Introdpucption to the PUCP

That’s right, it’s time for the old classic – the ‘settling in to a foreign university’ post. If you’re planning on becoming a foreign exchange student, this is for you! If not, feel free to stop reading now and just leave me a generic comment about how much you ‘loved the new blog post Alex, keep it up xox’. I understand.

Of course I’ve probably just alienated my entire reader base because since I severed ties with the GOC there aren’t all that many prospective year abroaders who are going to read my blog. No doubt they could have all greatly benefitted from the wisdom I sporadically impart upon these hallowed pages but hey, sucks to be them. It’s not my fault all the current second-year students are going to suffer miserable experiences because they have no idea how to adapt to their foreign cultures; that one falls squarely on the shoulders of the GOC, and I can’t wait for the day realise their mistake and send me an email telling me how much they regret their decision to take down my blog. I’ve held grudges waaaay longer than two years before, and will spend the rest of my time here quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback.

Me poised to begin sandboarding down the dunes of Paracas, quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback

 

Me standing triumphantly at the very peak of the Lomas de Lucumo, quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback.

Me gazing out at the breathtaking ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu, quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback.

I am, of course, joking. I don’t hope anyone has a terrible time on their year abroad, and given my own experience I don’t see how they could. Not when you consider how easy it is to get drugs over here.

Eyoooo! What you gonna do, GOC?

Anyone who ever tried to read my first two blogs more than twelve hours after their initial publication will get this one.

Anyway I believe I made a promise in my last post not to go mad with the power of freedom of expression, so I will get back to my point – initiation into the university.

I arrived for the welcome day at the university – the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru – on the 10th of August. I knew very little about Peru prior to my arrival and wasn’t sure what to expect, but it couldn’t have been better organised. There was a nice welcome talk, I met a few other international students and we all got free PUCP backpacks, a free PUCP file, a map of the PUCP campus and most importantly a big pack of paper with information, times and dates of all the meetings and deadlines, all of which I was late to. I could try and pin this on the university but there’s little I can expect them to do to change who I am as a person. In seriousness, I had no complaints– there was a great welcome talk, an unexpectedly hilarious security briefing, much free food and many interesting people. I’ve heard many stories of people on years abroad in other places having problems getting started at their universities, so if ‘efficient administration’ really gets your pulse racing then the PUCP may well be the place for you.

Does this count as an elaborate floral display? I don’t know much about floral displays but they made it into writing, that’s got to count as elaborate

The campus is also a very nice place to be, particularly now we’re entering summer (yeah I don’t like to brag, European friends, but as you embark upon your annual slow descent into wintery hell things are getting pre-tty balmy over here). It’s like a safe haven in the midst of Lima’s relentless noise and traffic – there’s elaborate floral displays, trees beneath which you can sit and read, and wildlife ranging from hummingbirds to deer. It’s also about a kilometre long, which means I’m often late for classes because I’ll lull myself into thinking ‘I’m already at uni there’s no need to worry about anything’ and then remember it still takes almost ten minutes to walk from the library to my Spanish class. But that also means there’s room for three canteens, at least two libraries (apparently there’s more but I haven’t found them yet), and enough little coffee shops to ensure that you can always snack and work in a different place every day.

 

Dad no matter how many birdfeeders you put out in the garden you’re probably never going to top this – but hey, sparrows are cool too

Most important though – the people. I appreciate more than most the attraction of spending a few days living in my bedroom watching cartoons and eating only Butterkist Toffee Popcorn, but if you want to actually make the most of your year abroad, you’re going to need friends. Well, to be honest I only really made friends because it turns out they don’t sell Butterkist Toffee Popcorn here, but looking back I barely regret that decision at all. And when it came to meeting people the university excelled itself. They run a program called the Compañero PUCP (PUCP companion) whereby each incoming international student is assigned a Peruvian student from the PUCP to accompany them and help them settle into their new life in Lima.

Straight Outta Companero

What a great idea! is exactly what my past self didn’t think, because I didn’t sign up for it. But fortunately most of these compañeros are more than happy to befriend any and every international student, myself included. It’s fantastic because I now have a great balance of friends from Peru along with a variety of other countries across the world. As I mentioned above, most people are also very nice, and the Peruvians are always happy to share everything about their country with us foreigners.

