Introductions

Well, I'm sure that those of you who are reading this have an idea, but for those of you who don't, me llamo Jeff. I'm a student at Western Michigan University. My current area of study is Spanish, with intent to obtain a teaching certificate, and minors in English (which could be boosted up to a major), and Area Studies of Latin America. It's not that I'm an overachiever, I'm just going to be there for a very long time.

This is my fourth year of higher education after spending five semesters at Muskegon Community College (obtained the Associate's Degree in Science and Arts). Western has given me quite the runaround in me attempting to graduate in a timely fashion, but I was finally accepted into the College of Education in October (much too late to try to transfer into a class and catch up on the work).

I play guitar (more of an emphasis on classical pieces (ref. Paco de Lucía) and music of the 1960s, but sometimes you'll catch me playing something more recent), I enjoy physical activity, I enjoy telling stories, though I think I'm going to have to start fabricating some or exaggerating a few I've already got to keep me entertained...

I'm from the western coast of Michigan. I live five miles (eight kilometers) from Lake Michigan, and my little city is surrounded on three sides by water (Michigan (Avg Depth: 279 feet (85 meters), 118 miles wide (190 kilometers)) to the West, Bear Lake (depth: twelve feet, three and a half meters) to the north, and Muskegon Lake (shipping lane depth: 80 feet, 24 meters) to the south; all accessible to each other by watercraft. If you're travelling to my little city and take a certain exit, don't get lost, because though you may be able to see across the lake, there is only one road into town. I hear that back in the mid to late 80s, that road got flooded from heavy rains. Luckily enough, we're sitting on the top of a hill, so I'm not worried about a deluge taking out houses.

Tales of Adventures and Other Such Oddities is my little web log to chronicle for my friends and family my trip of the next five months and two weeks of my semester of study in (as I hear it) beautiful Querétaro, México. Here, I figured, was an excellent way to upload the better of the pictures I take with stories to explain them. -Sorry, facebook-dwellers, I'll still put pictures up there, I just don't know how fleshed out the stories will be.

I guess I've covered about all I mean to cover at this point. This week will bring pre-departure horror stories, plus some good events of hanging out with friends in Muskegon and conversations with friends outside of Muskegon. ¡Hasta luego!