Summer Freedom

The last time I wrote was about the super vacation I went on to the North. Since then, Life in Lima has been great. My host parents have been giving me a lot of freedom lately. After 6 months, they have gotten to know me, and know that I am very responsible, so have no problem with me going out and spend the day with friends until a reasonable hour of the night. I know my way around the city really well, and feel comfortable walking or taking public busses. I’ve become the best at hailing taxis, and lowering the price (my house to Miraflores, a 20-30 minute drive through traffic: never more than 10 soles ($3)).

There are a lot of cool out of the ordinary thing I’ve done lately too. Here are some examples. (Yes, some are from quite a while ago. I have already stated that I suck at actually updating this thing).

February 16, 2010 – Beyonce Concert
Yup. Beyonce Knowles came to Peru for her 2010 I Am… tour. I went with three other exchange students, and one of their sisters (from the US, who came to visit for a week). It was pretty cool, althoughI have to say, my favorite part was the opener, Adammo, a Peruvian Alternative Rock Band (even though they only played 4.5 songs). Also, K’naan was there, and sang The Official World Cup Song – Wavin’ Flags before Adammo. This was the first time I heard it. I am now obsessed.

It's Beyonce. I swear. I ad a crappy "seat."


February 17, 2010 – World Cup
Inspired by seeing K’naan the night before, Geneva (my best Candian friend) and I went to see the world cup… Well, the trophy anyways. It was pretty cool. We had to wait in line 6 hours, listening to Wavin’ Flags the whole time, but it was worth it. Here’s the picture I downloaded from the site. Too bad it says the wrong location. I was most definitely in Lima, Peru, not Venezuela.

=D


All of February – Carnaval
There is a tradition in Peru that February is the month of Carnaval. Nobody has been able to explain why, it just is. Carnaval is just an excuse to be able to thrown water at anyone any time. You are never safe in Lima. Ever.

March 7th, 2010 - Oscars
For the first time ever, a Peruvian Movie was nominated for the Oscars! It was a kinda big deal. However, La Teta Asustada (in English: The Milk of Sorrow) was beat out by an Argentinian film :(

Food from the Oscar Party. Oreos + Piqueo snax + Teqeos + sprite = (:

Life in General
There aren’t many other specific things that have been going on. I’ve been planning like crazy for the vacation I’m going to go on with my dad & brother & cousin when they come down… today! Yup. The next blog that gets published should be about that. (:
So… Yeah. It’s been a fairly chill end of summer, running about 5 kilometers at &:30 every morning, passing days walking in Miraflores, going to museums, sending a ridiculous amount of text messages, breaking into my friend navy school, going shopping, “celebrating birthdays” every day for 2 weeks, going out to eat sandwiches, becoming completely obsessed with bubble tea till the point where the workers know my name, over analyzing food, crashing photo shoots, listening to great music, going to concerts, going to Rotary things, going to the park at all hours of the day and night, passing time becoming insanely close with my 14 year old host sister, talking till 4 am on Windows Messenger and even the occasional disco outing.


Photo shoot.


Military School.



Miraflores. I'm there all the time.



Birthday celebration for Pia (from Switzerland) part 3/8. Cake in the Park.

Overall,
Life is good.

Hasta Luego,
~ Jacqui

Viaje al Norte

So. I think I've been a bit incommunicado for the last... Month? I've only just finally recovered from the 2 week long vacation I went on from February 4th - 15th :) This is going to be longgg.

Chiclayo
Our vacation started in Chiclayo, where we were oblidged to go to a district wide Interact (which is a Rotary Sponsered Youth volunteer club) Conference. It was held in a Military school outside of the city. The first day, all the participants were given a tour of the city, which included: Pimentel Beach, a traditional market and the Museum of Sipan. The museum was an archaeological site where they discovered the remains of an Incan Ruler's tomb.

The morning & afternoon of the 2nd day were pure "Charlas," or speeches, mainly about saving the environment and the importance of volunteering. And, as interesting as those are, our supervisor (the inbound cordination for our district, Henry) decided that "getting to know the city" was more important for us exchange students... So, we went to the beach all day instead :). There was a party later that night.

