Week 14

Last Thursday Ahnika, Mariah, and I were able to go to the Ministry of Education in Lima (it's a really cool building shaped like books!) we got to talk with a few people and had a small tour.

Ministry of Education 

 And I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the girls, working on homework, and figuring out what classes I am going to take next semester. I have realized now that my time here is almost over and that makes me sad and happy at the same time. I can't wait to go home but I also feel like I need more time here. But I will make the most of the time I have left. On Wednesday we fly out to Iquitos to visit the Amazon! I am beyond excited for this trip, and once we get back we only have two weeks left! It's crazy how fast those four months flew by.

Hanging out at Claire's house (she has a rooftop pool!)

Luz Azul and the beach

This last Saturday for World Autism Awareness Day I had the opportunity to go to an event that raises awareness for autism. The event was called Luz Azul and held at Parque de las Aguas. They had bands playing, water shows, plenty of blue lights and many people there to support autism awareness. It made my heart so happy that I could support autism awareness while studying abroad in another country.

 Enciendo una luz por el autismo!

 The rainbow fountain was my favorite! 

 Ahnika and Ashley playing in the water fountain 

On Sunday I went with my host sister, her aunt, and her aunts friends to the beach. We left at 6:30 in the morning to take a bus out to a small district just outside of Lima called Mala. The bus ride was a couple hours and then when we got there we went to a restaurant to eat. Then after walking around the town and main plaza we finally headed to the beach. There were hundreds of little crabs running around on the sand and lots of birds. After a couple hours on the beach we left to go to the next town over to eat lunch. I liked this town, it was smaller and very quiet. The food was really good and my plate was huge! 

 My host sister Isa and I on the beach :)

 My meal with a piece of chicken the size of my head!

 The cats that watched us eat :)

 The small town near Mala 

Week 12

Easter was this past Sunday but it didn't feel like it. I was really wishing to be home because they don't celebrate Easter like we do and with my host family they don't do anything special. So I really missed spending Easter with my mom this year (but its okay because she bought me a chocolate bunny for when I come home). On Monday a few of us wanted to go to Parque de Aguas ( a cool water and light show) and it was only after we took a cab all the way out there that we realized they are closed on Mondays. So we went to the KFC down the street instead (which I was very much okay with). And the rest of the week was filled with class as usual. But ever since the fall semester has started here there have been so many people on campus (and I thought there were a lot in the summer!) I have to get used to going on campus all over again because now there are many more people that stare as we walk across campus. Anyway, I am very excited for this weekend because this Saturday is World Autism Awareness Day were people all over will be lighting it up blue for autism awareness! So I started searching online to see if I could find a light it up blue event in Lima that I could go to. I found an organization called Soy Autista y Que and they raise awareness for autism and will be having a Luz Azul event at Parque de Aguas this Saturday! I am also excited to say that we will be going to the Amazon in two weeks! We have bought our plane tickets, figured out what tours we will be doing and I am ready to go on another adventure.

I only have one picture this week. UPC before the fall semester started (much better, less people)

Week 11

Not a whole lot happened this past week so this will be a fairly short post. On St. Patrick's day instead of having class we all met up in Central Lima to watch the changing of the guards in the Plaza de Armas. After a very hot, slightly scary, hour and a half taxi ride, we missed the changing of the guard due to all of the traffic that day. So we decided to just walk around the Plaza and found china town. Some of the group stopped to eat Chinese food while the rest of us found some much needed ice cream instead. The next day I woke up and we didn't have any water in our house. And according the my host mom neither did the rest of the neighborhood. They were told it would come back on a four that afternoon. But it didn't, and it didn't come back on Saturday either. Even though I felt gross from not being able to shower I knew I needed to get out of the house for a little while, so I decided to go to the movies with a couple of the girls. Danielle and Ahnika were already at the theater so Shelby and I met up at UPC to take the bus. We asked the driver if he was going where we needed to go and he said yes so we got on. A little while later he took a turn and started to go in the opposite direction of the theater. After panicking for a minute we decided to stay on and see if he would start to make his way around in the right direction. He didn't, he also didn't ever stop to let people off, so we started to get a little irritated. By the time we were able to get off we had managed to make it all the way to Miraflores. And we actually ran into Yurina (what are the odds of that?). Anyway we found a theater in Miraflores and watched our movie there instead and then headed home (needless to say we took a taxi back). It was about one in the morning when I got home and I checked one last time to see if the water had come back on and it finally did! (so of course I took a shower at 1:30 a.m.)  And the rest of the week was filled with lots of sleeping, Netflix, and class. But I am happy to say we are officially going to the Amazon! I bought my tickets for Iquitos and we leave April 13th!

And I only have a few pictures for this week.

China town

 It was very crowded 

 We found lots of puppies in Central Lima :)