what we did in Lima

To end our semester in Peru, you all know that we had a little vacation in Lima! A bus came to pick each of us up at our homes around 5:00 on Monday. I must say that it was quite a tearful departure adn a very tearful bus ride to the airport for all of us in my bus. Eventually we got to the airport in Arequipa and checked in. Jorge, Kemil, and Anthony also came to the airport to see us off. It was great to spend our last moments in Arequipa with them. Entering security at the airport was one of the hardest things I've done. Oh man. That was not fun. I stayed with Sydney as we waited to get on our plane. We boarded, and Sydney and I were next to each other on the short flight to Lima. We held hand and sobbed as we took off.

Honestly, the week in Lima was hard. There were DEFINITELY some great moments, but it during those days it was hard to not be in Arequipa. But it was nice to relax a bit. We relaxed quite a lot  in Lima.

On Tuesday we had a free day. So.... Sydney, Fuller, Lauren, Sarah and I headed to the beach. We walked about 20 minutes from our hotel, and found the ocean!! Horray!!! We spend the day sitting by the water and singing. For hours. It was great. And yes, we did go swimming, too. It was my first time swimming in the ocean. The ocean is pretty intense!!!



Here's our "we-just-went-swimming-in-the-ocean-in-Peru!!!!!" picture!!!

After spending the day at the beach, we all went to a fancy restaurante for dinner. We dressed up and walked to dinner, and at dinner we had a little awards show... the ArequipAwards!!! A big thanks goes out to Alex and Scott for making this night great! Really, it was super fun!!! Alex gave a personal award to everyone, and then everyone got a second award, something that we had all voted on last week. My wonderful classmates voted to give me the Contagious Personality award!! And, from Alex, I received the "Famosa" award. Oh man. He gave me this because I was, according to him, so "popular with the Pervians". Basically, what that means is that my friends are the only ones who ever came to our soccer games, and all of the Peruvians that Alex met were the friends that I brought to soccer. So, the only reason he actually has friends... is because me. He is quite grateful.

You know, speaking of my friends... I know I have mentioned many times that my conversation friends are awesome. And, really, that cannot be over-emphasized. Ever. They are amazing and I miss them all so much!!!!!!! I had such a great time talking with them and getting to know them! And through them I met other awesome people, like Jorge and Kemil and Anthony! Oh man!!! Seriously, these amazing people made such a huge differece in  my life!!

I love these ladies!!!!

On Wednesdsay, we took the day to explore Lima. We went to a cool museum, and then we took a walking tour of el centro, and at night we went to a pretty water fountain park!

On Thursday, we did something kind of crazy. We went to the ocean, got on a yaht, boated out into the wild waters of the Pacific Ocean to some islands that were overflowing with sea lions, and we put on life jackets and jumped into the FREEZING COLD WATER and SWAM WITH THE SEA LIONS!!!!! Yes. I'm telling the truth. It was crazy. They touched my feet with their whiskers. I was terrified. And quite cold. But it was cool.

When we got back from swimming with sea lions, I went to a restaurant to eat with Lauren, Fuller, and Sydney. I ordered four cheese lasagna. I was expecting something with meat, pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese. But what I got was... a bowl full of cheese. Just cheese. It was crazy! There was a tiny layer of pasta... but I couldn't taste it with all of the cheese. Some of you know that I absolutely LOVE cheese, but.... I couldn't even eat all of this. IT WAS SO CHEESY!!!!

On Thurdsay evening, I went the the airport with Fuller, Lauren, and Sydney because Sydney's flight left a day earlier than the rest of us. We waited there for a few hours with her, and our dear friend Ana Flavia came!!! Her family lives in Lima, so we got to see her one more time before leaving the country!!! It was great to see her! We sat around and played card games for a while.

On Friday morning, we packed up our stuff and eventually made our way to the airport to begin our journey home. As we were walking around Lima on Friday, ordering some food at restaurants and getting some snacks to eat at the airport, I once again realized how easy and natural it was to be speaking in Spanish. I easily ordered with out thinking, and I remembered how, at the beginning of my time in Peru, that would have been slightly terrifying! When I first arrived, it was scary to have to talk without being able to first prepare what I was going to say. But now...  I realized that I wasn't really thinking at all! The words just came. It was cool to see how much we have improved over four short months.

A couple times, while we were in Lima, we had conference calls with Jorge, Kemil, and Anthony. Those were super super fun!!! We talked a bit and laughed a lot on these 8 to 10 person phone calls. Oh man, they were great!!!