So I Waited 3 Months to Update my Blog

Hi everybody!

I know, I know, I suck. I've been busy living my life, sue me. Here's an update about what's going on.

First, the point of doing this whole thing: my Spanish. It's better than ever and I'm very pleased with the progress I've made. It's even gotten to the point where - some days - I don't even want to speak the language anymore. I dream in Spanish, think in Spanish, speak in Spanish, do everything in Spanish. It's quite odd really because my English has definitely taken a huge hit, but I'm sure that will pass once I return to the United States.

That being said, I have about 2 months left in this marvelous country and I'm not sure where the time has gone. I've had so many different, unique experiences that going back to Madison - although I do miss my friends and family - will probably be a huge shock to me. On the one hand, I will be able to breathe clean air, not have to get up for class 3 hours early so I can make it on time, and to sit bored in a lecture hall...oh wait, I do that here, too. On the other hand, I will miss so many fascinating aspects of Peruvian life, such as haggling in the street with various merchants, finding ridiculously cheap and filling foods, having money that's worth 3 times as much as it is in the States, etc.

The lifestyle that I lead here is completely different from the one I have in Madison and I believe it's changed me for the better. I'm much more relaxed about many things (though I stress out about school - that's an inherent trait I have), I'm a lot more willing to go out on the weekends, and I've finally learned how to just enjoy something and not see everything in a purely academic lens. Furthermore, this experience has helped me to put many things into perspective; things that I thought were extremely important no longer hold such significance in my life, and I feel liberated. It's wonderful. :)

School sucks, as usual. I'm taking classes that are interesting, of course, but school is school. My class schedule is the following:

Gender and Politics
Poverty and Social Policies
Introduction to the Geo-environmental problems of Peru
Film
Senior Thesis

Obviously, the last two courses are super easy it's a bit laughable, but I need free time to work on my Senior Thesis, which is basically why I chose Peru in the first place. That, too, is also coming along, but I'm getting nervous because I need to turn something in by the end of the month to my thesis advisor! It's no longer just a concept - my thesis is becoming real!

Enough about school. How was my vacation? Great! I went to the Iquitos (the Amazon), Huaraz (part of the Andes), and Chile. I've never had a more relaxing and care-free time in my life. The best part of the whole thing was, however, was that my friend Lucy came to visit! It was great to see a familiar face and we had a great time in Huaraz. She also took care of me when I got super nauseous from the altitude. I went to Chile with some of my Peruvian friends, which was also fascinating because none of them speak English so it really forced me to express myself when I had a problem or a question. Below are some choice pictures from the various trips:


Lucy and I in Huaraz with Maggie (we printed out a picture of her to take with us since she couldn't make it to Peru)


I went skiing for the first time in Chile. It was awesome.


I also carried an adorable monkey - several, actually - in the Amazon. He tried to eat my sunglasses.


A view of the Amazon River.

There are so many other things to catch you all up on, but this is a good summary for now! Hope you're all doing well. Lots of love from Lima!

It's been a while

I know, I know, I know, I haven't updated my blog in several weeks. So sue me. I've been busy! Fortunately, however, I am on Winter Break (again) and now have a lot of spare time (theoretically) to fill you in on the happenings of my life. We'll follow this order: school, friends, travel.

My semester turned out really well (I think). I'm still waiting on two more grades, but I'm hoping I can knock it out of the park (corny, I know)! I managed to pull off an A in my political science class, which was I ecsatic about because that course was basically the bane of my existence for the past 4.5 months. We shall see how the rest of my courses turned out. Here's to hoping!

Can we also talk about how quickly this semester went by? It just seems like yesterday that I had arrived in Lima and didn't know anyone...now my exams are done and I'm spending time with and saying goodbye to people who seem to have been my friends for years, even though I've only known them for a few short months. Unfortunately, many of the international students I met this semester will be heading back to their home countries within the next month or so, leaving me....well, pretty much alone (except for the two guys on my program who are thankfully staying!). I do know, however, that more people will arrive for next semester and I will be able to begin my shenanigans once again! (Note: this post is getting hard for me to write because of the English, so please forgive any oddly-phrased sentences).

In spite of the arrival of new friends, I'm still really going to miss a lot of the friends I made here. Because of this, I am including some pictures in this post of some of the important people in my life who will be leaving me. If there's no picture included of you and you've left Peru as well, it doesn't mean I won't miss you, it just means I couldn't find an attractive picture of the two of us. (Yay vanity! Also, these are the most recent friend pictures I have, so come see me if you want a photo!)


Family photo


A goodbye lunch at Chili's!!! Don't worry, it's exactly the same as it is in the US.

Surprisingly enough, I have not yet lost my tendency to make friends with girls. What can I say? I'm a ladies man. I'm really thankful for all of the friendships I've made here and I'm very happy that I'm staying for another semester because...(this leads into my point about traveling)...

I'll be traveling with some of the friends I've made here! Who would have thought that my Spanish 325 professor last summer would be correct when she said that studying abroad for a year is a wonderful experience because you get to make plans and travel and do other amazing things with friends you make from the country you're studying in? I sure didn't. Now, however, I think I owe her an email because...well, she was right. My travel itinerary is the following:

Next week: Iquitos in the Amazon - I'll probably die from the heat/humidity/insects/lack of running water/2 hours of electricity a day/etc. I'm a city boy at heart, but i know this will be a once in a lifetime experience.

The week after: Fiestas Patrias, Peru's Independence Day celebration that's a week long. Independence Day is 28 July here, so I will be traveling with my friend Lucy who is coming to visit me from Argentina (!!!). We're headed to Huaraz, a mountain town, to take in the fresh mountain air and see some beautiful landscapes. We'll also be celebrating Fiestas Patrias (described above!). After that, we'll head back to Lima so I can show Lucy a good time before she heads back to Argentina. It will be great to see a friend from home, especially when everyone from Wisconsin is heading back to the States so soon!

The next week, I'll be heading to the south of Peru, the location to be determined, with my Peruvian friend Cynthia. We'll be going to a spot with lots of pools, thermal baths and other natural wonders that will relax us after a stressful semester!!

Finally, upon returning to Lima, I will be heading with some other Peruvian friends to Santiago, Chile for about a week (right before classes resume!). I'm really excited to be going, but I'm even more excited that I found such a cheap plane ticket! If the airlines here keep their prices low like that, I'll probably start hopping more around the continent like I had originally planned!

