The world is my pearl (Pearls are prettier than oysters)

Friends, where have you been? I've only been exploring the world without everyone. I can tell you its been awesome but then I always have my friends on my mind. You suck. But I love you too much. First thing that I need to say this week is that I need to apologize. My Spanish has improved so much here but I can feel my English crumbling. What do I do? Well I am just going to apologize for how down right stupid this post may be. Oh you don't care you say? Well thats sweet because me neither(:

Lets get into the fun stuff I've been doing. We had class like always Monday-Wednesday. We never really have Thursday class anymore because we have some pretty rad teachers *wink wink Stephen and Barbara* So Thursday morning Claire, Marki and I took a bus to Punta Hermosa (a beach). We rented an umbrella and three chairs to just hang out. Shelby and Emi came later that night because Shelby was selfishly getting the job of her dreams instead of coming with us. Ugh love her. In case you all were wondering, she will be working for Habitat for Humanity in Bellevue!!!! Anyways, we had to get an umbrella because Claire burns worse than my ginger boyfriend. (Pobrecita) My host sister that is studying in Germany sent me one of her friends contacts awhile ago. We had been talking to him for awhile and he invited us to stay at their beach house for the weekend. He originally told me that we could go on Wednesday night. But that turned to Thursday morning, which turned to thursday night. Peruvians huh. It's fine because we were trying to get darker skin to blend in anyways. We ended up sitting under our umbrella and in the sun form 9am to 5pm. Claire didn't go out in the sun once and she got fried....people kept calling her a shrimp. Anyways, the point is that we had a great time bonding but were very ready to be in the house. Turns out, people had been there since 2. THANKS ANGELO. We stayed in that night and just got to know some of the guys that were there. Some people can be so awesome without any purpose. They didn't even know us but they let us stay and eat their food all weekend Fo Freeeee. At 4am Angelo woke Shelby and I up and we talked and ate ramen. The next day we slummed around and then went to the beach. Claire got burnt again (shocker I know) then everyone showered and ate their 5th thing of spaghetti form the weekend. We had planned on going to another beach that is about an hour away. We fit about 15 people in one taxi. Just about everyone got to experience my boney butt for themselves, lucky ducks. We got there and immediately got some (very crappy) hamburgers from Bembos. Bembos is seriously so gross. To put it in perspective, its like burger king had an ugly kid and named it Bembos. Guess who ate it anyways....Later we went into the club that our friend got us into. It was so late and I lasted maybe 30 minutes. (Always the life of the party) Some of us went outside to wait for the others. I ended up laying down and falling asleep. Whoops. We finally got back and passed out at the beach home. The next day we sat around for hours again. It was so relaxing just listening to the ocean and hanging out with some of the greatest girls I've ever met. Emi tuned 21 so we had to go out with a bang for her. That night we went to a club like 5 minutes away from the beach house. That was a blast. We danced for hours. I think Emi had a good birthday. She surely got told enough! Marki, Emi, and I took a taxi back but no one was home so again we fell asleep outside waiting for our friends. They came back and we stayed up for awhile longer just talking to our new friends. The next day we finally went back to our homes in Lima. It was actually Easter sunday. I think I scared my host family because they were shocked to see me there. (I think they thought I died). They said they made a special easter meal and we would eat in a few hours. This gave me time to catch up on some much needed sleep. Too bad a one hour nap turned into five. Ugh I suck. I woke up and immediately felt terrible but it didn't seem to bother my family at all. So I ate by myself and went back to my room. What a great semana santa (holy week).
The next week turned out to be more learning than my brain could handle at points. Monday we got assigned to our classes that we had to sit on that were close to our outside majors. Marki and I had class on Wednesday called Cross-cultural management. It was good because we met some new people. Everyone all of a sudden seemed to be so intrigued with our lives. But on Tuesday night, Ahnika, Gabi, and I went to see Batman vs. Superman. I would say it was pretty good but Im a marvel fan myself. Last thing it that believe or not, I am in love with sushi. I have been eating it religiously because for one, its cheap here, and I drown it in sauce. So thats all the fun stuff I've been up to lately. I do have exciting news!!

