Finally here and settled!!

I am finally getting around to writing my first entry in this blog that will document my adventures in Peru. It has been quite a change from the US. There are so many little things that are different that I am learning.

My beginning to this trip did not turn out the way I had planned. On my flight from Dallas to Miami there was no more room in the overhead bins and they made about one fourth of the plane valet their carry ons. This would not have been a problem, except that they sent all the valets to baggage claim. So in the Miami airport I had an hour to go out to baggage claim, wait for my carry on and then go back through security to make my flight. I showed up just a few minutes before they started boarding. When dinner came on the plane at about 6:30 I was starving. I hadn’t had anything since 8:00 when I had arrived in Dallas. The flight to Lima was extremely long but finally we made it at about 11:00. We had to go through immigration and finally got out to baggage claim at about 12:00. I waited and waited for my luggage and it never came. We had to fill out paperwork to have our luggage delivered to us. I was unsure of my host family’s address so we used Amy’s (another girl on the trip). When she switched families, I called and changed my address but it must not have been inputted into the computer. My luggage was delivered to the original address on Sunday evening. I was ecstatic when I received my luggage because I had been without it for almost 3 days! That was an experience that I would not wish to ever have again!

Now on to the fun stuff... It is summer in Lima and it is quite hot here. I have already gotten sunburnt (my sunblock was in my luggage). My host family consists of the mother, the father, and two brothers about my age, David and Kevin. David knows English pretty well so if I don’t understand something he is able to translate. On Saturday, my host family took me to MiraFlores which is a nice part of Lima. We went on a one hour bus tour of MiraFlores. On Sunday, they took me on a tour of Callao which is a naval port. We saw a fort, a museum, and we went on a submarine. Lima is very different than Nebraska. Everything is built up and it is there is always a lot going on. The driving is crazy! The taxi drivers weave in and out of traffic and don’t pay attention to speed limit signs. They also use their horns at intersections and when switching lanes to let others know they are there so they don’t have to slow down.  There are so many things that are different here compared to the United States. For example, at the home that I am staying at everyone is expected to bring their own toilet paper to the bathroom with them. I asked why some of the windows did not have glass (they are just like holes in the wall that can not be covered) and David told me that they don’t need them because it hardly ever rains. Luckily, the bedrooms have windows to keep out the bugs at night.

Today was the orientation of classes. Kevin took me to campus where I met with another girl in my program. To get in to the university, we had to show the guards our passports. All of the students have to show their UPC id cards but we have not received those yet.  I have classes on Mondays from 3-6 and Tuesday from 2-5 along with my two online classes. My host family did not know what time we would be dismissed so two of the girls in my program walked home with me because their families were not picking them up for another hour. It is about a 15 minute walk from UPC to my place of residence, good thing I remembered how to get there! I have to walk the route by myself starting tomorrow!

I was talking with my host family and my host mother asked me why I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I told her I do not always eat breakfast and she thought it was very strange. She explained that in Peru, it is more typical to eat breakfast and lunch without a dinner. I am going to need to adjust to this new finding because I rarely eat breakfast but I always eat lunch and dinner.

I am excited to begin this 4 month long adventure that will hopefully allow me to communicate in Spanish. My Spanish is not the greatest, but I am trying and my host family has patience with me (they are going to need it). Let the journey begin!