So, as you all can see, I have a long and hopefully exciting break planned. I will have lots of pictures to share and lots of wonderful stories, so stay posted! I will leave you now with some pictures from El Parque de las leyendas (the Park of Legends), a cool zoo-type park near my university that contains three areas: the Rainforest, the Mountains, and the Coast...that is, the three regions of Peru. I saw lots of interesting animals and it motivated me even more to travel! I miss you all! Besitos.


This is Timoteo, Peru's version of Barney. I think he looks like he may have snorted a line or something, but that's probably why he never made it to the US. I also took a picture with Barney, but then he sold me a sucker and ruined my childhood, so we're not posting said picture.


Ain't he cute? Sea lion.


Of course, no trip to Peru is complete without seeing llamas!!!


Finally,with Aleece, who has basically been my other half for the last 3 or so months. In the Parque de las leyendas.

Until next time!

ONE MORE WEEK (get ready for a whole bunch of insecure)

Hey everyone! Happy Father's Day!

So I know I have a journal for this, but I felt like I would give you all an update about where I am at this point in my study abroad experience.

I've been in Peru for a little more than 3.5 months and have been in class for about 3 of those months. Once the semester is over, many of the friends that I've made while here that are also exchange students will travel a bit and then head to their respective homes, at which point I will probably have mixed emotions: on the one hand, I will be sad to see my friends go and extremely jealous that they get to go home to their friends and family; on the other hand, I think about all of the things I want to do and see in my time left here, so I'm thankful I have another 6 months to get that done.

Language-wise, this past week or so has been a bit rough for me - more of a roller coaster, really. During the course of a day, I can go from speaking perfectly (to the point where the Peruvians I'm speaking with tell me as such) to where I can't even pronounce a simple word and have to think about the conjugation for an entire minute in my head before saying anything (that's really embarrassing). Not sure what's going on, but it's getting to me (you all know what a perfectionist I am). Send encouragement. :)

Insecurities aside, I had a pretty relaxing weekend...that is, I didn't really do much homework. I studied a little bit, but the last couple of weeks have been so work-filled that I just wanted a BREAK. So, after spending some time studying for my final exams (IN 8 DAYS), I went out with some of my gringas for sushi, dessert, and movies! Banana Maki was by far my favorite - it's sushi (I think) wrapped in fried banana. See the pictures below for some tasty highlights:

Banana maki!


My date for the evening.




We also had a big father's day breakfast with my host family today. Below is a picture of the food (not the family! haha).



This week will be mostly work and little play, but I do intend to have a dinner and a movie night on Thursday before I receive an exam on Friday (it's take home, but I have to do it in about 48 hours, which is no good). When exams are done, I will (finally!) be able to take the trip to Huaraz I've been wanting to go on! Hopefully I won't have to go alone...haha.

se acercan los exámenes finales!!!

You read it right, people. Final exams are coming! So what better way to procrastinate than to fill you in on my life?

First and foremost, we must talk about the most important thing in the world: me. On 5 June, I turned 21 and decided to to turn the celebration into a weekend affair. As such, on 4 June (the Friday before), my friends and I went out dancing. It was quite a good time and so many people came - I really felt the love! Unfortunately, I have no photos from Friday during the dancing because the clubs does not permit anyone to enter with flash photography...not entirely sure why. I do, however, have a delicious picture of the cookies my friend Carissa made for me to celebrate! 21 delicious sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles!



On Saturday, the day of my birth (also known as the most important day of the year), my friends and I went out to celebrate at a karaoke bar. I´m positive that most of you are wondering why I would want to do such a thing for my birthday. Well, da ansuh is: BECAUSE IT´S SO MUCH FUN IN PERU! Seriously. Peruvians take their karaoke so seriously and most of them sing pretty well, although they have the tendency to pick extremely depressing ballads. Most of us gringos/Peruvians, however, cannot sing, so we decided to be better performers, selecting high-energy and joyous songs, rounding the night off with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." It was a wonderful time, although there were so many of us that the bar was pretty full. Below you will see some highlight photographs:

With my friends Nube, Mercedes and Jennifer (aren't they gorgeous?):



My host parents also got me a birthday cake. Tito, the host father, didn't really take a good picture. Nancy, the mother, looks good (especially for a woman of her age!). Below is the best shot:


As you can tell, it was a wonderful birthday. I have made so many new friends here from different countries and it's quite inspiring to see that young people are the same no matter what language they speak: we all say the same things, just in our own languages.

What's not wonderful, however, is the amount of work standing between me and my Winter Break (that's not a typo). I will survive, however, and hope to spend at least a week of my break traveling (when I'm not starting work on my thesis). Next semester, I hope to take courses that will be less demanding so I can focus on my thesis work, which is really the most important thing at this point.

As far as my Spanish goes, the fluency really comes and goes depending on with whom I'm speaking and whether I'm intimidated by them or not. For example, the other day, I saw a Peruvian friend I hadn't seen for about a month and a half who had to interrupt me and tell me that I had improved so much and was literally speaking perfectly to her. The next day, I spoke with another friend who I see regularly, but was nervous so I kept tripping up. I need to work on this confidence thing, I think. I know it's there, I just need to push through my insecurities. A funny anecdote on the subject: another friend told me he speaks English, but is afraid to do it in front of me because I'm a native speaker. I told him, "How do you think I feel when I speak your language?" I'm glad that I'm not alone in my feelings.

I'm starting to miss my friends and family a whole bunch, but hopefully a trip to Argentina in August will satisfy some of that craving if/when I go visit my friend Lucy!!! I'm excited, but must find a ticket.

Lastly, the traffic here this week was AWFUL. I mean, normally it's bad, but this week was worse because of a super-important business conference taking place about 300 yards from my house at the National Museum. Lima closed Javier Prado, one of the principal avenues in the city to curtail traffic around the museum for security reasons, which made getting to school and life in general excruciatingly difficult. This traffic was also compounded by the construction of an electric train track on Aviacion, another principal avenue here. Pardon my French, but it was a shitshow. I blame Hillary Clinton.

I unfortunately have not had the opportunity (nor the desire really) to travel too much in the past couple of weeks. I've made such good friends that leaving Lima now seems like it'll be less fun than if I would just stay and spend time with my good friends. I love this experience and I'm really happy I chose to say for two semesters - I'm not sure what I'd do if I had to go home in July.