We got woken up really early the 3rd day, and for some reason were shuffled off to the center of town. There was some small parade, although we never figured out why. All the different Interact Clubs waked with their fancy banners and mascots. Us Intercambistas, however, were given flag to carry. I was given the flag of India. Why? I have no idea. If I don't blend in in Peru, I'm sure I'd only stick out more in India...
Later that day was the "mini-olympics." Spur of the moment, I decided to join the swim race. And I won. With a good 5 seconds to spare. I felt very famous for the rest of the conference :) I even got a trophy... A volleyball trophy. Oh well.


Trujillo
We all stayed overnight at the house of a Rotarian in Trujillo. We left early in the morning for tours of 2 famous Archaeological Sites- Huaca del sol y de la Luna & Chan Chan.
Huaca del Sol y Huaca de la Luna are brick/sand temples built in about 450 AD by the Moche Civilization.

Chan Chan is the biggest Pre-Colombian Site in South America, of about 20 square kilometers. We saw a mere .9% of it in a 2 hour tour! It is constructed in about 850 AD by the Chimor and lasted until 1450 AD, when the Incas took over the area. We read in the newspaper 3 days late, that because of the mass amount of rain that area got, it had to be closed because it was unstable (since it's pretty much just made of sand).


Colan
Our next stop was Colán, where 3 of the exchange students from our district have been spending their summer. We spent 3 nights with Host Families, all of which had super cool houses right on the ocean. I could just walk out of the family room, down a couple stairs and jump in the Pacific Ocean.


What is so cool about Colan, is the community feel. It's a vacation town, through and through. Nobody lives there between April and November. Nobody! Most the people there, grew up going there every summer, so everybody knows everybody. Everything is within walking distance (the street is about 3 kilometers long), or, even better, within 4-wheeling distance. Everybody has 4-wheelers.
One day while we were there, we decided to embrace a strong Peruvian tradition... CARNAVAL! The entire month of February is Carnaval, which is pretty much just an excuse to go around throwing water balloons at people (: I honestly have to say, I don't understand why, it's just a tradition. Anyways, we all piled into a trailer attached to somebody host-sister's 4-wheeler and went around throwing water balloons for a bit. We got a bit distracted when we went through a giant mud puddle, and we all got a bit dirty. We then decided that throwing mud at each other was a lot more fun than throwing water at other people. We drove through a dune area, and we all ended up completely cover in mud. Completely.


Tumbes / Ecuador
In order to stay legal students in Peru, we had to leave the country and re-enter to get a new visa. I don't understand why, we just went along with it. Our cross over point was the city of Aguas Verdes (Green Waters). It's a funny little city, half Peruvian and half Ecuadorian. We just had to cross this bridge, and then we were in Ecuador. And then we came back, after a couple of pictures. So, now I can say that I've been to Ecuador. Cool.




Mancora
If I remember correctly, this was NOT on the original itinerary, but half way through our time in Colan, we had a vote and decided that we wanted to stay longer. So, we decided to spend some time at the most beautiful beach in Peru; white sand, blue water and everything. I saw a shirt that said (in Spanish): Mancora... Like the Carribean, but with Ceviche (which is a really yummy, really Peruvian fish appetizer). We spent 3 days and 2 nights there, chilling by the beach, riding horses, shopping and just enjoying ourselves. :)


Chauuu,

Jacqui

Blog Fail

2 months?

Ooops.

They passed really really fast for me, and I hope likewise for everyone else.

So what’s happened to me? A LOT.

Here’s the Summary.

Vacation to Cuzco & Puno (Machu Picchu & Lake Titicaca)

From December 2^nd- 7^th, I went on a vacation to two of the most touristy places in South America- Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. I went with my best friends (which is to say, the 15 other exchange students in Lima and one other who lives in another city). It was a great time all around, and really deserves its own blog post. Until then, here are 2 pictures.

