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Saved: December 23rd 2014
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PUCP deer
They live on campus. They're not shy. They steal food. They probably wouldn'st still be there if they weren't so damn cute Hello!
In case it's been a while, I should let you know I'm in Peru for the year! I'm doing the CIEE Liberal Arts program in Lima, staying with a host family and studying at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). I'll be here for pretty much the whole year, taking 2 classes with CIEE, and directly enrolling apart from that. And so resumes…the travelblog.
Strangely, I was caught off guard recently when someone asked me why I decided to go to Peru. I knew for sure that I wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country for a year and live with a host family. With my foreign exchange mentality, that's what I wanted my study abroad to be. From the list of such programs approved by Gustavus, it was really a process of narrowing it down. In a way, it felt like a college search all over again: lots of shopping around on websites, comparing programs, places, costs, classes. I wanted to be in a big city, directly enrolled in a university, and I was kind of hoping to be on the coast. I have to admit I wanted to be somewhere where it would be reasonable
Was that intentional?
Barranco, a district further south in Lima, has a reputation of being the Bohemian sort of home of many artists. Which explains the cool graffiti to go visit my host family in Chile. And for a long time I've really wanted to go to Machu Picchu. Lima, Peru seemed like a good choice.
I am living with a family in the Miraflores district. Pola is my host mom. She sells clothing independently, but loves to cook in her free time. Pola's mother Liliana lives here. She's a kind elderly lady who often tells me about her travels with her husband, and the time when she lived in Chile. Ermelinda is the empleada who lives with us, who's very close with Pola. In Latin America, it's fairly common that a family will pay someone to clean the house and cook. Sometimes and empleada will live with the family, sometimes they will come daily or once a week. Ermelinda lives here, and is very close particularly with Pola. It's fun to talk with her; we swap stories about living in the U.S. and the Peruvian rainforest, and she is very patient when I don't understand something. Sorry, I don't have photos with my host family yet, but I'll add a couple in here in the next few days.
It's a funny thing, though, going from home, where I'm expected to help with dishes and at least clean my own, occasionally mow, etc. Perhaps it has to do with U.S. culture, where we're uncomfortable with thinking of people as servants (hence often general informality) even if we're paying them to do jobs we'd rather not do. Probably because of our myth of equality. In any case, Ermelinda has a job to do, but I don't want to sit around. So I help at least clear the table, put stuff away. Keep my room mostly tidy, but she does the laundry and makes my bed. Keep some sort of balance.
If you'd like to see PUCP, the university I'm studying at, you can get a photo tour as well as some video at http://www.pucp.edu.pe/mapa_virtual/ Get to know the local college deer
I'll keep you posted,
Ian
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