Until next time! Besitos.

The World is Shrinking

After a long absence, I have returned with the very thing for which you have all been waiting: AN UPDATE.

Unfortunately, I have nothing extraordinarily exciting to report because I have not traveled, but I can tell you why said traveling has not occurred. If you all remember, I was set to go to Huaraz with a friend of mine, but we had yet to purchase the tickets because we assumed the Peruvian Megabus system worked the same way everything else does here: last minute. As such, we didn't plan on purchasing our tickets until about 5 hours before departure time. Sadly, upon arrival at the bus station, we were informed that all of the tickets had been sold out, forcing us to make a difficult decision: either pay another 5 dollars (currency converted) to go to another bus station where they had more buses or to spend the weekend in Lima. We chose the latter option, and let me tell you, it was FUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. After a weekend of shopping, dancing, good conversation, and general goodness, I can guarantee I do not regret that trip not happening. That being said, I still want to go to Huaraz.

Now to the main point of this blog post: THE WORLD IS SO SMALL. In the last several weeks, I have had multiple experiences that support this statement. I will share the most appropriate and the most recent story. Last night, Thursday, we received word that one of the British men we met in Trujillo during our mini-vacation was in town, so we decided we would meet up with him for conversations and drinks. We walked into his hostel and waited in the lobby for a little bit while the receptionist went to find our Briton, when I suddenly see a really tall man walk down the stairs. Nope, it wasn't the British guy. It was Jason, a classmate from high school who I have not seen for three years. I was shocked. Of all of the hostels in all of Lima, we happen to be in the same one at the same time? Impossible. But true! I love this city - it never ceases to amaze me.

Academic update: Exams went well. So well, in fact, that some of my friends in my Structure of Language course called me a "nerd" because my grade was higher than all of theirs. What's my native language? Oh right, English. Holla at yo' boy!

My memory card for my camera is broken, so I'm going to have to purchase a new one from Radioshack...so no pictures in this post!

Much love from Lima.

A quick update

I just ate cow hearts (anticuchos) and they were delicious. This is the most interesting thing I can share with you for the moment. :)

Busy week, update next weekend, I promise!

Trujillo y Huanchaco (True-he-yo and Wan-cha-ko)

At long last I got the vacation for which I have been pining. That is, of course, after a long week of midterms and essays. Let me tell you, I definitely think they should readjust the way our grades transfer because the classes here are definitely more difficult than they are at the UW (though that's probably mostly due to the language difference). Nevertheless, I believe my exams went decently, but I'm not going to even guess my grades for fear that my thoughts and reality turn out to be two different things. (Can we sense the stress? If not, you should now.)

On a more relaxing note, I had a marvelous time in Trujillo. For those of you who don't know, Trujillo is a town on Peru's northern coast (I can't recall if I've explained this already) and had an important role in Peru's independence movements during the age of colonialism in Latin America. The town itself is fairly small, but is well-known for a nearby (and very touristy) beach town called Huanchaco. Huanchaco is a premier surfing spot in Peru and surfers from all over the world frequent its beaches - it is, after all, the land of the eternal spring. Spring, however, was not with us, as much of the days were overcast, making it a bit colder than usual. The sun, however, did make several appearances, making our trips to various ruins and the beach enjoyable.

To provide a quick summary of the places we visited:

First, we went to Huaca de la luna and Huaca del sol, which are ruins of the ancient Moche tribe of Peru. Huaca is an indigenous word (of the tribe, I assume), meaning "temple," so we saw the temples of the moon and the sun. Huaca del sol, however, was closed while archeologists continued excavating artifacts.

Second, we stopped for lunch at a touristy restaurant that also featured Marinera dancing. Marinera is traditional dancing from the coast of Peru that is based, as you could probably guess from the name, on the ocean and generally tells a story. In this case, the dance was between a man and a woman, and the man attempted to win the affection of his female dance partner. The food was also delicious. I had an avocado salad, which was literally a plate of the biggest avocado I've ever seen, a piece of lettuce, two slices of tomato, and dressing. No complaints here. Below you will see a photo of the dancers. Note my amazing photography skills.




Afterwards, we went to Chan Chan, more ancient ruins of Peru. The architecture was amazing and our tour guide was very knowledgeable, which made the experience a lot more interesting than just looking at an ancient pile of rocks.

The next day, the girls I traveled with met some Englishmen and we ended up tagging along with them to the beach and around the town. They were quite fun and I loved mimicking their accents. Turns out British people also like imitating the American accent. Who knew? After a wonderful lunch of ceviche (raw fish cured with lime juice so we don't get sick) and other dishes, we headed back to Trujillo to go see the Plaza de Armas, which gets illuminated at night and is really a beautiful sight.

Most of us ended up coming home a day earlier than anticipated simply because we had accomplished so much sight-seeing in such a short time. The 9.5 hour bus ride passed quickly, however, as I was unconscious from exhaustion. I did, however, remain awake long enough to watch the bus company's safety video, which was sure to emphasize that we were not allowed to defecate in the bus' facilities - we could only do number 1. I thought it was HILARIOUS. :)

Here are some additional photos from the weekend:

This is a colorful photo I snapped as our tour van was driving by the neighborhood. There are lots of old-fashioned VW Bugs in this country.



And this is a photo of the gorgeous sunset we saw on our first night in Huanchaco. Please be jealous.



Finally, I leave you with the public link to my album on Facebook so that even those of you without this cursed social media tool may partake in photo-viewing.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036436&id=1599810067&l=10a2bbb969

Until my next post!

Two Months

I can't believe I have been in Peru for two months. Paraphrasing my host sister, time really does seem to move faster in this country.

It's kind of surreal to think about how much my life has changed in the last two months, but I believe I have the perfect story to share that will put it into perspective. With exactly one week until I left for Lima, I was making a late-night walk towards the Lakeshore area on campus when I got a phone call from one of my friends. I remember telling her that in seven days' time I would be walking the exact same way in an entirely different country. New buildings, new neighborhoods, new people. Now, two months later as I sit in my bedroom writing this post as a way to not study for my looming Literature and Linguistics midterms, I get the feeling that I've finally become a part of Lima. As I walk through my neighborhood, I see the same people going about their lives. I see the guy who cuts my hair every now and again, and we always stop to chit chat between haircuts. When I go running, I pass the same neighborhood watchmen (called watchiman here). I guess what I'm trying to say is that Lima has now become familiar to me and I'm prepared to see what else it has to offer.