School

Best part about school? It’s OVER! I am done with Santa Maria Eufrasia. We finished in December. Another great part, was that my class won a contest on the most popular radio station, Viva FM, and won a party :). To win that contest, just about everyone in the class would call at different times during the day, especially the school day. The last 4 weeks of school passed pretty quickly because everyone was so focused on this, rather than any of their classes.

Pre-Christmas

I got to participate in 2 present give aways in poor parts of Lima & Callao a couple weeks before Christmas- one with Rotary (and the other exchangees) and one with my host mom’s Prayer Group. The one with Rotary was a lot bigger, and pretty much a party. The other was a lot smaller, but still with a party atmosphere. I got to dress up as Mrs. Clause. It was really the perfect, because I could just say I was from “very far north” and that was why I had an accent.

Holidays

As Rotary and all the prep books warned, the holidays were not the best time. It just did not feel like Christmas or New Years, mainly because of the lack of my own family, and of snow. In my mind, it can’t be Christmas without snow… Or at least really cold weather. I also missed my family parties, and especially buffet style food choice. I did love talking to everyone briefly on the phone though =D

Christmas and New Years Traditions are a bit, but not very, different from home. Every stays up till midnight on Christmas Eve, and eat dinner together. There are usually a ton of fireworks going on in the street. TONS. The Catholic tones of the holiday are felt.

New Years consists of lots of fireworks and yellow. I suppose wearing yellow is a pretty traditional form of bring in a lucky New Year. A couple of other “lucky” things include: running around with a suit case [it foretells that you will travel this year] and eating 12 grapes, then making a wish. It is also common practice to burn a chair with several things that were important to you this year. I don’t quite understand this one…

Huacho, Huaral & Caral

On the 14^th of January, we were informed of a weekend vacation planned. For that weekend. The 15^th. Despite the last minuteness, the trip was a success. Only 7 of us went, which created a very laidback atmosphere. We camped one night in Huacho, and one night in Huaral on land belonging to local Rotarians. The biggest part of this trip was going to the runis of Caral, the oldest city in the Americas. It was only discovered about 10 years ago, but was carbon dated back some 4,200 years.

The part most interesting to me was Eco Truly Park. It is an ecological community a bit outside of Huaral. They are a Hindu community with ideals of simple living, including vegetarianism, and non-violence. It was a really nice place, and I hope to return someday.

RYLA

This weekend (29-31 of January) was district 4450’s annual RYLA- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. It is a conference that is held by many districts all over the world to promote teen leadership. There were a lot of speeches about how to get involved in your community (Rotaract), saving the environment and the like. There was also a lot of just chilling and, best of all for me, swimming (at 4 in the morning :).

Goodbye

That’s it. That’s been the last two months of my life. Albeit, there were plenty of days in there that consisted of mundane things as well, hanging out in the house all day, eating yummy food, getting a bit sick and a lot more.

Chau,

Jacqui

TARAPOTO!

On Tuesday, November 24th, I found out about the Senior Class trip for my school. They were going to Tarapoto, in the jungle. I asked, casually, if I could go, using the wonderful excuse of being an exchange student who wants to see all of the country. To my surprise, I was granted permission. So, I bought my ticket, and we left the next day. This last minute stuff usually annoys me, but hey, I got to go on an extra vacation, so I can not complain.

Wednesday 25 November
We arrived in Tarapoto, Peru at 11 in the night on Wednesday. After getting to the hotel it was just shy of midnight, but we walked the three blocks from the hotel to the Plaza de Armas and ate Pollo a la Brasa for a late dinner. [Exciting day, I know.]

Thursday 26 November
After breakfast in the hotel, we all [9 students, 8 parents, 3 tour guides] piled in 2 buses and drove 2 hours to the city of Moyobomba. We drove through the prettiest scenery. Tarapoto is the ‘high Amazon’ area; so it is a combination of both Rainforest, and Mountains.

