This epidemic fucking sucks

[yasminthelight]

So the overall vibe here in Xalapa has definitely been more on the fearful side in the last couple days. My familiy is still here and we're still having tons of fun, but every time I get back from some great, happy outing and talk to one of my friends, there's some other shitty new thing. School is cancelled in all of Mexico until May 6, which sucks because I'm sick of time off and really wanted to learn as much as possible this last month. And what's infinitely worse, since everyone at the school here got emails from their home universities saying they could come home and finish their courses there, a bunch of people's parents are making them go back to Canada or wherever they came from. My best friend here, Sofia, is leaving this Saturday. Her parents are making her leave and we're both really upset about it. Most of my friends were upset about leaving at the end of May when we were supposed to, but now this is just too much. My friend Alana is leaving TONIGHT, which hasn't even sunk in yet. She's devastated because not only does she have to up and go, but she has a boyfriend here. Danica's four roommates are all leaving this weekend, and the students who are here with various groups have been told to go home. My roommate Baz's university in England has offered to pay for his flight home, and Liz is only staying because her parents think it's safer in Xalapa than on the busses and planes she'd need to take to get home. I agree, but I don't agree with the implication that it's really dangerous in Xalapa at all. I don't know, I have a tendency to under-worry about these kinds of things. But I'm pretty sure that, although they of course wouldn't report this very much, the flu is spreading through the poorest areas of the cities in Mexico where it is - places without running water or much access to soap, less education on hygiene, those kinds of things. And that's awful, but I really believe that just washing your hands a lot, using Purell and not touching your face is all that's really needed. But I'm also pretty cut off from regular news so I don't know how fast it's spreading or what's really going on.

I don't know. This sucks. I really am having a fantastic week but when I'm away from my family, reality just seems so depressing. And Gonzalo and I are starting to think about how much it's going to suck when I do have to go back to Canada and he has to stay here for a couple months to finish his Masters before he can come north. We can barely stand to be away from each other for an hour let alone two months. Ugh.

If all of my friends go home, they won't keep our school open. And if that happens I just don't know what I'll do.