Arriving in the the Mexico City airport with Jason Mraz by my side was probably the best way to enter a my first foreign country. Although I have been to Canada, all those who accompanied me will agree that Toronto hardly counts as 'foreign'. Nonetheless, my first real visit abroad started out in the best way possible.
After my first night in my hotel, I was ready to go downtown to Centro Historico to meet the rest of the kids on in this program. After a brief spell of being utterly lost in the biggest city in North America resulting in a minor panic attack, I found my way to the place where I was meeting everyone.
We started out the day by getting our super-secret press passes and security clearence badges, and then headed out for a tour of all the buildings we would be going to this week. Long story short, I've never walked so much in my life. The events aren't far away per se, but man is Mexico City a crazy place. Its like taking the most expensive hotels and office buildings of Chicago and dropping them in the middle of Harlem in NYC. The historic distric (Centro Historico) is packed full with beautiful Catholic churches with massive bleeding Jesuses and Mary sculptures on the wall, as well as a constant flow of devout Mexican Catholics praying to Virgen de Guadalupe or just buying tiny Jesus figures for their mantles. 
Also in this area is Alameda Central, the massive park full of fountains and history. Because Mexico's independencia is September 15th, the whole city is full of green, red and white, including the Plaza de la Constitucion, which is two blocks from my hotel.
Our last stop was a tour of the building that houses the largest newspaper in all of Mexico, La Reforma. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the building itself is a pretty bold statement in my opinion. It towers over anything else in sight.
After my first night in my hotel, I was ready to go downtown to Centro Historico to meet the rest of the kids on in this program. After a brief spell of being utterly lost in the biggest city in North America resulting in a minor panic attack, I found my way to the place where I was meeting everyone.
We started out the day by getting our super-secret press passes and security clearence badges, and then headed out for a tour of all the buildings we would be going to this week. Long story short, I've never walked so much in my life. The events aren't far away per se, but man is Mexico City a crazy place. Its like taking the most expensive hotels and office buildings of Chicago and dropping them in the middle of Harlem in NYC. The historic distric (Centro Historico) is packed full with beautiful Catholic churches with massive bleeding Jesuses and Mary sculptures on the wall, as well as a constant flow of devout Mexican Catholics praying to Virgen de Guadalupe or just buying tiny Jesus figures for their mantles. Also in this area is Alameda Central, the massive park full of fountains and history. Because Mexico's independencia is September 15th, the whole city is full of green, red and white, including the Plaza de la Constitucion, which is two blocks from my hotel.
Our last stop was a tour of the building that houses the largest newspaper in all of Mexico, La Reforma. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the building itself is a pretty bold statement in my opinion. It towers over anything else in sight. We ended the day pretty casually at a concert with a 'Japanese rock star' named Sinshi, and the cutest little chico Mexicano I've ever seen in my life.
Of course after that 'concert' is when me and two of my newly met friends bounced to go see Jason Mraz live in Mexico City, courtesy of the man himself who gave me the free tix. it was amazing, to say the least. And in my next blog: the conference! Madness, mayhem and Mexico City!
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