We hiked about 20 minutes to arrive at some waterfalls (whose name I forgot). We got to swim for almost an hour. The tour guide rented this tube thing, and we could use it to paddle into the center of the falling water, which would then expel us out again. Anyone who knows me will know how happy I was just to be in the water.

We ate a lunch traditional to the Jungle (Cecina and Talapia). After lunch, I called my parents, since it was Thanksgiving. “They” say that Thanksgiving is a time of year where American exchangees (and Canadian… did you know that Canada has a Thanksgiving??) miss their families a lot, since it is not celebrated anywhere else in the world. For me, it was mostly just weird. I was in the middle of the Jungle, eating Cecina (a type of Pork) in the bright sunshine. I also have plans to go the beach on Christmas and New Years, which is something only very very crazy people would do in Wisconsin.

We then went to the Plaza de Armas in Moyobomba to look at this Orchid sanctuary. It was really cool, but the best part was the parrots. Parrots are awesome. We also ate Chupetes de Anguaje, which is a weird, fruit-based type of popsicle.
We then drove about 10 minutes outside of the city to a hot water spring place. The water was awesome.
We got back to the hotel at about 12:30… Que sueno!

Friday 27 November
We left the hotel we were staying at in the morning, and moved to a resort. After getting the rooming arrangements sorted out (mucho drama!), we left for another 2 hour bus ride to La Laguna Azul (The Blue Lake). On of the coolest parts of this journey, was that we had to cross a river via ferry.

We took a boat turn around the lake to see all the pretty trees and stuff. It is also called Lago Sauce because there are a lot of Sauce Trees around the perimeter of the lake.

(Me and Geneva, the other exchagee in my school from Canada; this was the trip for her class that I just sort of ended up going on)
We got back early to the hotel (7ish) and spent some time in the pool. We were hoping to go out to a Disco or something, but the parent would not let us, so instead we sat around and gossiped and played truth or dare.

Saturday 28 November
Saturday was our only day of rest. We spent the morning lounging around the hotel. We swam, and then went canoeing in this cool little lake, which had a small island inhabited by monkeys in the middle.
At noon, the party threw a party for an anniversary. It was my 4 month anniversary since when I arrived in Peru! (And the hotel’s 15th year, but who cares about that?) There was a cool cake and free Pisco Sour :)
We went out for lunch and walked around the Plaza for a bit. To return, we used a very authentic mode of transportation for Tarapoto, Mototaxi, so named because they are motorcycles with a sort of cart attached in the back. Look. I think they are pretty cool.
After lunch, we changed hotels again, to a different resort. We rode horses and bikes for a bit, and then swam some more. We had pizza at the hotel, and then spent about two hours getting ready to go to the Discoteca :)
We got there at 11… Boring! They started playing good music at about midnight, and we stayed until 3 (as did allll the parents..)


Sunday 29 November
We were all obviously realllllyyyy tired from being out so late the day before, but I got up at 6:30 to go to the market with all the moms to buy some traditional food to bring back to Lima. The rest of the group joined us at 10 to go to the Waterfalls of Ahuashiyacu. We only had to walk for about five minutes, but the tour guide stopped us a lot to explain. When we finally got to the waterfall, I was astounded. I can not begin to describe how beautiful it is in real life. This photo will have to try to display the sheer awesomeness of the waterfall, until you all have the chance to go (better be soon!).

Geneva, the tour guide, his son and I were the only one in our group who wanted to swim, but that did not stop us. We only got to swim about 10 minutes, because it started raining and the rest of the group were wimps XD.
After the waterfalls, we went to the small city of Lamas (said how we would say llamas [the animal]). The tour guide gave us a description of their Seal of Arms (which contains: a drum, a flute, and a Pineapple. We went to a few artisans shops to look for souvenirs. I bought a couple things, mostly stuff I plan on using to decorate my dorm at college (UC hopefully!) next year.
Unfortunately, this was the last event of our vacation. We left that night at 10, and got back to Lima (to our school) at midnight.


