Sobreviviendo San Miguel / Surviving San Miguel

i have just returned from having lived in san miguel de allende, guanajuato, mexico, since june 27th, 2004.  talk about culture shock.  i had an amazing time in the city, making new friends that i really believe will go the distance.  there are only so many stories you can share with a group of like-minded (or at least open-minded) people and not avoid being friends for a long, long time.  at one point during the stay, i commented to one of my house-mates, "are you sure we are not being secretly filmed for the new season of MTV's THE REAL WORLD / San Miguel?".  It would undoubtedly have received pretty good ratings.  We were conjuring up enough crazy anecdotes to at least get a shot at starring in our own telenovela.