...Day 64---> 43 days left...

So today is day 64 if you couldn't tell in my title and as my title states, I only have 43 days left. Holy crap!! That's all I keep telling myself or saying outloud when someone tells me. Well here is a little overview of the last couple weeks in Lima, Peru.

Last week consisted of school, school, school, and more school. It is going good but we have now had our fair share of tests and even had our first test in Peruvian Literature! Believe me, it was as scary as it sounds. But thank goodness our teacher is super chill and so nice that it wasn't as bad as we all were imagining. So other than big ole scary tests in lit, grammar, and psychology, school really isn't too bad. It is going to start getting a little busier because next week along with us being on campus and taking classes, the actual semester for the Peruvian students starts to UPC is going to be a whole lot busier. Which to our grammar teacher, Roberto, that may be a good thing and might make us make friends with some other Peruvians. Along with our normal classes, Roberto, has asked us to do a conversation table with other peruvian students on Tuesday afternoons. This is going good but kind of makes the weeks even busier. I am super excited because I think within the next couple weeks we will be able to go into some of the schools here in Lima and see how their classrooms work!! That's exciting!!

Last week, some of us treated ourselves to some wonderful pancakes at this restaurant in El Polo. These pancakes are to die for!! They have so many different kinds and some including ice cream and nutella! How amazing right?!? We also went to a movie, The Legend of Hercules. Good movie... but also very cheesy! Nothing wrong with that. Later in the week, Nikki and I were determined to send some post cards, and Jorge was determined to find his long lost package. After traveling by taxi to 2 different locations, we still had our post cards and no package. We were not okay with paying 30 soles for each post card!! So kind of an epic fail all around. That night we went to the Burrito Bar in Barranco and met up with some (okay only 2) of our conversation friends. We went to a discoteca and danced the night away! So much fun!!

The rest of the weekend consisted of watching Netflix and doing little homework. I need to get my priorities in line I know! :) But sometimes Netflix is so much more appealing. On Sunday, I went over to my grandmas apartment for a birthday party. It was a party for Helen, one of my Peruvian friends but also like my family as well. It's all kind of confusing. We spent the afternoon listening to music, drinking pisco sours, and eating great food (minus the cow heart that I didn't know I was eating.. Thanks Jorge!).

Happy Birthday Helen!!

On Monday, Missy, Jorge, and I were feeling adventurous and wanted to go to the district of Gamarra. This place is known for it's shopping and the oodles and oodles of stores. But it wasn't exactly what I pictured. It was like a huge mall, with dirty streets, very overwhelming, and wasn't really my favorite place to go. But it was an experience and that's what I am here for. That night, was amazing! I received a save the date from the best aunt in the whole world and my package from my bestest friend ever, April. I was so excited and once again couldn't even speak spanish to the guys downstairs. She is the best, not only did she send me an awesome easter basket, she sent me girl scout cookies!! Amazing!! I love her.

My wonderful Easter basket :)

On Tuesday, we decided to go to the play Incendios which is down in Miraflores. However, after being super excited all day and contemplating what I was going to wear, we go to buy the tickets and guess what... oh they are sold out for tonight. So after running home, getting ready in a matter of minutes, and running to vivandas, the tickets are sold out!! Well I guess a good thing is that we bought the tickets for next week so we are guaranteed to see it!! Thank goodness. A couple of Peruvians both named Maria Fernandez were going to go to the play with us but since it was sold out we decided to go to El Polo and get some ice cream. **Just a side note, I don't know what it is about the sweets (chocolate, ice cream, candy, etc) here but us Americans can not get enough of them. Everything tastes so good!!!!
Okay back to what I was saying, we all went to this restaurant in El Polo to get ice cream. Well some of us get ice cream, some of us get cheesecake, but Missy and I got fondu.... and it was amazing!! Best idea ever!! We definitely had no problem finishing that. It was a good time being with the family and also with our new Peruvian friends Maria Fernandez, and Maria Fernandez. :)

Thursday is the day I think we were all looking forward to.... Soccer game!! That night we were going to go watch La U vs Brazil and we were excited. I had been to a soccer game in Costa Rica and that was so much fun and it was raining so I could only imagine how fun this game was going to be since in Lima, Peru it hardly rains. The game was at 9:30 so we head down early due to traffic being crazy and we wanted to buy a jersey. We arrive 5 -8 blocks away from the stadium and it is already crazy and it's an hour and a half before the game. My thoughts were...okay soccer games don't correlate to peruvian time and holy crap Peruvians like to go hard!! Missy, Nikki, and I buy ourselves a jersey and we walk towards the entrance.... Well we thought until we had to back track and go to a different entrance. We finally make it to our section and get our seats (which are not assigned... first come first serve). I never knew picking seats and where in the section was so important until now. Thank goodness Jorge knew because half of the section is crazy and the other half is kind of mellow. However, the north section of the stadium.. saying it is crazy is an understatement.... there were guards lining this section!!! I mean it was cool to see but I don't think so cool to be sitting over there! :) Even though La U didn't play very good and scored a goal for Brazil and lost.. it was still so much fun!! I mean I thought they were playing good, but according to our soccer connoisseurs Missy and Jorge, they told us (Nikki, Adam, Emily, and I who had no idea) that they were playing pretty bad. Oh well we cheered anyways!

Go La U!!!!

The soccer connoisseurs & I 

That would be the North section- Crazy!! 

Go La U!!!!! 

That brings me to today, Saturday, March 15th. First and foremost, I want to wish my sister Kate a very very Happy Happy 25th Birthday!! I wish I was home to celebrate but I'll be there soon enough. Missy, Adam, Emily, and I wanted to have a beach day so thats exactly what we did. We left Surco to go to Miraflores around 11. When we got there we treated ourselves to some wonderful Oreo shakes. These things were to die for... see I'm telling you I have no idea but the ice cream is so good here. We then walk to the not so rocky beach and set up camp for the day. Well I,  being not so smart like my good friend Missy who actually put on sunblock, got real real sunburnt! But my thought was I wanna be so tan when I head home so as Adam said, "I hope all of my progress isn't wasted." My thoughts exactly. So we go grab some lunch and some divine cheesecake and head for home around 4:30. It was a great, relaxing day. We decided we need to take advantage of the beaches since they are non-existent in NE.

Best sand castle ever!!

So as I stated in my title, today marks day 64 which means I only have 43 days left here in Lima, Peru. As I type this I feel a rush of emotions including, excitement, happiness, but also sadness. As our days have started to really get fewer and fewer, the plane ride home is actually starting to sound more and more real and not so far away. Also as we (we as in the people I now consider my family:  the other students) talk about going home, we are all so excited but also sad at the same time. I will of course miss Peru so much when I am not here. I am going to miss my family who is wonderful, the life style here, the struggle of speaking spanish, also the fact I am improving/learning so much, the weather because it is beautiful, but all in all I am absolutely gonna miss my friends the most. We have become so close in such a short amount of time, it's almost unreal. There is nothing we don't know about each other which might freak some people out, but I have learned that by studying abroad you meet the coolest, most generous, open-minded people, and I have made friendships that will last the rest of my life. These 9 other people I have shared this crazy experience with, all hold a special place in my heart and I am so lucky to have been able to travel and get to know them. I am so truly thankful and blessed for that. I miss my family & friends back home so much I cannot wait to see you!! Adios!! xoxo