoop neck shirt. Ouch!! I really regret not putting on sunscreen this morning…but how was I to know it would get sunny. It rained all day yesterday and the morning started just as dreary. Oh my….I think I’ve learned my lesson!

The family eating our picnic lunch

Perhaps a little hard to tell here, but there's my sunburn!

Anyways, we had a rather busy day as you can see. It was going, going, going non-stop from 8 this morning until around 7 when we got home. It was nice to get out of Guanajuato and see new things and experience new things…but it was definitely another exhausting day piled onto the rest. I don’t think that these people ever stop going. Life is so much more active here than in the United States…but I suppose that’s a good thing when you think about it. I’m just not sure that I was entirely prepared

Classes

So far my classes seem like they’re going to be ok. I am taking Contemporary Politics and Society of Mexico and History of Mexico. They both seem like they are going to be very interesting. I am apparently one of very few people interested in these topics since my Politics class has 6 people in it and my history class has only 4 students enrolled. I am not exactly sure why so few students are enrolled in the courses…but I think it’ll probably be more beneficial in the long run. We will be able to participate more in class and get more individualized and personalized courses. On the other hand, it also means that the professors will notice me…which I’m not sure is a good thing. I am feeling very unsure of my Spanish since I’ve been here. I feel rather awkward when I speak and although I know that I (at least normally) get my point across…I know that I am making a lot of errors in regards to conjugations and gender agreement. It’s just so hard to think about these things when you are also trying to think about which words to use, what order to use them, how they are supposed to be pronounced, and every single other little aspect of what constitutes forming a sentence. I feel like I get all flustered and tongue tied when I am trying to talk a lot of the time. I know that I am not the worst speaker out of our group…but there are definitely kids who speak way, way, way better than me. Hopefully, I really will come out of this speaking better Spanish than when I went in. I know that I will probably never be “fluent” in Spanish and tha I’ll never sound like a native speaker…but I really hope that I come out of this significantly improved. Otherwise, I’m not sure what the point of all of this was.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand…classes. We’ll start with my politics class. I think that this is going to be the harder of my two courses. We have to write 2 five page responses and an 8 page final paper as well as do a 20 minute exposition on one of our lectures. That’s an awful lot of work for only 8 weeks’ worth of classes. However, it is a topic that I am genuinely interested in. Politics in Mexico are an interesting thing. We are covering contemporary politics, so everything from the mid to late 1930s until the present. This seems like a fantastic idea and like it will help a lot to understand relations between the US and Mexico as well as current issues such as immigration. Hopefully the knowledge gained will be worth the work…if nothing else it will force me to work hard while I’m here and stay focused on things other than being homesick and how utterly out of place I feel both in terms of being in Mexico and how out of place I am in the group of American students…I’m really just not a typical American student. I don’t want to go out drinking or dancing at the bars. In fact I hate drinking and I feel utterly embarrassed when “dancing” (in quotations because what I am capable of doing hardly counts as dancing, lol). I’m hoping to drown myself in my work to forget about how awkward I am…haha.

My other class is History of Mexico. I think that this class should be all around interesting. It is covering an extensive length of time and will move at a rather rapid pace.  We have significantly less homework in that class. Only one final paper of around 7 pages and one presentation on the same topic as our final paper. It seems much better than the politics class and I think that I like the professor better. He’s very passionate about his area of expertise. The only complaint that I have is that he’s hard to hear. He talks very softly and has a low voice. Other than that, I think that History will be my preferred class.

Here are some photos that took of the courtyard outside of our classrooms. It’s the place where we hang out between classes.

Day 2

Three days have already gone by! Que loco!! It already feels like time is moving in a blur. I am so busy all of the time that it’s practically impossible to keep up with the blog…but I promise that I am trying my hardest!

The second day in Mexico was the day of our “academic orientation.” We didn’t have class, but we had to be at the school from 9am to 1:30. We sat in the “auditorio” (auditorium) where they talked to us about rules, host families, safety, health issues, planned activities, and of course academics. All of the professors were introduced to us and they described their classes. Then we officially signed up for the classes that we are going to take here in Guanajuato. I am going to take “Contemporary Mexican Politics and Society” as well as “History of Mexcio.” I think that they will complement each other rather well and I’m hoping that it will turn out to be a good schedule. I will have class from 10:00 until 12:15 Monday through Thursday with ony one class a day. I think that this will make it easier to prepare for class each day with only to worry about. At the end of our orientation they took us on a little tour around “el centro” of Guanajuato. We saw “el Teatro Juarez” which is a large theater with fantastic architecture, the main cathedral, and “el jardin de la union” which is the main plaza in Guanajuato.