P.S. Also, I just have to brag for a second. Remember that National Novel Writing Month thing I mentioned in my last blog?
Yeah. I Won. =DDD
“Winning” by the way, only entails writing more than 50,000 and verifying it before midnight on the 30th. I wrote 50,153 before the 25th. I feel accomplished, even more so than last year, since this time I completed the entire plot. It needs a LOT of editing, but you ought to look for it in a couple of years ;)

P.P.S. Tomorrow I am going to CUZCO!!! That is where Machu Picchu is!!! ahhh! Dream come ture much??? I think so!

P.P.P.S. More photos on facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019857&id=1602540165&l=36be2fd7b1

School

So, I am once again showing off the procrastinator in me. I am finally going to talk about school (which pretty much ends tomorrow for me).

Let me start with a quick comparison between my school here, Santa Maria Eufrasia and the school I spent my first 3 years of high school at, J. I. Case.

	Santa Maria Eufrasia	J. I. Case
Location	La Molina, Lima, Peru	Racine, WI, USA
Control	Private- Catholic	Public
Students	250	2,000
Student Body	Only GIRLS	Mixed
Grades	Kinder-11 *	9-12
Graduating Class	16	500
Mascot	Saint Mary Eufrasia	Eagles
Hours	7:30 am – 3:45 pm	7:15 am – 2:30 pm
# of Courses	23	7
Language	Spanish	English

Well. I thing that adequately shows that there is basically nothing similar between the two schools except for the most basic fact that they are places people go to learn. I don't want to bore you, so now, I am just going to tell you all about some of the weirdest and/or coolest things about my school.

Formacion: Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays all 250 girls line up in the auditorium for Formation. This consists of us all Standing int perfectly straight lines, while several girls read from the bible, then say the Lord's Prayer and Other Catholic chant things. Also, on Mondays they have a "Civic Moment," which is when six girls march in with the flag and then stand their with it for the duration of the assembly. We also sing the Peruvian national anthem And the School's Special anthem (which talks about how it is the future of Peru...).

* Grade Levels: The Progression of grade levels is different here. You start in inicial (kindergarten), then go through 1st through 6th grades of primary, then start secondary, which is grades 1st through 5th. So when people ask me what grade I am in, I have to say 4th year of Secondary, I can't just say senior or anything.

Regular School: So. A normal day of school is pretty boring. We have 10 class hours every day! They are only 40 minutes long though, and they vary daily. We also have a 20 minute recess at 10, and 45 minutes for lunch at 1.

Irregular School: I do not think I have had a week (or, even two consecutive days) that I would consider perfectly normal. There is always something going on. Sometimes, we get to leave early (like the day that all of the girls in my class were getting confirmed). Sometimes, they have
Also, quite often, the teachers do not show up to class. This can happen for any sort of reason, from them forgetting, to them just not being at school (the idea of substitute teachers is a weird one down here) or, sometimes I think they just do not want to come to my class (I can't blame them).

Rules/Strictness: There are a lot of rules. A lot. There is a uniform (blue plaid skirt, white shirt, very frumpy blue sweater) policy that is strictly enforced. If your skirt is not touching your knees, it obviously shows that you are a horrible person (or so the civics teacher says). We are not allowed to have cell phones, or any other form of technology or makeup (although that does not stop anyone in my class). The senior class has the right to take away the cell phones/I-pods/whatever of anyone that they see, which then get stored in the Principle's office until the end of the year!

Classes: I am currently taking 23 courses! I will not bore you with a list, but let me say I have 4 maths, 4 literature like things, 3 sciences and a mess of other things. Some I have only once a week (like Modern Dance and Chess), others I have 4 or 5 hours a week (like Geometry and English). Overall, they are way easier than the IB classes I took at case, minus the small fact that they are in Spanish.

School: The grounds of the school are surprisingly nice for being right in the middle of the city. There is a giant white wall closing us in from a major highway on one side, and a small mountain on the other. We have a decent ammount of green area and trees, which is almost weird for this city. The school building is alright, and there is also a small monastary, where a dozen or so nuns live on the grounds.


