The University Life

So i feel like talking a little about my life at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica en Peru. First off, its not really a highly religious school... I think its just a requirement to have Catolica somewhere in the name of schools here (not really). The campus is amazingly well maintenanced, but to me it feels really unnatural despite it being one of the few places i know with lots of green areas. The campus is huge and beautiful, and is not a bad place to lounge around all day..

I am taking 4 courses directly enrolled in the school and 2 courses through my CIEE program. The 4 classes are Alternative programs to Pre school, administration and legislation of education, social development and responsibility, and human sexuality. My other two are advanced spanish and peruvian social reality. So this is what i do all day at La Catolica (PUCP)

Let me tell you about first days of school in a new language: you dont understand anything. I was literally completely lost by the end of my first week. I didnt even know who i was, i was so confused. The cool thing about most of the classes are that they work in groups. So some students who felt sorry for me decided to take me in and nurture me back to health.

This is how their conversations probably went:

Pepe: Do you think we should take the gringo?
Maria: I dont know, I seriously doubt hes going to do any work.
Pilar: But i want to practice my English! Lets take him!
Pepe: Yeah, poor guy, he is all alone in this class. Lets do it out of our good hearts!

So i have groups for the rest of the year, and yes I have done work for them...

A kinda different thing in Catolica is that there are no bachelor degrees, only degrees equivalent to masters. A person chooses a faculty and takes classes only in that faculty, so me being in 3 different faculties (education, social management, psychology) is a rarety, if ever it even happens.

My two classes in education are full of girls, I am literally the only guy in one class, and Im gringo. What a mix! I have a pretty cool group of girls for that class but they talk incredibly fast. I think they do that just to make fun of me in front of my face! Ill understand them one day...

Also, my human sexuality class does not just talk about sex... it is actually includes everything about sexuality, be it preference, social issues on gender, development of sex, actual sex, and identity. I am actually getting a lot of cool ideas from the class, mainly because i agree with my teacher on just about everything, even if they do call it feminism (i have in the past claimed myself to be an ecofeminist without the title of ecofeminist) i am also one of the few guys in that class as well.

I am meeting new people, but its a slow process. I really do not think the ¨Im lost, can you help me¨ line works in Catolica, so ive just been goin to classes and goin home. Three of my classes are made for independent reading and research, which is exactly the classes i believe are the best for learning. My human sexuality is all lecture, which is fine. My administration and legislation class is literally all independent research, we dont even have classes except for when we need to do a little exam (which i did alright in)

Another cool thing is that all of my classes work for my little research project im doing for UA. I am focusing on the education of Peru and Lima and what all the social reality is of it. So almost every class helps me on my independent research. I am happy about that

When i cannot go home for lunch there is this hamburger kiosk right next to the school that i go to every time. I pay 3 soles (1 dollar) and get a huge hamburger (thin slice of meat though) that i enjoy every bite of. The different thing they do in burgers here is that they put potato sticks in the hamburger.. Who knew it would be delicious!

Cheerio, then! Right-tow!

Cusco, while its fresh in my mind.

Lets talk about the Cusco trip.. where I might have slept a total of 5 hours... That is exaggerating, but not much



The cool thing about the trip was that my friend Polina actually came from the states to accompany me and see Machu Picchu. We have been good friends for a while and it was cool that she came by from that far. She took part in one of the coolest trips ive had (I dont have many)



So we got to Cusco on Friday, and immediately we decided to go to the market to get some food... even though our all knowledgable leader Marion told us to rest (we ignored her foolishly).

If you dont know, Cusco is a city that is roughly 3,350 M... lets divide that by 1600 and we got roughly 2 miles high... lets convert that to feet and wha!!? we are almost 11,000 feet up in the air... when Lima is sea level...



With all that said, i nearly fainted while eatin at the market.. and had to immediately go home to rest and turn a little in my bed because my stomach couldnt digest the cheese.. im sorry for my foolishness, Marion



Melvin, the other chill leader of CIEE, knows this man named Kike` who played 20 somethin different types of native instruments in front of us at a really cool place in cusco... it was spectacular, one of the best performances of music I could have listend to in 30 minutes or so. He also runs a completely donated school for andian children that we would visit the next day.