Me with some of the many chevere people I’ve met

I also recommend joining as many event-themed social media groups as possible. In the first few weeks there was always something going on. Picnics in the park, football matches, nights out, trips to other cities – so many that it was sometimes hard to keep track, and having Facebook there telling me exactly when I had to be there, where I had to be and who else would be there when I arrived saved me a lot of stress. Plus if I hadn’t joined them I might never have known about these events, and I would probably have spent all those evenings and weekends doing something really boring like working or furthering my degree or some other such pointless activity. (Mum this was a joke I do work I promise).

Me not doing work

I think that’s just about everything with regards to the immediate settling-in period. I’ll come back some other time with a bit more about my classes, which again should be of absolutely no interest whatsoever to anyone not going on a year abroad, so have those generic comments primed. Actually I tell a lie – my matriculation was far more eventful than it should have been, and as I know lots of you like stories about me being an idiot and creating hugely stressful situations for myself I’ll be sure to post that soon.

Any questions, qualms or queries let me know by leaving a comment or a message. Thanks for perusing!

Estudiantes de Intercambio PUCP. You might be able to see me in the foreground, quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback.

Estudiantes de Intercambio PUCP. You might be able to see me in the foreground, quietly seething with indignation, trying to think of a suitably cutting comeback

2 Hot 4 the Global Opportunities Centre

The Global Opportunities Centre and I have had some creative differences. This may not be apparent to those of you who have read my blog, but those of you who haven’t – or more specifically haven’t been able to – will know what I’m talking about.

The GOC are stricter than I had expected regarding their policy on blog posts that mention drug use, regardless of the legality of said drugs in the country in which they were consumed. Not only this, they are also very strict about mentions of said mentions of drug use in later blogs (I assume this was the reason for the second post being made private – still haven’t had an email for that one.) It seems my rock-star lifestyle just isn’t compatible with the image that the university wants to promote, and I’m sure they have a good reason for it – it would be terrible if my blogs, say, ended up introducing some sort of drug culture to the UK university scene. Can you imagine.

This disturbing screenshot was taken from the computer of a second-year languages student after reading my blog.

What this has meant is that both the posts I have so far put up on their website have been taken down. And while I suppose in seriousness I can understand their point of view it’s still annoying, because I don’t have an infinite amount of time to spend writing, revising and subsequently apologising for blogs. I’d rather not have to spend each blog I write treading the fine line between their ‘it’s totally cool to express your personality!!!’ guideline, and their several ‘BUT FOR GOD’S SAKE NOT LIKE THAT’ other ones.

Realising that my second blog had been made unviewable on the GOC website was an upsetting experience, and for the past few days I have been considering stopping the blog altogether. But over those few days I decided it would be a great shame to stop doing something that I’ve very much enjoyed doing so soon purely because the Global Opportunities Centre doesn’t have a sense of humour. So once more I dusted the cocaine off my laptop and created this, my very own wordpress account, where as far as I’m aware I can post whatever I want. Such as this picture.

Photo Credit: Amelia Jones Photoshop

So from now on you will be able to find all my blogs here! For those of you who lack the energy to drag your tired eyes up to the address bar, that’s alexsinappropriateadventures.wordpress.com. I’ve also uploaded the two blogs that were taken down so if you didn’t get a chance to look at them before you now can, though reader discretion is advised; please make sure there aren’t any children or British university students in the room with you.

The idea is that it will still be a travel/life abroad blog. I’ll keep everyone posted about what I’m doing and where I’ve been, and try and offer up any insight I have about Peruvian culture and lifestyle. But now that it’s freed from the GOC’s totalitarian shackles there is more scope for freedom of expression, and I’ll do my best not to go mad with this power.

That is all, please keep perusing!