On an unrelated note, it is November, which means it is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. I suppose it is kinda late to "spread the word," but I just want to mention it because it has been a big part of my November (and the reason I did not do this blog earlier). The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 day month of November (meaning you have to write 1,667 words every day). I did it and completed a novel (55,500 words) last year, and am doing it right now as well. I'm at 44,237 words right now, which puts me ahead of where I have to be :) I have a feeling I might be the only one in Peru doing it, but whatever.

1st Rotary Vacation

Yes. I am a procrastinator. I went on amazing trip from October 3rd-October 10th and I am just now going to write about it.

Arequipa
Arequipa is the 2nd biggest city in Peru of about one million people, nestled in the South of the country in between a volcano and two other huge mountains. It's elevated about 2,380 meters above sea level.
We stayed with different Rotarians while we were these- I was also with 3 other exchangees (another form the US, one from Switzerland and one from Belgium). On the first day, our host mom showed us all around the city. We went to many different Plaza and Miradores (places with pretty views).




We also went to (but didn't eat at) a very old restaurant, the last in Peru that doesn't use electricity. We got to go into the kitchen, and there was chickens and guinea pigs just wandering around in the kitchen.

My "sisters" and I met up with two other exchangees (both guys from the U.S.) and went to the Plaza de Armas after dinner. We hung out there for about 3 hours. We went to one restaurant and one of the workers let us onto the roof! So we got to see the Plaza from a not-so-common angle.



As a group in Arequipa, we went to the Municipality of Yarahura and met some important guy (someone like the mayor). We also took a "city tour," which went to most of the same places I had already been to.

Colca Canyon
Our overnight trip to Colca Canyon was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. The city of Colca is about 100 kilometers from Arequipa, but it took us nearly 4 hours to get there because we had to drive over, around and through the Andes Mountains. We also stopped a bunch of times to go to small Peruvian markets, where most of us bought Alpaca-fur sweaters and Choros (hats).

Right after we got there we went on a long hike through the mountains, and ended up at a pool (I have missed swimming so much). We stayed at the pool (which was pretty much a giant hot tub) for almost 3 hours. We had dinner in a tourist restaurant and then went to a Discoteca :). We were the only ones there at the disco, but it was pretty cool regardless. We returned to the hotel at midnight, and then woke up at 4:30 to go to "el Cruz de Condores" (the Condor's Cross). We got there at 8:00, and were really lucky to see about 20 condors!




Tacna
Tacna was another 6 hours south of Arequipa. We went in bus, but to enter the department of Tacna, we all had to get off the bus and get our bags checked for fruit. I thought that was pretty amusing.

Tacna is the Southern-most city in Peru with a population of about 100,000. It's not a huge tourist attraction, but we got to do a lot of things with Rotary and Roteract while we were there. Our first night there, they had arranged a small "family" party, which we all went to and played volleyball and hung out.
The next day, as a group, we went on a bus tour of the area. We went on another hike, where we got to see a whole ton of pre-Inca glyphs carved in rocks. And we got to cross this really cool/slightly terrifying bridge.



Arica, Chile
Another one of the coolest things about the trip, was that we went on a day trip to Arica, Chile! We took a 30-minute bus ride to the Peru-Chile border, and had to spend about a hour getting through two sets of border controls. But we all got through, and we all got new, 180-day visas, so that's good.
We went to a museum full of Inca/Pre-Inca artifacts, then to a restaurant that used to be a train station.

We walked around the Plaza de Armas and bought key chains and ice cream.
"Small Prices" ($1.00=555 Chilean Pesos)

We also went to the main Mirador in Arica, a cliff facing the ocean, and a giant "Jesus de la Paz"



I took about 600 photos in all. You can check out more of them at facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016934&id=1602540165&l=f368832b65

How I got Caught

The University of Chicago is known for its creative essay prompts on their `uncommon` application. This year, one of them was "How did you get caught (or not caught as the case may be.)" I`ve been fretting over this essay for a while, because I really really really want to go to the University of Chicago.
Finally I came up with this. It`s about my exchange (obviously), about the moment that I fully came to the realization of where I was and what my life had become.
Enjoy. (And comment? :)


