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
