I’ve never left the country before
I’m twenty years old and I’ve never left the country in my entire life. I lived in Oklahoma until I was 3 years old and since then I’ve lived in the same small city in Massachusetts for the last 17 years. The furthest I ever ventured was to Austin, Texas for SXSW during spring break in my second semester of college once I had finally saved up enough to go on a trip. It was an incredible experience and it felt so freeing to board a plane by myself, explore a new city, learn about the differences and similarities in culture and experience such welcoming from my friend who let me stay with her. When I read about the Peru dialogue where we get to stay with host families, I thought it would be a great way for me to really get out of my comfort zone and truly be exposed to the culture and all it has to offer. Essentially, I have an intense desire to learn about and understand as many cultures as I can so I can truly appreciate the culture and its people as we cross paths.
I expect that I am going to come back feeling like a new person, in a way. The biggest periods of growth in my life have always been when I pushed myself to go out of my comfort zone. In all honesty, at first, the idea of leaving where I’ve lived for the majority of my life to experience culture and language I am not overly familiar with genuinely terrified me. But what better way to learn Spanish and to appreciate a culture than to be thrown in and fully immersed for 5 weeks? There is only so much a book can teach you, but experiencing the culture for yourself not only makes such a bigger and more permanent impression but also changes your understanding of your own culture and maybe even yourself. The key is to be open minded and I plan to absorb and grow as much as I can while I am in Peru.
I would say my biggest goal is definitely to improve my ability to speak in Spanish. As I have only taken one Spanish class, my language skills are very basic and I’m a lot better at writing than speaking. It will be an incredible accomplishment for me to return with the ability to speak Spanish proficiently and engage in conversation with more ease. It was something that I always said I wanted to do and I can’t believe that I now have this opportunity. I plan to achieve this goal by truly being present in conversations even if I don’t understand, asking a lot of questions and not being afraid to sound like an illiterate fool, which I know I have in my attempts at speaking in Spanish in the past. It will be truly humbling and I know I will experience anxiety when I attempt to engage in conversation with my host family and Peruvian citizens while I’m out and about. But as I said, I genuinely believe the best way to grow is to just put yourself out there and let the experience shape you.
I am most looking forward to exploring and becoming familiar with the city, the people, the food, the music and everything that has shaped Lima into what it is today. It is a place rich with history, a place that has itself grown and struggled and evolved and that in itself is beautiful. I am looking forward to the moment when I stop feeling like a tourist, once I become more comfortable with speaking and navigating, and it becomes a new place I have memories in and affection for.