I am going to work at Camp Kitaki this summer as a Camp counselor! I received the news this week and I cannot tell you how stoked I am to start. Also Shelby got her dream job and Abby got into nursing school. So yes, we are actually doing something besides twiddling our thumbs here people. Well I love you and can't wait to see you all. By the way I would not mind a bag of flaming hot cheetos as a welcome home present in a month. Alright Chao for now!

 Made this one big because I think its one of the best!

Christina here has been sating her boyfriend for 5 years! 

This is the Philadelphia roll YUM

Short but sweet...like me right?

This blog is not very entertaining so I'm warning you all now. That day we had class in central Lima. At 12 everyday, you can watch the guards change in front of the government building. Since it was Saint Paddys day, they had an entire band playing. Everyone was a little pissy because we all sat in about an hour and a half traffic to get there. To be understandable. For lunch we went to little Chinatown! It was so fun because that's exactly what it looks like. We had some awesome (and cheap) chaufa. That's Spanish for fried rice. Pretty mad that crab ragoon is an American thing because it is nowhere in sight. Maybe it's for the best...mom says I eat way too much junk food anyways. Then we went to Houlihans (our favorite Irish bar) to celebrate with customary green beer. But I don't drink that harmful filth😉 Saint Paddys day was such a blast though. I will spare you the gory details but all of us had an interesting night to say the least. Emi's boyfriend Tyler was in town so we all decided why not go out on this occasion! 

The next day there was an orientation for over 100 foreign exchange students. A couple of us went to it to try and make friends. If you haven't noticed(I'm one strange lady, so making friends that don't speak English is hard). After that we went to our favorite little restaurant "El baguette". Then we went and hung out at Claire's pool. So if you know me, you know I hate sushi. But since I'm in a different country I have been saying Yolo as much as possible. My friends love it so I said I guess lets get some. We went all the way to miraflores and the place was freakin closed. Who does that?!? So we went to Chilis hahaha I actually had a bad experience because with my luck usually doesn't come my way. Our server was racist. And I formed a complaint. But I won't get into it because you don't wanna see me get feisty! Ha just kidding I don't do feisty. But my friends that's about it. Love you all. Also shout out to my friends Sydney and Preston for celebrating their three years together😍😍😍 

Good and bad days

Today is a sad day. My mom just left and I'm in tears. I miss her so much already. BUT I get to see her again soon. So instead of dwelling on the sadness, I'll tell you about my wonderful week with my wonderful mother.

My moms flight first got delayed. So she ended up coming a day later than we thought. I met her at her hotel. We went all over Lima. Larcomar (a mall built into a cliff) is very close to where we were staying. We walked around there. To say we didn't shop this entire week would be a complete and total lie. You can't put a mom and daughter in what's basically a giant mall and not expect them to blow a couple dollars. 

The next day we decided to go to a place called Gamarra. It was the worst mistake I could make! We didn't have a Peruvian with us so my anxiety was through the freakin' roof. La Gamarra is a giant place where you can buy fake brand name clothes and just get cheap things in general. Before we even got there, the taxi driver said we need to be extra careful. If only that deterred us. As soon as we stepped out it felt like 30 people attacked us with so called sales. But we were determined to not leave until we bought something (anything really). So we found something quick and then I just had to leave before I had an anxiety attack. Later that day, we met up with Barbara and Stephen for drinks and food. Turns out my mom loves Pisco Sours. She told me multiple times "when in Rome". That night my mom and I we're going to go out to a disco. Once we got to a bar I practically fell asleep there. I know I know, I'm a blast. On to the next day.