The top of "Teatro Juarez"

The steps up to the main building of the university

A little plaza in downtown Guanajuato

After that we came home and ate our late lunch (the second meal of the day in Mexico is eaten in the afternoon around 2 or 3 pm). I honestly can’t remember what we ate…I think it was chicken soup and tortillas with “nopales” cactus and avocado on the side, but I just can’t be sure. Already all of the meals are blending together. Then my roommate Jessica and I went back to “el centro” to visit with some of our classmates. We pretty much all just sat on the steps in front of the “Teatro Juarez” and chatted about anything and everything. Then it was time to walk back to the house…again.

The main cathedral in Guanajuato

I don’t think that I have described the absolutely horrific path that we have to take to get home. It is a decent sized “callejon” (which I guess translates to alley, although there are more callejones in Guanajuato than there are real streets, so it is very common to travel on these alleys) that is the steepest pathway ofany sort that I’ve ever seen in a city. Honestly it feels like I’m going for a hike in the middle of the city. I knew that we would have to walk a lot…but I was completely unprepared for the intensity of said walking. The first time that we took this path home was after orientation when our “mom” showed us how to get back to the house from “el centro.” Wow…at 1:30 when the heat is at its peak and you have a backpack on….goodness. I think I learned a lot about myself and what I was capable of. I am not normally one to exercise really at all and I’m definitely out of shape…so when we made it to the top (after stopping 3 times) I was so proud of myself. Then Jess and I went up the path again a second time that day. It was actually a little better the second time because it wasn’t as hot and we didn’t have backpacks on…but it was definitely still more than I would have willingly attempted before coming here. They say that in four or five days that we’ll be used to it…but I’m really not at all sure that that’s the truth. Hopefully by the end of the 2 months I’ll be used to it. Everytime I make it to our room and flop on the bed (which is up 2 flights of stairs after that climb(!) I definitely feel like I accomplished a miracle. Haha…I’m sure it seems like I’m exaggerating and I don’t think that photos can show really well just how steep it is or how far it is since it’s not straight the whole way up…but I’m serious when I say that it’s the steepest climb I ever hope to make!

So…back to Day 2 after my lovely litle rant about the walk home. We ate dinner after getting back (taquitos!) and then it was time to start getting ready for bed. I haven’t gone to bed this early in years…but after long days like this it’s impossible not to be utterly exhausted at the end of the day! I did forget one little aspect about my day that might provide interesting. Jess and I played Jenga with the kids. It was lots of fun especially since the blocks were different colors and there was a die that you rolled that told you which color block you have to pull. The kids really are great!

The Day Before Leaving

I’m going to go back a couple of days for this blog post to the day before leaving for Mexico. Obviously I was ridiculously nervous and had a million different thngs to do.

All of the things that I needed to pack...minus the cat of course

The day started off with a slight inconvenience. Nathan had asked for the day off of work (they are working on a big project at work and have been working lots of weekends ) and they granted it to him. However, things didn’t go as planned the day before and they needed him to go into work for a couple of hours in the morning. Apparently, things didn’t go as planned once again so he had to stay a few hours later than originally anticipated. It wasn’t a huge deal, we are rather used to his work not going quite as planned…but to be frank, it still sucked.

I went out to lunch with my friend Lantz who I don’t see very often. It was his only day off in the week before I left, so it was then or never. We went to Applebees and I had a rather delicious steak with cracked pepper and asiago cheese on top. After that little break it was back home to finish packing and all the other last minute details that hadn’t been accomplished.

I knew that Nathan was going to cook me a dinner that night…but I didn’t really realize the lengths that he planned to go to in order to make it special and memorable. I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen or dining room while he was preparing everything which wasn’t really that big of a deal since I still had so much that needed to be done! However, when I finally was allowed to go into the dining room I was met with a wonderful surprise. Nathan had sprinkled rose petals over half of the dining room table, placed 4 or so roses in a vase, and had the most appetizing tray of fruits set out for me. If you know me, you know that I love fruit. They were all berries too! We had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberrys plus a chocolate dip and a cream cheese dip for added flavor. He also had my ring box on the table since it was time for me to switch my regular engagement ring with the diamond on it for one that would draw less attention in Mexico (it is a lovely white gold band that is engraved with “N&H Forever”).