Me not doing work

AccLimatisation

DISCLAIMER: In this blog I am writing about times long past, and a lot has happened since the events of this blog post. One of those things is that I went to Machu Picchu and took so many photos that it filled up the memory on my phone permanently. And an unfortunate consequence of this is that I can’t take any new photos that might be relevant to this blog post. I know it’s possible to have a blog without photos, but the blog guidelines sent to me by the Global Opportunities Centre clearly stipulate that my blogs must be full of photos (it’s somewhere just below the bit about NO MENTION OF DRUGS WHATSOEVER). And following the fallout over my opening blog post I thought it would be a good idea to pacify them. So in order to combat this problem and ensure I do actually post this blog (which I wrote about a week ago) I’ve taken the photos from my Machu Picchu album that I consider to best illustrate what I’m talking about, and shoehorned them into the post as subtly as I can. Enjoy.

I imagine such posts as these are a lot easier to write when they’re actually happening, but I’ve been here for seven weeks and am very much settled in, so bear with me as I cast my mind back to the golden days of yestermonth when I arrived, fresh-faced and naïve, at the Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez, Callao, Lima.

In this picture of Cuzco you can see the sky… which is where planes go.

In fact bear with me as I cast my mind back further than that – to the plane journey itself. I should have been able to tell immediately that I would have no problems settling in in Lima, because the lady in the seat next to me was very keen to talk to me. Of course I’ve spent a great deal of my life traversing Britain by train and am used to such situations, but while I consider my ignoring-people-on-public-transport skills well-honed it’s far easier to feign interest in the rolling countryside of England and Wales than in the endless, ever-darkening desert of clouds visible on your average evening plane journey, and so approximately an hour from our destination my resolve was finally worn down by her well-meaning persistence.

Here is a sheep such as you might see from the window of a British train, but probably not this close.

Her name was Mirtha and she couldn’t have been more helpful. First of all she spoke English which meant I was spared having to dust off my Spanish skills just yet (one of the key reasons I’d been unwilling to initiate a conversation in the first place). She told me all I needed to know and more – how much a phone or sim card cost, how much I should be paying for internet per month, how the public transport system in Lima functions (possibly the only area she didn’t quite do justice, but I don’t think anyone really knows how the public transport system in Lima functions – more on that some other time).

Picture of Incan public transport system

She gave me a detailed explanation of the geography of Lima, and after I told her I would be living in Pueblo Libre district she told me which taxi companies I could trust and how much I should expect to pay them. Not that it mattered, because after we’d touched down and she’d steered me through security and customs, she decided that actually I was welcome to share her taxi and went out of her way to drop me off at my front door.

Interesting cultural fact: the Incas also had front doors, but this picture suggests they weren’t very good.

Anyone going on a year abroad – sure you’ll hear horror stories, but most people are actually lovely.

There I met Mariella, my landlady; Maarit, a student from Finland who was the other occupant of the house at the time; both the cats; and three or four of the eight dogs (I forget the precise number, all I remember is suddenly becoming aware that there were a lot of dogs.)

Me negotiating with a dog over how much of my food we should each have, a process I go through every time I use the kitchen.

I remember very little about arriving at the house on account of my brain being mush from blitzing through four countries in barely three days due to my connecting flights, but I can now tell you that Mariella has a very beautiful home. I’d arranged to live there prior to turning up as her house was recommended by the university, and so I’d seen the pictures of my room and the bathroom, but part of me was still worried it had all been a massive con and I would be living under a corrugated iron roof in a slum somewhere. Of course that wasn’t the case, and I’m now very happy living there. As I say, I remember little of my arrival there, though the following exchange does stick out:

Mariella: ¿Tu eres vegetariano?

Me: ¡Si, hablo también italiano!

This is exactly the sort of picturesque lake I imagine myself walking into every time I make a linguistic faux pas.

Aaaah. Start like you mean to go on, as they say. Deciding that this filled my daily quota of socially awkward Spanish-related moments I immediately went to bed. I don’t recall having any particular problems with jetlag, but then anyone who knows me knows I am very, very, possibly too good at sleeping. I went to sleep at midnight and woke up around seven – possibly due to the time zone, possibly due to the sound of a billion cars travelling so loudly down the road outside that if I closed my eyes I could imagine they were actually in my room. That’s taken some getting used to. Nonetheless, I was excited to explore my new city.

Let’s go explorers!