That being said, I offer my loyal readers some updates regarding life here. First, I have decided not to move out of my current homestay. It's really odd, but ever since this past Wednesday, everyone has been a lot more social, a lot more inclusive, and a lot more conversational. Last night, I went to Jockey Plaza, the nice mall here, to go to Pizza Hut with two new students who are moving into our house, their Peruvian friend, and my host sister. The company was great, but let me tell you about this Pizza Hut. It was the classiest Pizza Hut I've ever seen in my life. Nicely decorated, well-lit, LCD televisions. It served red or white wine, beers, more traditional alcoholic drinks, sodas, and delicious appetizers. I was really taken aback by its beauty. Also, the pizza was a lot less greasy (yet still equally delicious!) than the Pizza Hut pizza in the US.

As far as my Spanish-speaking goes, I'm not sure what to say. My host sister told me yesterday that my Spanish has improved a lot - I'm using expressions that are common in Peru, my fluidity has increased, and I'm a lot more confident and natural when I speak. I'm still not sure if I believe her, but I think that's probably just me being hard on myself. Regardless, I have seven more months to accomplish my goal, and I am confident that I will do just that.

I haven't any new pictures to share. After exams, a couple of friends from the UW Program and I are planning on going to Trujillo, a town in the north of Peru that has a lot of ancient ruins and other fun things to see. Although I only have two midterms and an essay, there still seems to be a lot standing between me and my mini-vacation. I guess I should get crackin'. Send me some love and luck, I could really use it.

The Post I've Been Dying to Write

As you all know, I am a critic of everything fashion-related. What people are wearing, how they're wearing it, and what they're wearing it with. That is why I've decided to dedicate an entire blog post to what I've observed in my almost two (!!!) months here in Lima.

Now let me start off with a disclaimer: there are some very well-dressed, "in-style" Peruvians, but the operative word here is "some." The clothes here aren't super expensive (depending on where you shop), and one can buy Hollister, Armani Exchange, and other expensive brands that are found in the US for dirt-cheap prices. That being said, there are still a plethora of notable fashion no-nos to point out.

First, the freshmen on campus. Oh how it is to be young. Generally, students who start college after high school enter at the age of 16-17. This is fine with me (except for the occasional jail-baits) because they keep me fun and youthful, but a lot of them are still at the age where they don't know who they are and, as such, dress how many students did when I was in middle school. Remember those goth kids? The baggy black cargo pants with the heavy eye liner and the chains? The pants that have silver zippers that turn into shorts? Those studded bracelets? Yeah, that's all still "in" here. My oddly-specific description above is based off of my memory of a 17 year old freshman girl at the cafeteria. (I literally stopped eating when I saw what she was wearing and said "what the $#@( is that?!)

Second, my professors. I will start with the three professors I have that are men because they all tend to dress the same: ill-fitting jeans or dress pants topped with a baggy collared shirt of some sort. Nothing really special. As for my female professor (and many women I've seen here in general), the standard outfit is a pair of baggy slacks with an ill-fitting (i.e. too tight) shirt of some sort. Friday (yesterday) is the perfect example of this. My literature professor is not fat by any sense of the term, but the way she dressed herself added at least 40 pounds to her body. The baggy pants combined with the tight shirt, which kept exposing the not-so-toned parts of her body made it a spectacle to behold as this 5'2'' woman taught us about the works of Peruvian author José María Arguedas. (And yes, I did pay attention to more than just her clothes).

A note about these small shirts (and this post in general): I've been informed by friends I've made here that it's especially difficult to dress bigger women in Peru because of the lack of plus-size stores. That is, companies mass-produce clothing in smaller sizes to conform to some standard of beauty that all women should apparently be held to. Please understand that this post is merely descriptive of what people are wearing (with a little advice thrown in). Also note that I'm not saying people have to be skinny, rather that they need to understand how to dress their bodies.

Fortunately, the style issue tends to be less of an issue when people dress up to go out on the weekends, though there are still many flagrant fashion errors. What I do love, however, is that the women here almost all wear high heels and, more importantly, can WALK in them. There is no greater turn on than a woman who can stomp down Lima's uneven sidewalks in a pair of 4-inch stiletto heels without missing a beat. Love it.

Last thing, random thought: Halls, the popular cough drops we use in the United States, are popular here as well...but as candy. The favorites are the "extra strong" variety. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm going to stick to my 6th grade homeroom teacher's advice: if you're eating a cough drop and not coughing, that better be one damn good cough drop.

An Overdue Update

To my loyal followers,

I apologize for not updating my blog over the last several weeks, but I can honestly say that I have been busy! To that end, this post (sadly) will not contain any photographs because there hasn't been really anything interesting to show you. Let's talk in this order: my school life, my social life, and then my random thoughts.

My classes are going really well (at least, in these 2 weeks leading up to midterms!). My favorite class is, hands down, my History of the Peruvian Amazon class. The professor is amazing and really cares about his students. To that end, he has already purchased me two (2) books and one (1) newspaper that will help me immensely with my research project. Before you think he's some demented pervert trying to seduce a student, note that I'm not the only student for whom he does this. He literally goes out of his way to find resources for every student in the class, which is no small feat! My oral presentation and control/essay exam in his class last week also went really well, so I have no complaints. My other classes are going smoothly thus far, but talk to me again in two weeks after midterms are over.

Something interesting to note about my 2 of my 4 classes (though the phenomenon I'm about to explain is much more common than one would think): every professor arrives somewhere between 10-30 minutes late to lecture. No joke. Today my literature professor arrived at 11:23am even though the class started at 11am. Fortunately, I had plenty of gossiping to do, so I utilized the extra time wisely. It's going to be difficult to go back to the UW and to be expected to show up on time! Haha.

Socially, the last week and a half or so have been a metaphorical rollercoaster. Sparing you the details, I have emerged relatively fine and have become even closer to my friends here in Peru who have really been a great help. Daily lunches combined with wonderful conversation has made adjusting to this experience as easy as possible! I'm really grateful for that.

