YFU mid-year trip

Hello there!
In my last blog I mentioned that I was returning from a trip to Veracruz with YFU and I will write about it in this one.
The first week of February, we had our mid-year reunion/trip, where all the YFU’ers who are having an exchange year in Mexico come together. The YFU ‘bosses’ are present and they always invite a couple of Mexican teens that already went on exchange.
We already met each other one time, the first week I arrived in Mexico in Cuautla. Back then we were, compared to now, scary little frogs, afraid to jump in the darkness haha, but we have changed a lot.
After 6 months of submergence in the Mexican culture it was funny to see how we all evolved in the same direction. We did not just grow mentally, how we think and what we think about, but we also learned to adapt perfectly to the Mexican culture we are living in.
So on the 2nd of February, I went to Mexico City by plane, the city where we would come together. We were all super excited to see each other and there were only happy moments. Awkward moments too, because all of a sudden, the one you were talking English/French/German or Finnish with, you are talking with them in Spanish.
We stayed our first night in Mexico City, or El Districto Federal (DF). We had one little talk session about our journey so far and the next morning we went by bus to the state of Veracruz. The end destination was a little town in the middle of the Veracruzan jungle called Tlalpocoyan. There, we would stay in a base camp which is called Aventurec, a local organisation that specializes itself in rafting (going down rapids in a plastic boat) and other extreme sports.
We would stay there two days, staying up at 8am, walking to the river in an extremely humid heat, and then raft down the river, doing games and stopping at nice places. We laughed a lot, fell into the water, on purpose or not, and we were just having a very good time.
The camp was very pretty. We stayed in chique wooden houses and the location was amazing. Everywhere you look in that region, you either see BANANAS or ORANGES, E V E R Y W H E R E!! It looks so pretty and is so nice because when we walked to the river, you could always have a little healthy snack.
After two days of relaxation in the wonderful Tlalpocoyan, we drove off to my first archaeological site in Mexico: El Tajín. This Mayan site is located in the north of the state of Veracruz and was for me, my first visit to a mayan site. If you want a little more information on the Tajin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Taj%C3%ADn
It was very pretty and I really liked it, even though we were all very hungry and sleepy ahah.
After our visit we went to get some lunch in the nearby restaurants on the site, and it was literally the most stressing experience I have ever had. Because it was a Thursday in February, we were pretty much the only ones visiting the site. There were at least a dozen restaurants located right next to each other, which probably sold exactly the same things at the same price, but every restaurant tried to get us in their place. But it was so intense and stressing that we all just laughed in desperation. Even the Mexican volunteers told us they had never experienced something so intense. Every one was shouting for our attention and we just stood there, not being able to make a decision.
After lunch, we stayed in a city next to the site, called Poza Rica, which has nothing in special and the next day, after very few hours of sleep, we drove back to DF. They dropped us off at the airport, we all said goodbye to each other, took our plane and headed back home.
For most of us it wasn’t a real goodbye, because there will be two more YFU trips, but there was one volunteer with whom I became very good friends, who I probably won’t ever see again, unfortunately. But you never know, maybe in a distant or far future. It made me a bit sad and made me realize that It will be a whole lot harder to say goodbye in 6 months.

I really loved the trip. It is such a relaxing atmosphere and talking with everyone about our experiences, problems, difficulties and happy moments is very satisfying. They, and other YFU students, are practically the only ones who can really relate to what we are going through. It is such a special experience that only few people can understand how you feel, and that is why I love talking with them and hanging around with them when I see them. Even though we have seen each other only two times, sometimes I feel I know them better than some friends I have since primary school haha. It is wonderful, and I really hope I will get to see them after my year.

That’s all folks!!