half gone half left

So this week officially marks the end of midterms for me. Which means I am now entering the second half of my studies. I have had a blast thus far and can only imagin the rest of time, now that the language is relatively easy and I have more Peruvian friends and am use to Peruvian academics.

So midterms, they really sucked haha. I had 4. Spanish went really well. Social Peruvian Reality was ok, I studied a lot for it and was well prepared. History of Silent Films was rough but I also was very prepared except there was an essay question out of left field that is going to hurt my grade. Economics was the last one and the one I worried the least about. The test was really long. I think one person in the 40 person class may have finished. Me, the foreigner, got really close. I did not have time to explain my last graphs and will probably lose one point out of 20 because of it unless the teacher changes the standard because no one finished haha. Time will tell. I am just very happy that midterms are over :-)

Next weekend, I travel to the jungle, a lifelong goal. I am going to Iquitos which is the winning point in the old computer game "Amazon Trail." I got my last shots to get cleared to go there and cannot wait. I am going with three other people from the program. The rest of the program went a couple weeks ago but we did not want to deal with the organization and lack of free time that goes with program events. So look forward to my post on the jungle :-)

So the last two weekends have been full of me studying and going out and having fun (usually coordinated with the sun haha). But it has been fun, now I doubt I will be in Lima for the next couple weekends again so back to the road.

I want to talk about the food and how much I love it all. My favorite is aji de gallina. Its a chicken dish that is muy rico! Other are saltado dishes which is like stir fry. I love all of the types of potatoes and the millions of ways of preparing them. I eat rice with every meal and will miss that when I return home. Basically, there is no grease or fat on their food but they eat a lot of carbs. I have lost a lot of weight which I am happy about. I blame the diet cause I am not walking much more than I do at school but at school I gain weight haha. My goal upon returning is to eat like a Peruvian. I am buying a rice steam cooker and going to cut the fats and grease from life which I do well not eating red meat from the US. Speaking of US meat, it has the worst reputation in Peru for the worst quality full of chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones. Most Peruvians know not to eat it and McDonald's advertises that its meat is from Argentina otherwise they would fail. This is what I have been saying people! Our meat is disgusting!!!

I will update my blog after the rainforest, Happy Mother's Day everyone!!!