Random thoughts:

Language-wise, I seem to be improving a lot. Today, my Chilean friend was super proud when I started talking to her because she said my fluidity and my speaking was very natural. She's a wonderful person and helps me out whenever I have any doubt or question.

Relationship-wise, Peruvians are very direct. For example, a Peruvian girl asked me what I thought about Peruvian girls in general. I told her they're fine. She followed that question up with a "Do you want to be my boyfriend?" You should also know I had only met her about 30 seconds earlier. Yeah, that direct. Also, all of the (heterosexual) couples make out in public, which is common practice it seems because it doesn't bother anybody. That still doesn't change the fact that I think public displays of affection are gross.

Housing-wise: I'm trying to move out of my house because of how far away and how expensive it is. The family is very nice, but I have realized that most of my language practice comes at school and that there is really no point in living so far away from school. As one of my Finnish friends explained to me, I spend three hours traveling to and from school total every day (because traffic here is awful). That's 5 days a week, 15 hours. That adds up after about 36 weeks here. So, if you know of any housing in Lima, hit me up!

Oh! I met Barney and a giant chicken! That's an interesting photo to share with you all!

Paracas!

Hello to everyone on the eve of Easter!

I have returned from my "one day getaway" to Paracas, a beach town in the south of Peru (roughly 3.5 hours away by bus). It was a wonderful experience and the first time I had ventured outside of the city. I tagged along with Cynthia, a Peruvian friend I met at school, and her mother after they invited me to join them! It was very generous of them and I'm quite grateful.

The adventure started Thursday night. Given that our bus left at 5:30 the next morning, we decided it would be best if I spent the night at Cynthia's house, which was VERY far from my house. That being said, Cynthia and her mother cooked for me and I met literally the entire family, including Cynthia's 94 year old grandmother, who was surprisingly lucid, but incredibly fragile. After heading to bed at around 1:30AM because I ended up finding the movie "Flight 93" on TV, I woke up surprisingly well-rested for our journey.

The bus ride was uneventful, mostly because I slept the entire way there, which made the 3.5 hours exceptionally easy to tolerate. When I woke up, we were passing through a small town just outside of Paracas that had been devastated by an earthquake in 2007, and it was shocking to see how it was still trying to rebuild.

Eventually we made it to Paracas where we were hounded by taxi drivers and representatives of different tourism agencies who wanted us to utilize their services. Eventually we found a nice man named Vincente who drove us around and told us all the best/cheapest places to choose. The highlight of the trip was the tour of Las Islas Ballestas, which essentially showed us Peru's equivalent of the Galapagos Islands. I saw sea lions, penguins, pelicans, and a whole bunch of other animals that I thought only lived in more temperate/colder climates, but I guess I was wrong! Below are some photos that I find particularly enjoyable.









Another interesting part of my trip was when I broke bread with Cynthia and her mother and then prayed a Christian prayer. I can't recall which one it was, though I know I've heard it before (in English). Our Father? What's the prayer people normally say when they eat the body of Christ?

The end of my trip, yesterday, April 2, also marked the end of my first month in Peru. Time sure flies, doesn't it? Only 8 more to go until I'm back with all of you! :) I intend to make every second count!

As for tomorrow, Easter, my host mother has informed me that there will be at least 16 people coming over to celebrate, so it should be an interesting day. I leave you with a link to my vacation photo album on Facebook. There are some beautiful pictures to see (and I'm not just talking about myself!).

Follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033548&id=1599810067&l=4bd717b469

Semana Santa!

Happy April Fool's Day everybody!

Just a quick update before I head off for a couple of days to Paracas, a beach town on the Peruvian coast with my friend Cynthia and her mom! I'm really excited for the trip! Pictures for sure as soon as I get back!

We had a short week of school this week for Semana Santa, or the Holy Week before Easter - a three whole days! :) The unfortunate thing is that one of those days is a Saturday, and although students do have classes on Saturday, I am not one of them. Nor do I have class on Thursdays. Thus I technically only get 1 day off. Poor me. ;)

Nothing really new to report except that I think I've come down with a bit of, well, the illness that appears when someone eats bad food and then their body tries to get it out of the system. Yeah. Working on getting rid of that. Probably too much information, but I felt that you all would like to know that I'm surviving!

Until I blog again!

Week 2 of Classes/End of March

Hi urrvreybuddy!

I've finished my second week of classes and I'm definitely getting the hang of everything. The professors at my university kind of start everything out in full swing, as in, they don't ease you into the material like most other universities where you have less to do at the beginning of the semester, but the work they give here is absolutely monstrous in comparison to what I was expecting. I've already had what is a ''control'' of my reading assignments in my Political Science class, which is essentially a pop quiz to verify that you've been doing the reading. I got all 5 points! :)

I'm really enjoying my classes now, even my literature class - the novels we're reading are interesting, the professor has started using the literature to make connections to real life (and hence why I should care about it), and encourages me to ask questions in lecture because they start debate. As for my history class, it's still awesome and I appreciate the professor more and more every time we have class (so what it meets once a week?). We do, however, have 25-30 minute presentations to do that begin on April 12. The professor told us that the Peruvians in the class would be presenting first so that we, the international students, could have an example and a bit more time to prepare so we wouldn't be so anxious, which was sounded wonderful to me! After receiving an email from the professor with the list/order of student presentations, I was appalled to see my name was first. Yeah. First. Oh well, I'd rather get it out of the way, and I've already made my outline. I think I should be good to go!

As for my linguistics course, I really enjoy the material and I'm starting to think I should change my major...hahaha. I missed lecture on Monday because we had to enroll in our courses (not via internet, you had to be present), so I asked the professor how I should make up the notes. He told me to ask someone in the course. So I did, and of course the Peruvian students I found were delighted to help the poor, adorable gringo student, though they were surprised at my command of their language. We headed to the copy center and made a copy of the page of notes I missed and then we set off so that the Peruvian girls could explain them to me. This is where they started asking me details about myself: How did you learn Spanish? Where are you from? How old are you? The response to the third question, 20, shocked them. They told me that I looked no older than 16, which was both a bit embarrassing and flattering. To my horror, both of the girls were 17. Fun, right? Hahaha.

