Departure and Arrival

Leaving for Perú was an adventure in itself. I arrived here on the 25th of July, and left on the 24th. The week before my departure was filled with lasts; saying goodbye to my friends from school, my last ferry ride, spending a few days at camp with some of my best friends, saying goodbye to my family, my city, and finally, my country. Saying goodbye to my friends was hard, but saying goodbye to my family was even harder than I had expected, especially knowing that I would be so far from them for so long.

The first flight of my trip was six hours from Seattle to Dallas, Texas, where the sun was just beginning to set as we landed. On my way to my connecting flight, I bumped into two of the three other exchange students to Perú who were also on my flight. We were all relieved to have found each other, and after finding the last of the four of us, went to grab a coffee. On our way to the gate, we were recognized as exchange students by a woman who had been an exchange student herself, and shared some stories and advice with us before we got on the plane.

When we arrived, our host families were waiting for us with welcoming signs and even more welcoming smiles. Everything felt so surreal: the drive through the city to my new home, meeting my host family, spending the day with my new brothers, (one of whom is an inbound Exchange student as well,) trying new foods, and taking it all in. Surprisingly, even though I was extremely nervous, (thoughts of "I hope they like me, I hope they like me, I hope my Spanish is understandable, I hope they like me." Repeating over and over in my head,) everything came naturally. I love my host family, and I was surprised at how quickly I was welcomed and taken care of as if I had been a part of their family all along.

Although it has been incredibly hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I'm no longer in my own country, or even my own continent, I'm already starting to discover what life is like here. To me, everything seems completely different yet the same all at once. It's a strange, hard to describe feeling, but I love it, and I'm trying to learn as much as posible about everything.

I can't wait to see what adventures come next!