Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The First Week

This has been a stressful yet eventful first week. We got into Lima late on Wednesday night. My host brother and his mom picked me up at the airport. It wasn't until we were outside that I realized I was in a foreign country by myself with two people I had just met. I was terrified. But my host family was very welcoming which put me at ease. By the time we got to their house it was about one in the morning and I was exhausted so I slept well the first night. Waking up was difficult because I realized I would eventually have to get out of bed and come to terms with the fact that I will be living here for four months. But from then on things have been getting easier. My family is very nice and understanding. My host mom does not speak any English so it is difficult for us to communicate but she has a daughter and a son that both speak English pretty well so they help me when I need it. Their aunt also lives with us so it's like I have two moms here, which is nice, although she does not speak English either. On the first day my host mom showed me how to exchange money and took me to the store across the street. Later that night when my host sister got off work we went for a walk and she showed me how to get to UPC. The next day we had orientation at UPC and got a tour of the campus. It is much smaller than UNK but more beautiful. There is a little "river" that runs through the middle of campus, a building covered in plants, and an outdoor study area with beanbag chairs. After orientation we explored Lima a bit, walked to El polo, which is an outdoor mall near by, and later took a bus to Jockey plaza, which is probably the biggest mall I have ever been to. The next day a few of us took some taxis to Miraflores, another district in Lima where our professors from UNK live (we live in the district Surco.) They took us to Larcomar (an outdoor mall overlooking the ocean), pizza street (a very popular area for nightlife) and Kenedy park which is filled with stray cats and kittens (personally my favorite part of the day.) On Sunday I relaxed with my family and that afternoon they took me to Barranco (now my favorite distract) to watch the sun set over the ocean. Classes started Monday and it doesn't seem like they will be too difficult. Although the schedule will take some getting used to, we have 4 classes a week, one each day Mon-Thurs. for 3 hours. On Tuesday we all went out to eat dinner in El polo at Pappas grill and we were all very excited to find out that they have ranch (which is hard to find in Peru.) And today Ahnika and I found a little cafe that serves amazing ice cream so we will definitely be going back there soon. It has been such a fun first week and I can't wait for many more to come!












1 comment:

  1. That's so awesome! It looks absolutely beautiful there! I'm glad you're adjusting well, miss you!!

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