Pictures from our good-bye dinner

He cooked my favorite meal that he makes. Grilled chicken with baby red potatoes and mushrooms. It is absolutely fantastic the way that he prepares it. I’m definitely marrying a good chef! We enjoyed a fantastic, romantic dinner together and I can’t express how grateful I am to have such a loving and romantic fiance. It is the type of thing that you see in the movies but never expect to happen to you. It definitely made me feel a little better about leaving. I know that he’ll be there waiting and ready to move forward with wedding plans when I get back.

1st Day in Mexico

What an exhausting experience so far!! Yesterday was perhaps one of the longest days of my life (although not too bad overall). I had to wake up at 2:30 am to leave for the airport by 3 am. That’s right!! 2:30 in the morning…not a whole lot later than when I normally wake up!!! Not to mention there was a distinct lack of sleep during the time that I was actually trying to sleep. I was excessively nervous the night before…butterflies in my stomach, tossing and turning. A generous estimate of the amount of sleep that I actually got is probably around 2 and a half hours or so. Yet somehow I managed to survive until we went to bed at 10 (central time…so 11 eastern). Nathan took me to the airport in Detroit (about an hour and a half drive from where we live) and stayed with me until I got in line for security. It was the most depressing part of my day….saying goodbye to him was heartbreaking. But I know that we’ll make it through this distance and be stronger for it. I’m sure that there will be many days ahead when thoughts of marrying him and our future together are all that keep me going in this foreign environment.

The first plane ride was rather boring to be honest. I had a window seat and both of the girls in my row were younger (although quiet). I tried my hardest to sleep…but I just couln’t get comfortable (you were right Nathan!! I needed one of those neck pillows!). After a rather uneventful 2 hour and 40 minute flight I arrived in Dallas. I don’t know what I was expecting…but the enormity of the Dallas airport was a little overwhelming. I had to take a sky train thingy to gt to the right gate. I ate some chicken tenders and went to sit down for the 3 and a half hour layover. After awhile of sitting around I saw 2 girls around my age walk by and lo and behold one of them had CIC written on a piece of tape on her luggage. I went up and introduced myself to them and we all sat down and started talking. More and more people from the group kept arriving and we all kept ourselves occupied by chatting. We had our passports verified and filled out our immigration forms before boarding the flight. The plane from Dallas to Leon, Mexico was significantly smaller than I was expecting.  I did end up sitting next to a girl from my program which was nice, but not unexpected since we took up nearly the entire plane. This flight seemed to take a little longer even though it was actually shorter and we even arrived early. I think that it’s because I was starting to get nervous again. Not to mention the fact that small planes just don’t fly as smoothly as large ones! As we neared our destination…the ride got bumpier and bumpier due to the mountains. I got to experience that lovely sensation of having your stomach go up to your throat a couple of times. Who needs roller coasters when you can fly in a small plane!

Finally we were there!! We climbed down the stairs and onto the tarmac and we had officially arrived in Mexico. Of course we weren’t really officially there yet since we hadn’t gone through customs yet! We went through the first customs stop where took your papers and stamped your passport. Then we went to the baggage pick-up for international travelers and it was a chaotic mess of CICers getting their stuff. Seeing the amount that a lot of girs packed made me feel a lot better. I had only packed one checked bag and two carry-ons…and nothing exceeded the 50 lb weight limit. The 43 lb suitcase was quite enough for me to handle! I can’t imagine having two that size. Next up was customs. They x-rayed all of our bags and then you went up to talk to someone. They had me press a red button and then a red light came on so they had to go through my bags. Yay for being unlucky on the random baggage check front! Haha. It wasn’t really a big deal though…the lady who went through my luggage was nice and we talked about how I was studying abroad. I don’t think she looked very closely…just opened the bags and looked  inside pretty much. Then we all met up again on the other side of customs and waited for everyone. Then it was into large vans to head from Leon to Guanajuato.

