On January 9th 2015 16 others, and myself mostly acquaintances arrived at Eppley Airfield to begin our roughly four and a half month study abroad journey in Lima, Perú. I did not know what to expect when I arrived at Jorge Chavez International Airport, but it sure was different than what I was used to. Most of the signs were in Spanish and was the main language I heard as we were making our way through customs. I had only messaged with my host brother William maybe three or four times before I headed his way and it turned out he wasn't going to be the one picking me up from the airport, but his parents. I had never seen a picture of them before so I thought finding them was going to be a struggle, but they actually found me. We didn't talk very much that night as they and I were exhausted after a long day, but come morning, we talked all day as they showed me around different parts of the city.
I have two host brothers William, who I previously wrote a tiny bit about and Francisco. They're 19 and 18 years of age and are very much alike. They both like video games, weight lift, and study or read on a regular bases. It's their summer so I find it a little different that they study and read on the days they get to relax but it's pretty awesome that they do that. My host parent’s names are William and Beatriz. William is an accountant for a firm here in Lima, and Beatriz is a distributor of foreign vehicle parts. They both work long days Monday through Friday so I really only get to see them for a little while on the weekends.
Adjusting to life here so far hasn’t been too big of a struggle. There are a few things I miss of course like family and friends but the new friends I’m making here are doing a great job helping me with those struggles. Life for the most part hasn’t been too shockingly different. School has started a little slow since we all have to get familiar with campus and nothing but Spanish in classes, which for me is not really struggle. One of the biggest differences has probably got to be the transportation. We never really had any problems with it in Kearney, but here you either need to wave down a taxi or hop on a combi (bus) but we all have yet to figure out their bus system so we’re sticking to taxes for now. Other than that, things have been great. Just about all of the strangers I’ve asked for help have happily done so. I’m looking forward to what this upcoming week has to offer.
I have two host brothers William, who I previously wrote a tiny bit about and Francisco. They're 19 and 18 years of age and are very much alike. They both like video games, weight lift, and study or read on a regular bases. It's their summer so I find it a little different that they study and read on the days they get to relax but it's pretty awesome that they do that. My host parent’s names are William and Beatriz. William is an accountant for a firm here in Lima, and Beatriz is a distributor of foreign vehicle parts. They both work long days Monday through Friday so I really only get to see them for a little while on the weekends.
Adjusting to life here so far hasn’t been too big of a struggle. There are a few things I miss of course like family and friends but the new friends I’m making here are doing a great job helping me with those struggles. Life for the most part hasn’t been too shockingly different. School has started a little slow since we all have to get familiar with campus and nothing but Spanish in classes, which for me is not really struggle. One of the biggest differences has probably got to be the transportation. We never really had any problems with it in Kearney, but here you either need to wave down a taxi or hop on a combi (bus) but we all have yet to figure out their bus system so we’re sticking to taxes for now. Other than that, things have been great. Just about all of the strangers I’ve asked for help have happily done so. I’m looking forward to what this upcoming week has to offer.