Field Trip

After a long first 4 days at school, the long awaited field trip came at the end of the week! I really didn't know about it until last minute, but everyone else in my class had been awaiting for this day for a while. I am in my last year of secondary school here in Peru, as is everyone else in my class. So during the year, there are a few promotional trips and activities to celebrate getting through school.

The day started off with everyone's bags getting checked, even though some people like me didn't bring any. I really wish I had because I would have been way more prepared. We also got our t-shirts. On the back of our t-shirts, everyone has a nickname... mine was Blondie... All the other classes have colors and polos for their class, but our class is new, so none of us had one and we had to order them. We are the Incredibles, and our homeroom teacher is like one of the characters from the Incredibles. Many people from my class have explained it to me many times, but I still don't know how it all correlates.

After all of those morning shenanigans, we had a 3 hour bus ride ahead of us. We were going to a nice facility that seemed to be like a campground north of Lima. It really wasn't that far away, but because of traffic and the elevation it takes forever to get anywhere here. I would also say the normal speed everywhere (as 5+ lane highways as well) here is about 25-35 mph... everyone drives so hecking slow. I took a nap for the majority of the bus ride. When I first fell asleep on the bus, I was in cloudy Lima; but I woke up to blue skies and sunshine.

When we first got there, everyone had to get on their sunscreen, bug repellent, and change if you were smart enough to bring shorts. It was TOASTY. I was real hot all day wearing all black and sweatpants, but it was a problem I was very thankful to have. As I type this, I am sitting in my living room freezing my butt off because it is cold! I loved the weather there sooo much. Everyone else did too because it felt like summer. I can't wait for summer...

The first activities we had there were just a bunch of games. I only ended up playing one of them, although I wish I could have played more. Although it was a lot of fun sitting back and cheering on my team chanting "NEGRO!" I also had some ice cream during this time, which was just the icing on the cake for the day. I also walked around the facility with my friends quite a bit just hanging out and seeing what all the place had to offer. There were some awesome swimming pools that were calling my name, but we weren't allowed to swim for the day. After that, we had lunch that consisted of pollo a la braza (rotisserie chicken), babas fritas ( French fries), and a salad. I put ketchup on everything like normal, even though the ketchup here is different. Sugar is the 3rd ingredient, so it's very sweet. Finally, we had some Inca Kola to top it all off. During lunch, the teachers handed out gifts to everyone, and we all got a pop-socket. Besides hanging out and talking, we also played Head's Up- but of course it was in Spanish. Everyone had me play a few times, especially with the verbs, to test out my Spanish and help me learn more; and it was very fun! Highly recommend that as a method to learn verbs and other words. After lunch, there was more dancing outside and time to just goof around. People were flinging around water bottles too, so I ended up getting very wet. But being in a dry climate, that dried up real fast.

At the very end of the day, there were many pictures to be taken. I took most of these photos with my friends throughout the day, but there were even more at the end. It was so sad having to leave, because we had all had such a fun day and it had gone by so fast. We loaded up on the bus, and ended up waiting there for a long time. I stayed awake the majority of the bus ride, and when we first left, it was crazy being able to see and feel the difference in climate and weather. It was also getting dark, so that would have also made an impact. On the way home, I spent some more time playing Head's Up and doing more fun stuff with Spanish. We also sang many songs and just had fun. Although after a while I had a killer headache. It was so loud on the bus, and my brain was just not digging it. I get headache's when I ride the bus to and from school too just because everyone is so loud. If everyone back home thinks that I am loud, I am nothing here.

When we got back to the school, I was so relieved to finally get off that bus and go home. But I was also really sad because I still wanted to hang out with my friends. It was a tiring, but good way to end the day.