One week down

Okay so I have now been in Peru for a whole week! I have had a few bouts of homesickness but thank goodness for technology because I have been able to keep in touch with friends via social media, FaceTime Luke, text C.A, and call my mom and dad all for free. It’s pretty wonderful. So I have talked about my new Peruvian family already so this time I will talk about my classes and some of the things I have gotten to do and try!

The classes I am taking are Advanced Conversation, Peruvian Literature and Advanced Grammar and Cultural Psychology. Dr. Miller teaches cultural Psychology, he is the professor here from UNK and his class is the only one taught in English. The other three classes are all taught by UPC professors, they speak very little amounts of English so sometimes it’s a real struggle. My Costa Rica experience has really helped me in this department because I have kind of gotten over the shock of being in another country where everyone is speaking Spanish all the time. Speaking of Costa Rica, in my short time in Peru I already like Peru WAY more. Yes, Costa Rica is gorgeous and I loved going to the resorts and zip lining and seeing the beautiful forests BUT the people of Lima are so much kinder and understanding. When you go out to eat, the waiters and waitresses are very patient and try to help you along if you get stuck on words and aren’t sure what to say. It’s also way cleaner here, there are always people sweeping the streets and raking up leaves. Also, it might help that I love my family here and in Costa Rica… Not so much.

My schedule is pretty wonderful because my Spanish classes are all in the afternoon Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and my Cultural Psychology class is in the morning on Tuesday. So no classes on Friday!  This is something I really missed from my time at Colombia Basin College. During the week we (as in my UNK friends and I) did lots of exploring around Surco, which is the district of Lima we live in. We went to Bembos, which is like Peru’s version of McDonalds but way better tasting. Also, we went to Jockey Plaza that is the biggest mall I have ever seen! We have now gone twice and I have probably only seen a quarter of it. There are tons of Starbucks here (surprise Lima is like Washington, a Starbucks on every corner) but we also went to a really cute local café. We also tried out the cheap wine selection in Peru and had a few drinks on the rooftop of Nikki’s house (UNK group) – we were definitely living the good life even if I was only drinking boxed wine haha

***Side note: Lima has 43 districts and about 9 million people.

Vino (wine) with Jen!

Yesterday was our first big adventure as a group and we went to Miraflores! It’s the most touristy district of Lima so there were lots of cute shops and restaurants. It was here that we finally saw the ocean! It was gorgeous even though the beach was rocks instead of sand (I guess the really pretty beaches are in the south, farther away from Surco). This will definitely be the first time I have ever had a tan in January :) 

Finally got to see the ocean!