Starting New in Peru
BENITA ZEPEDA writes: It has been 5 days since the start of 2010, and already this new year has far surpassed 2009. Not only am I fortunate enough to be in Lima, Peru, I am spending it in a way that I have never before.
As I clung to my iPod when the airplane took off from O'Hare airport on January 3, I listened to a remix of the Blackeyed Peas singing to me that they had a feeling that the night was going to be a good night. Well, it truly was.
After arriving to La Castellana, our hotel in Miraflores, I have experienced more in the past two days than I probably ever have. I have traveled almost 4,000 miles away from home and the harsh snow, have spoken more Spanish than ever in my life, walked around Miraflores, was welcomed into the home of former Chicagoans, eaten rather large corn that seems fit for only a superhero (probably the Hulk), went out with friends, participated in class, met some local students from IPAD (Instituo Peruano de Artes y Diseno), and bargained at the local market.
I don't think that it has quite sunk in yet that I am just hanging out in South America for two weeks. I couldn't be starting off this entirely new decade in any other way. Just the first two days have shown me that the worries that I thought I would have carried from back home in Chicago will remain in 2009. Like my favorite Blind Pilot song lyrics read, I left all my doubts on the airplane.
I have so much to get excited about with class and the articles I will be writing that this will set the tone of starting new while in Peru. I hope that everyone can experience what I am right now at some point in their lives.