Saturday: Mom and I went to the Inka Market. My mom likes to wake up at the butt crack of dawn, but Peru doesn't. On our way, I got my mom her daily Coke Zero. The market opened at nine. We went around and got little presents for everybody. Then we had a show called "Brisas del Titicaca". It was a bunch of Peruvian dancing and music. I ordered my mom Lomo Saltado which is a great Peruvian dish. The show was incredible but it was like 4 hours long. Which is 3 too long. My mom got to see how Peruivans think gringos are famous here. After the show, my host parents took my mom, Mariah and I around town. We first went to the catacombs. We got to have a whole separate tour than before. Then we walked around downtown. We went to a place where we could try all different foods. Peruvian donuts (picarones) are the bomb.com. Later we went to parque de las aguas. It was awesome! They project a screen on water and it was just incredible. Then my host parents dropped us off and we went to bed.

Sunday: Claire, my mom and I went to Punta Hermosa so hang out at the beach. It was only 4 soles to get there and it's almost an hour away. We got to the beach and just drank and talked about life the entire day. It was one of the best days. We ended up getting lost on the way but the taxi driver took us home.

Monday: Mom and I went around town again. We found these little stores that sell knock off clothes and spent some time there. After eating at a restaurant, I left my mom at the hotel and I went to class. I was too tired to do anything because Spanish is HARD! I literally had been translating all weekend for my mom. Although I was really proud of myself, it's still freakin' hard. Oh hey did I mention that it was hard??!

Tuesday: I sent my mom on a tour by herself of some ruins. I had class. I got out early and met my mom at the hotel. We went to a restaurant again and tried going paragliding. But there was no wind so that sucked. That night Ahnika and Gabi came to our hotel and we went to the casino down the street. It wasn't nearly as fun as I thought. Everything's was in Spanish hahaha duh. Then we went to bed.

Wednesday: We got to go visit some kids at a lower income school. They were so great. My boys in my group were awesome. We played games in Spanish and then they had recess. They did not want us to leave at all! When we did, I think all of us wanted to stay all day with these sweet kids. When we got back, Rob (our professor) came to eat with some of us. Then I had class and came back to pack up all of my moms things. Then came the time that she had to leave. All I could do is think, hey I'll see my best friend again really soon. Man I love that lady.

It feels great to feel loved by so many people. Until next time my friends and family! 

Here's a picture of the beautiful girls (and Tyler) that I get to spend two more great months with.

See one of the 7 wonders✅

I finally saw one of the coolest places in the world. Machu freakin' Picchu my friends. The first day we arrived in Cusco which was about 12,000 feet up. (I just made that number up) the point is that is really high in altitude. Shelby, Gabi and I got a room together next to one of the noisiest places we've been so far. We ate in the little restaurant that the hotel has. We then got to go around the town and see some ruins. We got to go through this black tunnel and we couldn't see anything. Some people thought it was nuts but I thought it was so cool. Our tour guide took us to these rocks that you could slide down. Our tour guide was like a strict mom and wouldn't let us go any faster than a sloths pace. Then we came home and went to bed. The next day we had to be down in the lobby by 6:30. We then took an hour and a half bus ride to get to the train station. From there we took a two hour train ride to aguas calientes (the city at the bottom of Machu Picchhu). We then got on another bus to take us to the very top. We walked around one of the most breathtaking monuments you could ever believe. We didn't get to spend a lot of time there. Some say that if you sit in Machu Picchu, you get a spiritual feeling. But we never got the chance to just sit and reflect. If I'm being honest (which I usually am folks) I didn't think it was all it was hyped up to be. It was just something to look at. Still, I had a great time. Later we rode back down the mountain and had a great buffet lunch in aguas calientes. (By the way, I thought aguas calientes was a spa...haha I even brought my swim suit. Dumb I know) I shopped my little heart out this weekend! It was the best thing in the world. The markets in Cuzco are out of this world. We got back and went to bed because we were exhausted from our very long day. The next day we went to another market and some more ruins. We went to another buffet lunch and this is the place we got to see llamas. I think I love llama and alpacas more than cats. (Crazy I so know that) Later we went home and went out to eat in the square. That night I went to the lobby and had some oxygen. The night before Shelby said that it made her sleep really well. So I tried it. It didn't work for me but oh well. The next day a few of us went around the town and shopped until it was time to get to the airport. When we got back in Lima, Shelby Ahnika and I took a cab took our place. It was by far the scariest can ride we have had at this point. I thought wow we might die. We didn't though because I'm here living to tell the tale. This blog might seem a little bland for you guys. Don't get me wrong, I had an amazing weekend but I just cannot wait for my momma to come visit me. She will be here Wednesday morning! Ugh what a time to be alive. Alright people until next time😊

