I had a pretty easy day with my only class being Etica y transparencia en los negiocios(Ethics and transparency in business). At lunch today I ran into a girl from my art class who asked me if I went to class today. A bit confused, I told her I thought we didn't have class, and that the class was cancelled this week. She said that she knew all the architecture students didn't have the class because they have "talleres" or workshop this week, so all of the architecture students don't have the class this week. I asked how many of the students were architecture students, and she replied with the majority, which is what I thought. So we ended the conversation both not knowing whether or not class occurred this week because she's an architecture student and I was under the impression that because most of the class had workshop, it was cancelled. However the possibility that something got lost in translation and caused me to miss a week of art is definitely possible. Sweet. Good think the teachers are pretty relaxed here.
After talking a bit about travel plans for the semester with a few friends, I'm getting increasingly excited about my schedule to travel. It's going to be crazy busy!
This coming weekend we're staying on campus instead of going to Veracruz because it'll be a bit expensive and the weather will be bad in which part or all of the carneval could be cancelled.
Next weekend the 20th/21st of Feb. we're probably going to go to Cuetzalan which is a jungle city with like 30kms of explorable caves, natural swimming pools, huge waterfalls etc. Its also super cheap, only around $20 round trip by bus and somewhere between $6 to $12/night to stay. Some of us who don't have class on friday may leave thursday and meet up with those coming on friday. We'll see.
The following weekend we may stay in Cholula, and either hike Popo, a glacier-capped mountain which stands 5400m above sea level(thats like 16,000ft), or maybe go to africam safari which is a animal reservation near where we are that aparently has 3000 species of animals, with cars that drive through and get up close and personal with the elephants and rhinos.
The first weekend in March 6th and 7th may be the weekend to go to Palenque, infortunately a long ways away(which mean we would definitely leave thursday after class) is supposedly increadibly beautiful. The place we're looking at to stay has a pool by the jungle where monkey frequent on a regular basis... how sweet is that? It also has jungle ruins in addition to waterfalls.
The next weekend is especially long, 4 days, friday because i don't have class, and monday is a day of rest, so we don't have classes that day. I'm trying to plan a trip where my friend James and I would fly to Ecuador to visit a close friend from SMC, Kath Hackett. The plane tickets are a bit expensive but I definitely wanted to travel to other countries while here in Mexico, but its just too difficult to get to Guatemala or Belize, and way too costly. It would cost more to bus to Guatemala than to fly to Ecuador, if that makes any sense. So I'm thinking we may miss a couple days of class on Wed and Thurs and travel from Wed to Mon and go to Quito, Ecuador. Maybe travel during the weekend once in Ecuador. I'm very excited for this trip to work out.
The following weekend is when reto negocios is taking place at school. Three days of business speakers and also during those three days, the business department has cancelled all classes. So I only have art on Wed. During this weekend there is a woodstock-style outdoor concert on a beach of Veracruz where you can camp out in a tent on the beach and listen to music all day and night. Sounds AWESOME! That's the plan for this weekend!
The next weekend of the 27th and 28th of March is the beginning of "la semana santa" or Saint's week(spring break). A carful of us are going to either rent a car and drive, fly(if its cheap) or bus to Cancun and then go to Tulum for the week. Tulum is basically a less touristy cancun. It still inhabits the gorgeous beaches of the Yucatan penn. Also theres a cool ruin-filled and jungle-like city with 300 inhabitants nearby called cobá. I'd love to check that out. But i'm looking forward to hammocks, surfing, windsurfing, snorkling, diving?, relaxing on the beach, and everything else Tulum has to offer for 8 days.
This week ends my travel spree but Acapulco, Puerto Escondido, and Guadalajara are still on the list of "must go". Hopefully we can hit everything we want to see. We have 15 days of exams in may, of which I only have maybe 3 classes with exams, and the exams are on only one day. Hopefully Ill have a stretch of time to travel a bit more. We'll see.
I wanted to add a bit of work that I have been doing, to prove to you all that I'm actually a student and that I do get assignment... I mean assignments- yeah plural. Its an assignment from my ethics course. The questions were in english but I did the answers in spanish. (its very possible that its grammatically screwed, but only those who speak spanish well will be able to tell that)
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1. How should we live and treat each other?