To distract you from my geeky banter, please enjoy the following statue, one of many we have on our campus here:




As for my real life, I'm feeling good. I think I've gone through my culture shock already - about a week and a half ago, I was freaking out about everything. I thought I couldn't speak Spanish, I hated everything/everyone, and I was super depressed. I'm much better now. I've established a routine, including exercise, to keep my spirits up and celebrated the (near) end of my first Month in Peru by going shopping at Jockey Plaza, the fancy mall 5 minutes from my house. Disaster. I bought such nice things, but probably won't wear any of them until I get home. It's ok, though, because it'll still be in style upon my return because it's from the Peruvian winter collection, meaning we're a season ahead in fashion! :) Here's a picture of me with my shopping haul and a bull:


I also met up with Maria Isabel, a Peruvian student who studied at UW my sophomore year - we had juice in the mall and chatted for a while, which was very nice. Since her time at the UW, she's graduated from college and is working for an NGO that works with indigenous communities being threatened by mining companies (i.e. MY THESIS!). I love this country. Everyone knows everything.

Next week is only a three day week for Semana Santa (basically Easter Holiday), but my host family and I may be going to Huaraz, a city in the sierra (mountains), so it should be a good time. That is the tentative plan, I'm not sure if it'll actually happen. Let's hope so!

The First Week of Classes

Hey y'all! I know it's been about a week since I've updated this, so I have a lot to catch you up on! I'll try to keep it succinct!

We'll begin with last weekend. Many firsts for me. I went paragliding over the Pacific Ocean. One of the best experiences of my life - I got an entirely new view of a part of Lima I'd seen many times before, soaring over buildings and flying at the same elevation as some birds. My mom wasn't too pleased when she found out I had done it, but she'll be ok! (Love you, Mom!) :).


I'm the one on the left!

That same evening, a group of students, including Peruvians, Germans, a French girl, and Americans went to El Circuito Mágico del Agua (essentially a park filled with various fountains. As things in Lima tend to be, it was absolutely stunning. Every half hour or so the park puts on a show at the main fountain, using a variety of special effects, images, and lights to astound the crowd. We were no exception. See the photo below for proof!



The next day, my program partner, Lucho, his girlfriend Carla, and my Peruvian friend Cynthia and I went to Plaza de Armas, essentially downtown Lima. Our first stop was the second most important church in South America, the Peruvian Franciscan Church from way back when the Franciscans dominated Lima. With 4 soles, roughly $1.80, we got a guided tour through the church (though we were not allowed to take any photos). The last part of our tour was the best: we went and saw the Peruvian equivalent of the Catacombs, an underground chamber filled with bones - skulls, femurs, funny bones - by the thousands. Our tour guide informed us that there were over 5,000 bodies in that dungeon....creepy, right? Nonetheless, I loved it.

After seeing the dead bodies, we went and purchased some churros stuffed with apple. For those of you who don't know, churros are a fried dessert (kind of like a doughnut) covered in sugar/cinnamon that originated in Spain. Peruvians, per usual, put their own twist on it by stuffing it with apple and some special spice that the vendor wouldn't disclose. Regardless, they were fattening-ly delicious!

Unfortunately, all of the fun had to come to an end (for the time being), as classes started. This week was essentially a shopping week, during which we got to attend various classes to see which professors we preferred and whatnot. I didn't really go to a variety of classes - I was pretty much set on what I was taking (described in the last post). I do, however, loathe my literature course. Only because it's a literature course. I enjoy reading, just not for a class. The professor is very sweet and open to international students, but I could just care less about the material. She also talks too much, so I space out very easily...during the two hour class period. So let's hope that's not going to come back and bite me! So far I think my favorite classes are my History of the Peruvian Amazon and State and Politics in Latin America courses. The professors are both highly intelligent and have my academic respect.

The highlight of my week, however, was when my History professor agreed to work with me on my Senior Thesis, meeting with me to discuss ways to better improve my research methods, telling me who to talk to, helping me revise my interview questions, and trying to secure me connections in the Amazon so that I don't head to the Amazon and have no one to talk to! Though it is currently too dangerous to travel to Bagua, the area my research focuses on, my professor has a variety of alternatives for me to pursue!

Funny stories of the week:
1) The world is so small - I think I actually met my history professor while working at the Bursar's Office. While he did go to the UW for a period of time, he doesn't remember if he ever went to the Bursar's Office or not. Nonetheless, he also knows the professor with whom I'm doing my research project.

2) There's another exchange student from the US that attends my University. I met him at debate camp 3.5 years ago. I know. It was shocking to me, too! :)

Until I post again!

Oh Wait, I'm in School?!

Well, it seems as if most of us (including myself!) have forgotten what I'm here for...to study! I spent Wednesday and Thursday this week on campus learning about the various buildings, classes, and procedures of the university. I also met a lot of the other international students, most of whom are (surprisingly) not American. Featuring groups from the US, the Czech Republic, Spain, Bolivia, Germany, France, Finland, Argentina and other countries, there were a plethora of people of various backgrounds and interests to meet.

Not wasting any time, I quickly introduced myself to my fellow classmates, quickly making myself known among them...so much so that they started talking about me to other people who knew me, causing them to believe that I really do know everyone (it's true). During this time, we also met our Peruvian exchange partners. Mine is named Luis Caballero, but everyone calls him Luchito (nickname is Lucho). "-Ito" is called the diminutive and is used as a term of endearment. As such, I would be "Amjadcito" or something along those lines. Lucho and I hit it off almost immediately, chatting about life and my research project - he was able to give me some great insight (though I really should get cracking on my interview questions...)!

The second day of orientation was more stressful because it required us to go around to the various facultades (faculties/schools) on campus to meet with advisors and to see which classes would best suit us. With the help of these advisors and some Peruvian students, I was able to pick classes that would help me finish my majors, learn more about the background surrounding my research project, and enjoy the rich Peruvian culture. My courses are:

History 348 - History and Geography of the Peruvian Amazon
Literature 216 - Contemporary Peruvian Narratives/Prose
Linguistics 118 - Linguistic Theory
Political Science 222 - The State and Politics in Latin America

15 credits. Monday-Friday, possibly a day off on Thursday, not too bad if I say so myself. My only concern is that I need to have my History and my Linguistics class approved by the Spanish Department at the UW in order to have them transfer as equivalents of the courses I need to graduate. I think history will transfer...I'm not so sure about Linguistics. Here's to hoping!