This wonderful Australian sat next to me on the bus and told me about her marriage and family. Life is so amazing.

Only two months left or Still two months?

What to write about? I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll talk about perspective. What does everyone think about perspective. Personally I've learned a lot about perspective here in Peru. We were talking the other day in our culture class about how we were doing. Some of us said they were homesick, some of us not so much. I came to the realization that titled my blog. I still have two more months, but then I thought oh no I ONLY have two more months here. As much as I miss watching my niece grow up or watching my boyfriend run his own business, it's really only 4 months of my ENTIRE life (which I plan on living for a very long time). Here's another lesson on perspective my friends: I've had an ingrown toenail for about 3 months now. I didn't want to go to a Peruvian doctor because I feared I wouldn't understand and honestly thought they were witch doctors. Why did I think that, I'm not sure maybe because sometimes there is a little bit of prejudice in everyone. Which really sucks. Anyways, my host mom took me in to a clinic because she was so worried about me. I went in, the doctor took one look at my toe and decided then he would take my toenail off. Cool. I was in and out in 30 minutes. This thing I struggled with for nearly 3 months was resolved in a matter of minutes. Really cool. One last thing on perspective here: the people here can be super nice, but hey sometimes you think everyone is nice. That is wrong. One day we went to the mall and met about three overly nasty people. Why did they cut us in line, or elbow us? I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you it's definitely not a good feeling. Lucky for me I get to come home to some sweet Nebraskans who can also be equally as mean for no reason. Perspective is a funny thing.

Changing speeds here, I want to talk about movie theaters.First off, holy cheap! Our professor gave us coupons for 2 tickets to cost 10 soles. The exchange rate here is the best it's ever been. So for two people to see a brand new movie, it cost $2.87. Is this a joke you ask? Nope. Then we go to get popcorn and a super gigantic popcorn bigger than our freaking heads cost me about $4. This is pure happiness my friends. 

This blog is semi-short so I figured it's okay to go on a tangent. I may not have done much here in Peru this week to brag about BUT I did nothing in Peru. Who's the real winner?

Ahnikas birthday party!

My beautiful friend Marki!

This is called SuperGigantic Canchita (popcorn)

Home

I miss home...there I said it. Don't get me wrong, Peru is so wonderful and I love being here. But there comes a time when you just need a good cry. I know everyone feels that ways sometimes right? I've been feeling this way ever since talking to my mom when she got back from her vacation. Every point up until about now we have been doing something to keep busy. But here I am on a bus back to Lima that leaves me to dwell in my own head which is dangerous. It especially makes me miss home when all my friends message me separately telling me they miss me. It really is how they say "you don't know what you have until it's gone". Lucky for me I still get to have them when I'm back. This past weekend really got me thinking, how in the heck did I get myself in the coolest place to be homesick? If you know me at all, you would know that I am so unfortunately unlucky. But I still must have a little to get me here right?This past weekend we traveled to Paracas.This was a school sponsored trip but if I'm being honest (which I usually am) I learned nothing more than how to get the best tan. Paracas is about 4 hours from Lima. We got on our trustee bus Cruz del sur and headed down this time. Turns out our money paid for the best possible hotel we could get. That's right, this hippie/redneck stayed in a 5 star hotel and I soaked that mess in like it was my job. There was free kayak rides, paddle boarding, catamaran rides and everything you can think of. Shelby and I even deviled in some tight rope walking. Not to mention free breakfast! I'm so  used to living the college lifestyle that I wanted to put all the French toast in my bag to go. The only bad thing about this resort was that you had to pay for just about everything else and it was a pretty penny. Looking back though, it wasn't really that bad, we just all got used to the dirt cheap prices of anything Peruvian. I tried the bloody Mary's from the bar and man they were bomb, but not as good as my step dad johns(; Our rooms were big enough to fit a family of 4 but we all got our own beds with the comfiest pillows you've ever felt. Not to mention AIR CONDITIONING YESSSSSS! I slept like a damn princess each night. They even put little chocolates on your bed every night. I met your thinking "wow she's so spoiled" but don't worry, I actually had to feed myself instead of someone spoon feeding it to me...dang. But yes this place was the definition of my paradise.

