The past 2 days have been pretty quiet. I had my second day of orientation on Thursday. Basically we had to go to a presentation put on by the department ("facultad") of our choosing that would tell us about how to sign up for classes. I chose to stick to the basics and take classes mostly from the "Estudios Generales Letras" (basically the equivalent of Gen Eds at UNC --- basic, entry-level classes in different disciplines). We have a week to try out the classes and then we officially sign up.
Since I have been struggling so much with the language, I decided I am probably not ready to take all of my classes in Spanish. Luckily, the university offers several classes in English: History of Peru, formation to the 18th century, Archaeology (which includes a trip to Pachacamac!!), and Gender and Climate Change (the professor for this gave our security presentation and she was SUPER COOL). I hope that I will get into at least 1 of these, if not more. I also may check out some other anthropology/history/archaeology classes in Spanish to see how hard they look. And I may check out this Ecotourism class where you learn about different historic/cultural sites and the importance of conserving them and you actually get to visit some of them!
I have been struggling to find anywhere to exercise. Turns out people don't just go jogging around the neighborhood here....I tried to go running one day and got stared at A LOT. And I got a little lost and ended up in the neighborhood BEHIND the my house which I discovered is pretty sketchy....
I am trying to figure out what the university offers in terms of exercise...there is a gym BUT you have to be signed up for a class to use it. I am interested in maybe trying to sign up for a spin class that meets 3 times a week. I don't know the protocol for signing up for that kind of stuff though....we shall see.
Tomorrow I am going to be meeting my compañero PUCP for a tour of Lima. Hopefully it won't be too awkward.....I have this constant dilemma with people who I know speak English: my Spanish communication skills are pretty poor at the moment (THANKS TO YEARS OF SPANISH EDUCATION THAT TAUGHT ME HOW TO TALK ABOUT 18TH CENTURY COLONIALISM BUT NOT HOLD A BASIC CONVERSATION) BUT I want to improve so I don't want to speak in English but if I speak Spanish there is a lot of awkward silences and me asking people to repeat themselves about a million times. Maybe we will do a mix of both.
My big victory today: finding a cheaper grocery store than the one I originally went to. I got a lot of stuff for half the price I paid at the other one. #thesmallthings
Since I have been struggling so much with the language, I decided I am probably not ready to take all of my classes in Spanish. Luckily, the university offers several classes in English: History of Peru, formation to the 18th century, Archaeology (which includes a trip to Pachacamac!!), and Gender and Climate Change (the professor for this gave our security presentation and she was SUPER COOL). I hope that I will get into at least 1 of these, if not more. I also may check out some other anthropology/history/archaeology classes in Spanish to see how hard they look. And I may check out this Ecotourism class where you learn about different historic/cultural sites and the importance of conserving them and you actually get to visit some of them!
I have been struggling to find anywhere to exercise. Turns out people don't just go jogging around the neighborhood here....I tried to go running one day and got stared at A LOT. And I got a little lost and ended up in the neighborhood BEHIND the my house which I discovered is pretty sketchy....
I am trying to figure out what the university offers in terms of exercise...there is a gym BUT you have to be signed up for a class to use it. I am interested in maybe trying to sign up for a spin class that meets 3 times a week. I don't know the protocol for signing up for that kind of stuff though....we shall see.
Tomorrow I am going to be meeting my compañero PUCP for a tour of Lima. Hopefully it won't be too awkward.....I have this constant dilemma with people who I know speak English: my Spanish communication skills are pretty poor at the moment (THANKS TO YEARS OF SPANISH EDUCATION THAT TAUGHT ME HOW TO TALK ABOUT 18TH CENTURY COLONIALISM BUT NOT HOLD A BASIC CONVERSATION) BUT I want to improve so I don't want to speak in English but if I speak Spanish there is a lot of awkward silences and me asking people to repeat themselves about a million times. Maybe we will do a mix of both.
My big victory today: finding a cheaper grocery store than the one I originally went to. I got a lot of stuff for half the price I paid at the other one. #thesmallthings
Thanks for the update Rose. We all miss you! Lily is home from the beach. I'll bet your Spanish is already getting better--just keep at it. Good luck with the class registration.
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