" I’m not sure why I thought I might be exempt. I watched and listened carefully for everyone else to take their turn, but cast not a single thought on what I might say. Everyone spoke of the grand memories they had shared in their many years at school. They spoke of the sadness they were feeling at the prospect of losing their friends for an entire year. They spoke of love and togetherness.
Finally, there were only four people left- the two this whole thing was put on for, the one everybody knew would go last, and me.
I was caught.
It was my turn. Nothing had to be said.
I walked slowly and carefully to the front of the room, brain working overtime trying to think of what to say, and then, to translate it to Spanish. I took a long pause to look into the two pairs of eyes staring most intently from the middle of the front row. On my left were Daniela’s welcoming features which had so often patiently explained things to me. On my right was the more determined face of Carla, the girl I had considered my sister for the last three weeks. Both had tears glistening on their flushed faces.
I looked around at all the other girls in the room. All twenty-six girls had shed at least one tear in past twenty minutes. That was my inspiration.
I had been part of this wonderful class for two weeks. I could talk about how much I would miss my sister and my friend. I could talk about how the class would not be the same without them. But I didn't know that. I knew they were wonderful students and friends and sisters, but I didn't know enough to state how different class would be without them. I would miss them, but not in the same way their life long friends would.
But I did know something of what lay in their future. I knew what it was like to leave all my friends and family for a year. I knew what it was like to walk around lost in the airport for an hour, wearing a bulky and elaborately decorated Rotary Youth Exchange Blazer. I knew what it was like to say goodbye.
“Nunca hay palabras suficiente para decir adios," I stamered, not worrying about my bad pronounciation or grammar, only hoping that my message came out loud and clear. There are never sufficient words to say goodbye. A long pause followed,
“Pero esta es el comienzo de una gran aventura," I continued shakily. I reminded them of the hope, of the reason they choose this path, even though it would be so hard at times like these. This is the start of a great adventure.
There is so much more I could have said. I would have liked to have quoted a famous author. I would have liked to thank them for all their help. I would have liked to say something witty and sensitive about the wonderful friends they would make during their exchange and how hard it would be to leave them.
But none of these words came to my lips.
What did come were tears. Lots of tears. And, mere seconds after that, a warm, supportive, loving embrace, which I was caught in and never wanted to end.
But it did end. Pepa needed her turn.
"Buena suerte," I whispered before taking my seat again. Good luck.
Pepa walked slowly up to the front, meeting my eyes as we crossed paths. She faced the crowd with determination, her eyes more red than most. She had to say goodbye to her two best friends. It is a surprise she doesn’t hate Rotary Youth Exchange for taking away three of the closest people in her life for an entire year, for her older sister is also leaving in two days time. She can manage to see the good in the situation on behalf of her friends. She even plans on leaving next year.
Pepa’s message was perfect. It was full of memories and hopes, of understanding and support, of tears and joy. Anyone who had managed to compose themselves wound up disheveled once again. But nobody cared, realizing it as one of the advantages of an all girls school. We were all brimming over with emotion, and nobody tried to hide it. Our tears were full of sorrow, but equally full of hope and of love.
Carla and Daniela did not let Pepa finish her speech. The need for physical proximity was too great. The second she started stumbling over the actually deed of saying "goodbye," they were by her side. The Hug started with a core of three lifelong friends. Within seconds, The Hug included the other twenty-four classmates many of whom had also grown up together. And The Hug included me- the still slightly awkward exchange student. We were all crying and laughing and sharing and loving and never wanting to let go.
And now, I know that it will never really end.

Pepa never finished her speech because of that Hug. She never needed to. Everybody understood her unfinished sentences in their own way.
If I were to finish, I would say this.
“The girls in the class have such an amazing friendship, and I am so glad to be caught up in it too.” "


Also, I´m leaving for Arequipa in about an hour. I`ll be back in a week (with a monton de stories, I`m sure.