Saturday morning we went on our excursion. If you wanna talk about breathtaking, visit las Islas ballestas. We knew we would see hundreds of sealions but little did we know what else there would be. On our 30 minute boat ride over to the island, we rode right next to about 3 different sets of dolphins! They are the most majestic things I've ever seen. I realized our proffesor was going to take enough pictures to fill up any album you can think of so I didn't take hardly any. It was so peaceful. We got to the island and we got to see these massive creatures. They are so ugly they're cute I think? We rode around the island and saw thousands of different birds flying everywhere. Every now and then, a sealion would be looking at us from the water. We went to "maternity beach" and saw the cutest little babies! It took everything in me not to jump out so I could hold just one...or all of them...and steal them...and raise them as my own....BUT I didn't people sorry. Right now isn't the time for penguins but we got to see 3 just chillin on some rocks soaking up the sun. Can you just imagine 13 girls squealing because of the cute animals (Stephen is one of them). I would have to say this might have been my favorite trip so far. It was a much needed relaxation trip but I got to see the most amazing creatures. Have I mentioned that I'm one of the luckiest girls ever? Oh just the opposite oops. I forgot to mention my beautiful bleach blond hair tuned green in the chlorine here. All the girls kept telling me I could be a mermaid anytime now, that never happened. As my dad would always say "it is what it is". Something I forgot to mention, a couple of us went into town to eat and shop. Guess what...I didn't buy anything! I was so proud of myself I almost cried. (But I didn't because I would've messed up my new shoes if I did that) Enough of my amazing trip, I would like to give a shoutout to my beautiful sorority daughter. Her name is Tristen and everyone should go follow her. She just started her own business and I couldn't be more proud. I've said how much I miss my family, now I should talk about my best friend. Callen has been working on his own business always and I'm also so proud of him. Follow cusosports on all social media for some details. (These are brownie points on my girlfriend status right Callen?) I miss everyone terribly but I'll be sure to always have a smile on in the last 2 months of my stay here. Sending love from Peru❤️
Here are some pictures from the recent events.

This was one of the many beaches with sealions covering more of the beach than sand was.

My absolute favorite place to be: in a hammock

Spring Breaaaaaaaak

Let's just say that this week has been a dream.
Day 1: 20 hour bus ride to our fancy destination. We get to our beautiful home and get to see that we have a view of the pool and the ocean. Just wait it gets better. The first day was just beautiful. We met our maid (yes a maid) and she showed us everything of ours. We had enough room for everyone! We automatically went to the pool and jumped in, then checked out the beach. We got a couple mototaxis to take us into Los Organos to buy groceries for a couple meals. Each night we said that we would each cook a meal which wasn't really true. Mariah made Salchipapas and they were delicious. Come to find out that cooking for 10 is really hard to judge. Then we made some drinks and hung out on our balcony all night.

Day 2: Another beautiful day, hot as heck though. We went to the beach and played in the ocean. Then later that night we went into Mancora (a 20 minute drive from our place) to go out for the night.  The only bad thing is that we found out that we were paying way too much for transportation. Plus the mototaxis seemed like they were barely moving at times, like we could walk faster than they drove. Let's just say that the night was fun but guys are just creeps.