Our van was the last from our wave of arrivals to get there and I quickly found my luggage again. There was a lady calling out names and introducing students to their host parent(s). My host father and his son were there to pick me up. Then it was into the car and on our way to the house since my roommate had arrived a couple hours earlier. It was a slightly awkward car ride…but not too bad since they kept pointing out places of interest. The streets in Guanajuato are a mess…seriously, they are twisty and since the city is built in the valley of a mountain they have almost no rhyme or reason as to where they are. It took quite awhile to get to the house. Finally we arrived at the house! I met the rest of the family my “new mom: and my new little sister In total there are four people in the family: the mom (Edith), the dad (Alfredo), a son who is 9 years old (Fernando), and a daughter who is 7 years old (Alejandra). They are a wonderful family, very nice and welcoming. Plus the kids are a wonderful distraction. They are very amusing and a good source for conversation. Jessica (my roommate) and I share a bedroom, the two kids share a room, and of course the parents have their own room. The house is very nice. It’s located pretty high up in relation to the center of the city and has a WONDERFUL view of Guanajuato. So far my only complaint about our house is that I have a SUPER flat pillow. And if that’s my only complaint, then I think that I’m doing pretty good. Tomorrow we are going to the “mega” store and I’m hoping to be able to buy another pillow.  

The family had already eaten lunch (they call it la comida), which is the biggest meal of the day in Mexico, so when I got there they had food waiting for me to eat. It was fish tacos, which were actually pretty tasty! It was a little strange to be the only one eating when everyone was sitting around the table…but we were all talking and it wasn’t too bad. After that we rested for about an hour in our room and then it was time to see the city.

My roommate and I in downtown Guanajuato

We walked around the city for 2 or 3 hours and saw some of the sites. The central plaza is absolutely gorgeous and the city is beyond picturesque. The kids wanted to eat pizza so we had Dominos for dinner. Haha…yep, on my first day in Mexico I ate Dominos pizza! Then we all climbed into a cab and went home. By then it was 9 pm and we just took showers and went to sleep for the night. I was sooooo exhausted by that point in time. However, I had a really hard time sleeping because of that tiny pillow that I mentioned before.

Well, that aut describes my first day in Mexico. I’ll try to update as often as possible…but internet access is rather limited so far.

3 Days Left

Oh my! I can't believe that I only have three days left here at home. Absolutely crazy. It seems a little unreal to be honest. I've known my entire college career that I'd end up studying abroad and got pretty close to actually going last summer (swine flu outbreak in Mexico cancelled that trip), but it still seems completely and utterly surreal. I'm going through all the motions of packing and getting ready, but I'm still waiting for something to happen that will result in the trip being cancelled or something like that. I am kind of well known for being a pessimist after all. 

I also feel like I'm going into this whole thing a little blind. I'm not entirely sure what all happens after we get off the plane in Mexico. I know that my plane departs at 7:05 am in Detroit. From there I will fly to Dallas where I have a 2 or 3 hour layover. In Dallas I will meet up with the group flight. Or at least I'll be on the "group flight" out of Dallas...not entirely sure that there will be any meeting up since I haven't heard any instructions explaining where or how the group intends to meet up in a giant airport. Then it's on to Mexico (Leon I believe). Once we get there it's all pretty vague. I know that I will have some form of transportation to my host family's house. What type of transportation? Who knows! We will either be travelling with the group or our host families will come to the airport to get us...it depends on the host family. 

Which brings us to another case of extreme vagueness and lack of information: my host family. I know a grand total of 4 things about my host family. 

1. The name of my American roommate.
2. The name of my host mother.
3. The address of the house where I'll be living.
4. The phone number of where I'll be at.

That's it! I don't know if she's married or has kids. I have no idea what type of person she is, what type of home she has. The most unfortunate and worrisome thing that I don't know is whether or not she has internet at her home. From my understanding, some of the families have internet and some do not. Please, please, please let my family have internet!!! I know that might sound a little selfish and like I'm not being open to the experience...but I would like to be able to communicate with my family and friends from home via the internet and keep this blog up to date. Plus I prefer to write my papers in the privacy of my home rather than at a University library or an internet cafe. It's hard for me to work on school stuff when there are lots of people around. We were supposed to buy a gift for our host family. I bought a Michigan State University throw blanket. It's awfully hard to buy something for people that you know nothing about. After all...I don't even know how many people I'm buying a present for. The blanket seemed like a gift that everyone/anyone in the family could use and it's connected to my home University so maybe they'll think of me whenever they use it after I've left.

This is the blanket that I got as a present for my host family.