7661 feet

Nine days from now, I will be in Arequipa, Peru. That is really crazy and really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In anticipation for this semester, I've been learning about Peru. The city of Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, and the population of the city is about 904,931. Interestingly enough, 904,931 is a prime number! Wonderful! The altitude of Arequipa is 7,661 feet (that's tall). While 7,661 is not a prime number, the sum of its proper divisors is 211, which is a prime number! The president of Peru is Ollanta Humala, and the nation is divided into 25 regions. The area of Peru is 496,225 square miles, which is approximately the size of Texas, California, Georgia, Deleware, and Rhode Island combined. Arequipa is in southern Peru--I circled it in red on the map! That's where I'm going to be in nine days!!!!!

I will be living with a family in Arequipa and taking classes at Universidad Catolica San Pablo. I will not be speaking English. There are 17 other Calvin students who will be studying in Arequipa with me, and hopefully as a group we will have the discipline to speak only in Spanish with one another. We will do some traveling as a group and there will be opportunities for us to go on weekend trips around Peru, but as I get ready for the semester to come, the part that I am most looking forward to is the day-to-day stuff: meeting people who live there, getting to know my host family and classmates, and learning about and taking part in the culture. While I am in Arequipa, I want to be a resident, not a tourist. I want to learn to appreciate and respect the different and similar ways that people live.

Father, prepare me for what is to come. Bless the family that will be opening their home to me. I thank You for this opportunity to spend a semester in Peru and I pray that You would take this semester and shape it, in Jesus' Name. May it bring glory to You, God. You, I know, are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all I ask or think--God, do whatever You want with this semester. It is Yours. Whatever comes, I praise and thank You!