The last thing we did during orientation was have a security discussion. As if the title wasn't cryptic enough ("Surviving Lima"), there were a plethora of reasons for us to be scared: earthquakes, robberies, freeloaders, etc. The information wasn't really anything new for me, though, especially since my host parents have been wonderful about making sure we know how to take care of ourselves and to keep a low profile!

That's all for now - I will update about my last weekend before class ASAP!

La calle de las pizzas (Pizza Street)!

It's been several days and I have a lot to tell! I will try my best to be succinct because I know you're all very busy :). I greet you all by informing you that I have a friend from the UW now living in my house here, Carissa, and I couldn't be any happier! I have someone to relate to/confide in while undergoing this difficult transition.

Monday night, two days before our orientation at our Peruvian university, most of the program participants from the UW decided to get together to got out to La calle de las pizzas to celebrate Monica's, a UW student, 21st birthday (note the drinking age in Peru is 18). Prior to leaving our home, my host mother warned us about the jaladores ("the pullers") who would try to get us to enter their bar/restaurant before exploring any others. Boy was she right! The second our sizable group stepped onto the street, we were bombarded with requests to enter their restaurants, some even taking those at the front of the group and trying to lead them into the restaurant. I took the lead and started warding off the persistent Peruvians, telling many of them to leave us alone while we discussed our options. We finally decided that Monica should decide because it was her birthday, which was a great move on our part because she chose the pizzeria closest to us. We proceeded to enter and chatted the night away (in Spanish, of course!) over beer and (for me) Coca-Cola. The waiter we had was a hoot - very flamboyant and chatty, he explained the differences in beer and taught us some Peruvian slang. For example, the word for drinking straw is "sorbete," but the Peruvian slang word for it is "cañita." He then proceeded to tell me I spoke with an Andean accent, which was surprising because I'm normally told I sound Spanish because of my cursed lisp. Guess that means I'm doing something right, huh?

While we were chatting, an adorable little girl approached our table offering us candy, which is a move typically employed by siblings/parents of small Andean children with the goal of convincing sappy American tourists of giving the child money. Normally, none of us fall for it. This time, because the girl was just too darn cute, two of us decided to buy a piece of candy each. Later, after returning, I asked my host mother about it, and she informed me that a lot of Andeans leave their well-established lives in the mountains in an attempt to sell candies and other cheap products in Lima. She also stated that it's generally more difficult for them to live here because of their lack of housing/money for housing, so more and more members of the same family tend to migrate in order to supplement the income. I find this nonsensical to some degree because of the cost of living in the city versus the mountains - every new person to feed is less money available to the original migrant.

Upon leaving La calle de las pizzas, we walked by a club called "Canadian," which featured karaoke and dancing, where the bouncer featured to cat call all of the women in our group and tell me that I had "las mejores muñecas del mundo" (the best dolls/darlings in the world), to which I responded "claro" (clearly). After a brief conversation with said bouncer, we all headed home after a great night out with the gringos.

The next day, Monica's actual birthday, we were going to go skygliding (parapentes) over the Pacific Ocean, but upon discovering that there wasn't enough wind to carry the glider, we were turned away for another day. We did, however, meet an American man named Andy who has spent 10 years living in Lima, though his Spanish is absolutely terrible. It was shocking how awful it was after he spent such a long time in South America. Just throwing that out there.

Anyway, we headed to Larcomar (the mall on the ocean) to go figure out what we should do, and we all decided to head home and reconvene at 9 p.m. to go see Alicia en el país de las maravillas (Alice in Wonderland) in 3D, but by the time we had arrived, all of the tickets had sold out. So we decided to go see a Spanish movie, Los abrazos rotos, featuring Penélope Cruz, instead.

After I had an embarrassing encounter with the woman at the ticket window (I couldn't understand what she said through her microphone, so she started laughing at me...though I did make quite a fool of myself. In all fairness, however, I can't even understand what American ticket-sellers say through those microphones!), we entered the movie theater where we were literally served by waiters/waitresses while viewing our film. We could also order appetizers and sandwiches, beers, wines, liquors, etc, as we wished for small fees. Amazing. Combined with the company and the wonderful movie, it was a fantastic night!

Becoming a Regular!

Here's a quick run down of my past couple of days:

The good:

+ Hung out with some of the other Wisconsinites on the program, breaking my last couple of days of wandering the streets of Lima unaccompanied.
+ Went back to a restaurant (Manolo) where the waitress (Marina) recognized me and was very happy to see me.
+ I'm getting really good at taking the combis (buses)
+ Went to Parque del amor (Love Park) today, where people get together with their loved ones and snog in public.
+ Had a very bilingual day, but it was good because I moved fluently between Spanish and English, no stuttering or anything. I guess if I'm going to speak English, it might as well be to the benefit of being able to manage both languages almost simultaneously.
+ Stopped another cab driver from ripping me off. Thieves.

The bad:
- While walking to Parque del amor, a shoe-cleaning man literally threw himself at my feet and cleaned my (albeit dirty) white shoes. Then he charged me 12.50 soles for it (about $4.50). Although I told him not to, he insisted I pay him. Though I knew I could've won the argument, I figured $4.50 to me is nothing, but to him it could mean a lot, so I just gave it to him and moved on. However, the next time it happens, I'll probably refuse.
- Although it was cooler today, it was very humid on the Pacific Coast. Let's hope that's not common.

I hope to upload pictures soon!

Exploring the City

One thing before I begin this post: I forgot to mention that I toured my university the other day and there were DEER just roaming around on the campus. Adorable.
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Yesterday I walked around Lima and went to the very modern and very touristy area called Miraflores. Stunning. I went to Larcomar, an outdoor mall overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Even more stunning. After that, I walked for what seemed like miles up Avenida Larco in Miraflores, a main street in the district, and found a restaurant called Manolo. I walked in and was instantly guided (almost physically) by the server, a 50ish year old woman named Marina. She was very nice and helped me decide what to order. She pushed ceviche on me, but I didn't want to try it in that restaurant because I wasn't sure of their refrigeration capacities and didn't want to get sick! Thus, we settled on a chicken breast with potatoes and a Coca-Cola. Delicious. I had a similar meal when I was in Madrid over Winter Break, but the Spanish version had absolutely no flavor. The Peruvian dish was bursting with it. I also tried a delicious hot sauce called aji (a-hee), which was not very spicy, but it gave the food a nice little kick and more flavor.

