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!
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