A todos, hay una respuesta diferente. Yo creo que deberíamos tratar al uno a otro como nos gustaría estar tratado: la regla de oro. También vivir con honor, cual significa que no haces lo que es injusto. Sin embargo, a todos, lo que es injusto podría ser algo diferente. Quienquiera que viva en paz, vaya a tener una vida tranquil porque la mentalidad controle sus acciones y humor. Es bueno tener paz y viver de tal manera que ayudes todo que toques. Ayuda a un extraño porque nunca sabes si el vaya a ser tu mejor amigo mañana.
2. What is right or wrong?
Una pregunta más profunda. Déjame empezar con la cuestión; es justo que yo diga cuál es justo e injusto? Es posible que en sí mismo sea injusto declarar la línea entre bueno y malo. Pero, si tuviera responder, diría lastimar a alguien no importa quién, es malo y va en contra de nuestros derechos de ser humano y de vivir en paz. Lo que me parece mal sea el dolor. Cualquiera que pueda hacerse feliz sin lastimar a alguien es bueno. El opuesto sería que lo que perjudica a alguien es malo.
3. What is up and down?
Quizá de avanzar sea lo mismo de subir. Son direcciones, palabras para expresar moverse hacia adelante o hacia atrás. En tiempo, nos estamos moviendo siempre hacia adelante hasta la muerte. Pero también tenemos la capacidad de pensar en el pasado o futuro. Con muchas cosas tenemos una línea, y con esta línea hay dos extremos. Con la vida el principio de la línea es crecimiento, al fin la muerte. Siempre nos estamos moviendo a través del fin. Con el humor, podemos subir y bajar entre dos extremos, otro ejemplo de la línea. Siempre estamos en un punto entre depresión y manía.
4. How can we know or decide?
Hemos aprendido de hacer lo que decidimos. Por la cuestión, ¿como podemos saber?, es una pregunta que te examina la manera de que pienses. ¿En realidad, como nos podemos pronunciar que sabemos cualquier cosa? Socrates de antes decía que necesitamos declarar que no sabemos nada antes que darse cuenta la verdad. ¿Hay una manera de que podamos saber cualquier cosa?
5. Where do our ethical ideas come from?
Creo que nuestras ideas éticos tienen sus orígenes en la sociedad. Ya que nuestras vidas están hecho de nuestras experiencias, la ética viene de las que nos cuidan. Entonces, los cuentos que nos decían durante el crecimiento para explicar algo teórico de la ética o de la vida también nos programaban pensar de una manera más sofisticada. La idea que tenemos una identidad o reputacion para mantener ayuda la idea que no somos animales, somos humanos sofisticados.
6. What are rights? Who has them?
Otra pregunta que no puedo contestar definitivamente, pero si tuviera, diría que lo único derecho que tenemos es la vida. La vida nos está dado, y creo que tenemos el derecho de vivir. Sin embargo, sin otras reglas o leyes, el mundo estaría en caos. Para asegurar que nadie va a causar estragos, implicamos leyes para controlar la gente, y definarla también. Tener derechos es una manera de declarar un nivel de intelegencia. Creo que nos sentimos los derechos que nos han dado también nos permitimos a vernos mejor que lo demás.
7. Should we coerce one another?
Además de la respuesta “Cualquiera que pueda hacer para hacerse feliz sin lastimar a alguien es bueno” a la pregunta sobre que es justo, agregaría la parte psicológica. Me parece que la coaccion sería perjudical, entonces no es justo.
8. Can we find an ethical system that applies to everyone?
Porque cada individual es único, es difícil creer que todos podrían acordarse en un sistema de ética. Por esto, no creo que sea posible creer en la misma cosa. Quizá podamos acordarnos que la vida es un derecho porque tenemos eso en común.
9. What is the ethical system made up of?
El sistema de ética es hecho de las ideas y influencia de las que tienen poder. Las que tienen la influencia pueden cambiar las definiciones de que es justo e injusto.
10. What do we mean by duty, jutice and other similar concepts?
A mi, me parece que tenemos una reputacion, o algo abstracto, y aveces se llama honor. Protegido del orgullo, honor representa la manera de que te presentes. Por nuestras vidas, creamos una reputación, y para mantener esa reputacion, tenemos obligaciones y aduedas.
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