After eating a churro for dessert, I walked up the avenue and found a place called Saga, which was basically a Macy's. I went inside and looked around, finding lots of American and European brands like Tommy Hilfiger and the United Colors of Bennetton. It's a nice place.

After about an hour or so perusing Saga, I left and continued my journey in Miraflores, stopping in Parque Kennedy, a famous park in Lima, which I found to be decent. Apparently there are special events that happen on the weekends, so I may have to go back to see more activity.

Upon returning home, I talked with my host mother about how my day went. She asked me if my first taxi-taking experience went well, and I told her it did. The man who drove me to the mall was very nice and even gave me his cell phone number for future rides if I ever needed a ride home. On the way home, two taxi drivers tried to rip me off, saying the price was 10-11 soles (about 4 dollars) for a ride home, which is far too expensive, even with the currency difference. I told them both to go on and found one who gave me a ride home for 8 soles (about $2.83).

After our conversation, I went to Wong, a Wal-Mart type place and purchased some school supplies and then headed home, where I proceeded to spend over 3.5 hours speaking with my host sister about an array of topics, including love, life, ferrets, family, Spanish phonetics, vocabulary words, her time in Australia, the future, pets, accents, the difference between girls from the US and other women in general, and the food in Spain. Those are just some of the topics. It was great! The best part is that my host sister corrected me whenever I made a mistake while speaking, which was nice, but she also gives me time to see if I catch the mistake by myself, which I normally do. My host family is wonderful and very accommodating - they've actually helped make the transition here a lot easier.

Now, I bid you farewell as I try to go running...though the task has managed to elude me for the past couple of days. ;)

My First Day in Lima

Hola a todos!

Well, I've arrived, and let me tell you, it is hotter than a monkey's right butt cheek down here! Seriously, I haven't been this hot since the summer of 1974 when the Mississippi River dried up!

Ok, now that I'm done being Southern, I can tell you about the last couple of days. My flights went fairly well - none of my suitcases were overweight, it all arrived in Lima on time, etc - and I met up with several of my fellow program participants in the airport. They're very friendly and I really like them, so I have a good base of American friends to start off my trip!

After arriving in Lima, I went through la aduana (customs), where the customs agent interviewed me and was seemingly very impressed that I could hold my own in a conversation with her. She stamped my tourist visa for 187 days, giving me ample time (over three months!) to get my student visa. The customs declaration area was really interesting because they make you push a button to get randomly screened: if the light turns red, you must submit to a search of your person and your belongings. If it turns green, you're good to go.

Fortunately, I was good to go, clearing the security gate into a swarm of Peruvians. Almost instantaneously, I was bombarded by taxi drivers asking me if I needed a cab. I didn't, fortunately, because my host parents, Nancy and Tito, came to pick me up. It took me about five minutes to find them, but I was actually the one who noticed them first. Nancy is this really fashionable fifty-something year old woman who is super short and a psychologist. Tito seems to be in his later fifties/early sixties and works as a negotiator between the indigenous groups in Peru and the government's mining/development corporation, which is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for my research project. More on that in later posts.

After a 30 minute drive, we arrived at my home for the next nine or so months. It's gorgeous! I've got my own room and bathroom, which is awesome.

After a while, I met some of the other people living in the house. Barbara, an amazing Austrian woman on vacation here for two weeks, and I hit it off almost immediately. We chatted and then went to Wong's, which is basically Wal-Mart except Chinese. Later, my host parents, Barbara, and my host sister Melissa, and I went to my university to look around. I met some other Americans there, one of whom was named Tila (and both Barbara and I had to bite our tongues before we said "Like Tila Tequila?") The university is beautiful and their are wild deer that run around munching on the vegetation, which is quite different from Madison, but in a non-dangerous, that's-kind-of-cool way.

Afterwards, my host family took me around Lima in their vehicle (most South Americans drive like maniacs - my host father is no exception), and I saw some wonderful areas. After about an hour or so, we returned home and my host dad took me to buy a SIM Card for my cell phone so I can receive calls. What's interesting is that the word for "SIM Card" in Peru is "chip" (pronounced "cheap"). Everything's working out really well so far - even the heat is tolerable. Hopefully the weather continues cooling off - I'm fine with year-round fall weather, but can't handle the humidity!

Chao por ahora!

EDIT:

PS. I heard Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," Britney Spears' "Toxic," and the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feelin'," upon arriving at my place of residence. Oh how American culture spreads.

One Day Left!

As I sit at home preparing for my fast-approaching departure for Lima, I decided it would behoove me to start a blog so that my friends and family have a way to keep up with me while I'm spelunking across South America. So, this is it!

I'm mostly packed and have two suitcases: one contains nothing but hygienic/beauty products and shoes while the other contains most of my normal wardrobe. I fear that I may have overpacked and that my luggage will exceed the 50 pound limit imposed by airlines - let's hope not! Daddy ain't about to pay those ridiculous overweight charges! (By "daddy," I am referring to myself.)

I had a great "summer vacation" here in Wisconsin, taking the two months or so before heading off to Peru to spend time with my family and friends while working full time at the Bursar's Office. I was (and still am) really sad to leave my loved ones behind, but I know that this is a unique opportunity and that I will never have the chance to do this again - I just hope it goes well! Right now I'm really pumped - I've got a couple of friends on the program that arrived in Lima on Saturday and hope that they can show me the ropes when I arrive. Otherwise, I've heard wonderful things about my host family, so I'm hoping that they will show me the ropes.

Current goals:

+Obtain fluency in Spanish

+Make lots of Peruvian friends (which should help with the first goal)

+Make contact with/impress my Peruvian professors

+Run (almost) every day

+Continue swimming and become good enough to participate in the Olympics

I'm sure there are many others that escape me at this time, but that's a pretty good list!

One thing I'm really looking forward to is beginning my research project. Entitled "The Birth of a Movement: Bagua as the Beginning of the Peruvian Indigenous Movement," I hope to make contact with government officials, academics, journalists, and indigenous leaders in order to determine whether or not the recent political violence that occurred in the northern Peruvian town of Bagua is really the start of the first-ever indigenous movement in the country. The history is long and complicated, but I hope my presence in Peru will give me a crash-course in the subject!

Well, I think this has been a sufficiently random post, but I hope to provide you with many others. Feel free to leave a comment or follow!

Love,

Amjad