Day 3: Super bowl Sunday....doesn't exist here. But our girls were determined to watch it. Our TV thankfully played English. We went into Mancora before and got information about different tours that we could do during the next week. I think that is when we went into to ask about scuba diving and met our new friend Maurice. He is so awesome, we even found out he lived right next to our place so we could catch rides with him when we wanted! The girls tried their very best to made cheese dip. It actually was not half bad (not velvetta though). I read my book Gone Girl most of the game because if I'm being honest, I could care less about the Super Bowl. But I did care about the half time show cause my girl Beyonce was on. After Half time, a couple of us went and night swam. Eventually we came home and went to bed.

Day 4: We went surfing! I tried surfing in Spain and I thought it was incredibly hard. Here it was completely different. We each had our own instructors so that helped so much. I think I caught about 6 waves! We spent the day in Mancora and then a couple of us stayed there until night time.

Day 5 or 6?: The days were kind of blending together at this point. We had a couple rainy days which really sucked. Some of the day we would go to Mancora, others we would just stay in Los Organos. One of the days, 8 of us got on a banana boat floatie thing and rode that in the ocean. That was a blast. Someone's contact fell out, others thought they were dying, but I was just in the back having the time of my life. We found a spectacular pizza place there that we ended eating twice that week. I had been messaging back and forth with a guy to see when we could go scuba diving. 

Thursday: We got up early to go scuba diving. That was the coolest thing I have ever done by far. We went out to an old abandoned oil rig and dove there. We went down about 35 feet. Abby and I swam with our instructor all around the oil rig. There was an octopus like 4 feet away from us just staring at us. Then our teacher peeled a starfish off a pole and put it in our hands. We swam through schools of fish and it was the best experience of my life. When we were about to leave, we got to get really close to these giant sea lions that live by the oil rig. My life was made by 11 o'clock that morning. When we got back to the dock, we got to see these giant sea turtles swimming with tourists. We were trying to do that the day before but it was too rainy. The rest of the day was a blur but all I know is that I love scuba diving and I want to do it from now on.

Day 8 Friday: We signed up for a day trip to Las Manglares. Honestly we had no idea what we were doing this day. We just got on a bus and ended up at a beach called Punta Sol. It was beautiful and hot that day. We spent an hour there and went to another beach. Then we drove for an hour to eat lunch. We got on a boat that took us to a little island. Then we rode to Crocodile island to see a crocodile farm. It wasn't very cool because we have a white crocodile at the Henry Doorly Zoo so I wasn't very impressed. We got on the bus and came back. I was really sick on the bus but slept for the 2 hour bus ride back. We were so close to Ecuador when we got to that island. It would've taken 30 minutes to visit another country, but oh well. We came back and I went to sleep almost immediately.

Our last day: I took about 5 naps this day because I still felt so sick. Some of the girls went surfing and had a blast. I went out to our pool and fell asleep out there, then came inside and fell back asleep. I actually really wanted to go back to Lima at this point. I love the ocean but feeling sick on vacation doesn't make for a good vacation. At 5 we got on our bus to ride back to Lima. Only 20 short hours to get there, sounds easy enough right? 

Back to reality: I'm back from my vacation to continue with my vacation and I definitely missed my little house here. My host mom deep cleaned my room and washed all my clothes and bought all my favorite foods. I'm really spoiled down here but man I love it! 

Things I want you all to know:

1: I got stung by a jellyfish (I'm just that lucky I know)

2: Peanut Butter and Jelly is still one of the best foods you can have

3: I bought a hammock, don't ask why

4: Wi-fi is one glorious thing

5: Scuba Diving is the best

6: The ocean is one of the most peaceful places on this beautiful earth

7: My niece FaceTimed me and said "I love you Aunt D" and so now I'm extremely homesick.

Here are some pictures from throughout the week!

I mean did you expect anything else?

I wish you all could've seen this place, it just takes your breathe away.