So the night was better, and i promised myself to not eat until lunch... but that didnt stop me from drinking a little... or... yeah, a little...

so that was done and we had some drinks and went outside just to see a drum circle playin some cool beats.. we sat around, some people played with them from our group, and enjoyed the atmosphere.. which was gettin better and better.. and it got better



note: most of the people there had dreadlocks.



so i was definitely into the music in cusco, until a cool girl from the bar place told us there would be a fusion band that would have some native instruments mixed with rock... WHAT!?! im there..



so we went upstairs to see like 10 people up on stage rockin out some tunes from america and i went nuts... there was an electric lead guitar, a small guitar from latinamerica, a saxophone, two andian flutists, a bass, singer, and a cajon (a box kinda) that did the beat... man they rocked.. it was me, Polina, samantha, matt, and tyler... and you could ttell we were totally feelin it



i have never rocked out to music like that.. it was one of the best vibes ive ever had...



next day, i slept maybe 4 hours and we were off to the donated school, which ill talk about later because i loved it so.. we also visited a huge white jesus statue openin its arms to cusco.. then nightlife.. i listened to a band that played ALL classic rock... some led zepplin, pink floyd, good doors, one strokes song, deep purple and maybe one more... but yeah it was sweet i was definitely into that... but we had to get some sleep... Machu Picchu tomorrow!!



note: the singer sounded just like the bands... impressive, which also happened in a pink floyd cover band i listened to (later i guess)



so next day, me and polina took an hour and half taxi to ollantaytambo, where the train would take us to machu picchu... let me tell you that this trip surpassed the mesa verde passage in Colorado when i went to Telluride from Durango.. it was magnificent.. and we talked some with our taxi, Alfredo, who loves canadian families ??? i didnt ask.



I have lets say, 180 pictures of my machu picchu trip, and machu picchu is as wonderful as they say, i mean its not just the remains of the people that is beautiful, it is the entire atmosphere.. can you imagine walking for 4 days without civilization to find a beautiful gathering of buildings on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains.. man, i was feelin it.. me, meghan, matt, and tonisha decided to walk up to the gate of the sun, an hour walk straight up the mountain to get to the place where the 4 day hike Inka Trail ends and its the first time you see machu picchu. spectacular, we even saw some hikers finish the trail.. which was really cool.. we took in the beauty and hiked down...



so gettin back to cusco, youd think id be tired right!? like completely exhausted bein in the sun all day a little burnt!? right!?!? NOOO... to ROOTS! where its almost all night reggae! sadly my bros could not make it, so it was me Zach, and John with two girls from Urubamba, i dunno John met them somewhere.. anyway we got there and I met these two girls (could be ladies) from Australia!! Hell yea, they were cool.. and there was a live band for a little while playin some killer drums with an Australian indigenous instrument called the didjeridu, and youd know it if you heard it.. so i was definitely feelin this place.. and i danced there until 4 am..which is a ice way to end the trip, even though i felt like dying the next day...

note: every place i went out to had more foreigners than locals.. and they were mostly backpackers.. a way different feel than anywhere else ive been to. there were some free spirits there, and it seemed like a blend from everywhere around the world.. and lots of dreadlocks.. there was a tv in Roots that was showin just extreme sports highlights always... and i think the lesbian population there outdid all other populations of sexual preference. the places were cool.

fact of my life: even though i was droolin i was so tired, i could not sleep in the bus to the airport or the airplane ride.. i am doomed to never be able to sleep in public.

I am horrible at this, but im going to get better...

As my mother knows, I do not do well with keeping up on things...but in all honesty, I got that from her genes!

So, ill just do some short blogs, since i cant let yall suffer... or can i!?!

Lets talk about my family a little more... So it has been a while since ive lived with a big family.. oh wait.. never.. Like I said, there are 11 people total in the house and two dogs... and two turtles (but thankfully they do not bark)

So the first thing to notice is, there is rarely a quiet time.. Camila is two and yells, the dogs bark with the slightest shift in sound, thats really mainly it.. but its enough to notice. The only time ive noticed things being quiet is when I walk in at 4 in the morning.

My family worries a lot... about me, about everyones safety.. its just a thing that happens.. but really i think its just a part of understanding the city life, because there are always dangers out there. Through my talks with my comrades in la catolica, I have found out that their parents worry too.. So in order for me to ease my parents (especially the mother), I have decided to do a text system where i text my mother when I am comin back, if I am stayin out later or not.. this all was decided after i came out at 7:45 am in the morning (i might tell this story later)

My home is comfortable.. I get my daily exercise walkin up three stories.. sometimes just for water.. My parents leave for work in the mornin and i dont see them that much, but i am going to start checkin on them (i mean, im family!) my older brother fernando works all day, but we talk some when he comes in... sandra, the older sister, chills in her room and we do the occasional hola.. and tamara, the younger sister, comes home later and we talk some... but the most important part of the family is my brother, jose luis. its hard to describe, but he is seriously the best bro match CIEE could have done. We have all the same interests, we get along really well (except i wake him up sometimes, usually for no reason) and we have good conversations, spanish and english.. he has really helped me get use to Lima, and im tryin to find a way to repay him for it. We are two peas in a pod...yehaw (and other cliche southern frases)!!

I cannot forget about Marisa, our stay at home cook. Sshe is wonderful, i have great conversations with her and she cooks some of the best food i will probably ever eat casually. I have really enjoyed my stay in my house, and I look forward to another 3 months here. Of course I need to work on being a better son for my parents, and I still dont know how to do everytihng right, but I believe i should get the hang of it soon.