I like travelling and spent five months travelling around South-East Asia, so while I’m not immune to culture shock it’s more a playful jab in the ribs than the full-on, no-holds-barred, knuckleduster-wearing uppercut to the jaw it once was. This in mind, what I would say about waking up and stepping out of the house on my first day in Lima was that it was distinctly underwhelming. Perhaps the comparison is unfair but I’d arrived there from a family holiday in Italy, and Pueblo Libre isn’t quite Rome (though it does have some impressive Incan ruins). However I’ve explored a bit since then and it’s actually a very good-looking place. The architecture is like someone stacked a load of very colourful cargo containers on a ship and then sailed it through a typhoon, which is as far as my ability to describe architecture goes. It’s this kind of situation where it would be really helpful to have a photo to illustrate what I’m trying to say.

One of the most amazing things about Incan architecture is how little it has in common with that of modern day Lima.

To be honest though, one of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between travelling through a country and living in it is that life’s not all about the attractions anymore. The proximity of the nearest grocery store is more important than that of the nearest Eiffel Tower, and I’ve since come to greatly appreciate the abundance of grocery stores the Avenida Mariano Cornejo has to offer. It also has some nice parks dotted about the place, and having been here for the best part of two months I can say I’m happy living in Pueblo Libre.

Machu Picchu’s great and everything, but it doesn’t sell Pringles.

To summarise my settling in experience, it’s been surprisingly unsurprising. Everyone here has been just as helpful as I could hope for, my accommodation is comfortable and homely, and my district is a very pleasant place to live. If anyone is entertaining thoughts of moving to Lima, I recommend it! I’m going to wrap it up there, I have an exam I should be studying for-

Me not doing work

-so I will come back next [insert arbitrary time period here] with my ‘settling into the university’ blog. At this rate I’ll probably be in Italy before I’ve posted my fifth blog, so I’ll try and make it a bit more frequent. And if I do manage to get my camera working I’ll upload some photos in my upcoming posts that will give you all a better idea of where I’m living and what I’m doing. Thanks for perusing!

A Peru Overview

Welcome to my blog!

A brief introduction: my name’s Alex, I’m 21 years old and I’m currently on my year abroad from Cardiff University at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima, Peru.

This is the first blog I’ve written so I don’t know much about it, but I think a good place to start would be by outlining why I chose to write it. This is mostly for my benefit, because when I look at my timetable, at my diary, and at the ever-expanding backlog of reading I have to do (in Spanish) for my Introduction to Law course, it certainly doesn’t seem like a rational decision. A year abroad isn’t all fun and games, as I write this I can’t shake the nagging feeling that I reeeaaally should be doing some work.

Me not doing work

But when I think about the things that have happened to me in my first six weeks in Peru (yeah I’ve been here a while), I can’t think how I could not write a blog. An unbelievable amount has happened in this month. I’ve walked over 70 kilometres in five days. I’ve partied next to the Pacific Ocean (and very briefly in it). I’ve been slapped by a pelican. I’ve had altitude sickness at 4,000 metres, and consequently eaten enough coca leaves that I’ll still be failing drug tests when I return to the UK next summer (disclaimer – it’s perfectly legal here).

 

I’m so high in this picture

Sure, I’ve spent a long time hunkered down in the library too, but it’s all worth it. For the friends, the university, the culture, Lima has been a fantastic choice of year abroad location for me.

Like I say, I’m pretty busy. I’m studying Psychology, Law and Metaphysics (don’t ask why) and also have a Spanish course to keep up with, football to play and a hell of a lot of places to visit. But I’ll do my best to keep this thing as ordered and updated as I can.

 

“Being now itself becomes something that ‘is’ whereas obviously only beings are, and it is not the case that Being also is.”

This is why I don’t read Heidegger in Spanish

This has just been a garbled sort of taster-slash-overview of my time here so far, but from now on I’ll keep it more organised. Next up I’ll start off with a classic ‘settling in’ post about what I did when I first arrived, and then move on to talk about university life, some of the more interesting bits of Peruvian culture, some of the places I’ve already visited and plan to visit. And if there’s anything that anyone’s particularly interested in I think you can leave comments, so let me know and I’ll try to find out about it to let you know more.

I will leave you with this picture of llamas grazing at Machu Picchu. Thanks for perusing.

I was wearing a poncho when I took this.