IFSA - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

IFSA staff at Lima, Peru was super friendly and helped me with all of my questions regarding academics, health, good places to visit/eat, safety, how to use the public transportation, and etc. I loved how intentional each programming was, focusing on different aspects of the local culture, such as sustainability, history of Peru, and different social issues, such as racism, gender inequality, education, and etc. All the friends that I've met during this semester were great, and we still keep in touch even today.

When I decided to study aboad, I rode my bike over to the international programs office at UMass and said one thing; I want to leave my abroad experience fluent in Spanish. Having only met the minimal Spanish requirements for most programs, this was a tall order. My advisor suggested only one program--IFSA Peru.

After spending a summer in Guatemala working for a non-profit, I took off for Lima, where I would spend fall of 2017. The experience was organized wonderfully down to the homestay--I lived with an older Peruvian couple in the center of Miraflores that effectively became the grandparents I never had. Each day, I engaged in conversation in spanish from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed, taking classes at the PUCP and learning to navigate a city twice the size of New York City on my own. I had the chance to travel and have AUTHENTIC cultural experiences in 6 different regions of Peru, and engaged in independent research projects at two nonprofits as part of my coursework. The grey city slowly but surely turned into my second home, with phrases like manyas, pituco, and chela flowing from my mouth as if I were a true peruvian by the time I left. I wouldn't trade it for anything--would highly recommend for anyone looking for a true study abroad. No hand-holding, no tourist traps, and a whole lot of hard work and fun.

My semester with IFSA Butler in the capital city of Lima, Peru was by far one of the most exhilarating and stimulating experiences that I have had the opportunity to be a part of in my lifetime. From the wonderful people that supported and guided me during my 4 months to the exquisite cuisine that came from every corner of the country, I truly could not have been more fortunate. I also had the pleasure to travel around within Peru -- the southern desert, the high-altitude Andes, the northern Amazon, the western tropics.

Being in this program allows for an individual to get a satisfying semester of immersive studies while also having the liberty to experience everything that the country has to offer. That also comes with a grain of salt; you must go after what you want. Sacrifice is inevitable, but not detrimental. Your time abroad is how made by how you decide to spend it. I would not have changed a single moment of my time in Lima, Peru. That city gave me so much more than I could have ever asked for. It taught me how to seize independence. It taught me how to be a small fish in a big pond. It taught me what organized chaos looks like.

I highly recommend this location for anyone and everyone considering to go abroad.

Livin in Lima was definitely a huge change for me. I come from a small town and living in a large city like Lima was a challenge at first, but this program really helped me adapt quickly to life in the city. The two week orientation they held before classes started at the university was very helpful to adjusting to life in Lima. My host family was amazing and helped me feel at home immediately. The friendships I made through this program, and all of the great experiences I had made me fall in love with this beautiful country.

I was fortunate to have the unique and interesting opportunity to study abroad in Lima, Perú during the Spring semester 2016. Through living with a host family, attending a Latin American university of more than 16,000 students, completing four courses in a second language, and traveling to a number of diverse locations around the country, I came to understand what it meant to live and thrive in a foreign setting. The values, lessons, and paradigms that I encountered cannot be learned in a classroom or domestic campus setting, and I feel that it is my responsibility to advocate for others to take advantage of similar opportunities. Through my completion of this program, I consider it my responsibility to share the positive (even some neutral or negative) aspects of studying abroad through IFSA-Butler.

From the beginning, the Peru staff were angels-Lali, Zivka, Maria Elena, and "Mama Laura" are some of the sweetest most caring women I have ever met. They all really wanted the students to feel comfortable and cared for. I was having a lot of medical problems and they all listened, tried to understand, gave me advice when they could, and even accompanied me on my many doctors appointments. On this note, I must say that the health insurance through CISI really saved me and my family financially. With all the medical issues I was having, I accrued more than $2,000 (US) in medical bills. This program (part of the program, for all students) covered 100% of these bills-hospital, doctor, medicine, everything. I would pay for the services upfront, but CISI sent my family a full refund for *everything*. This helped me more than I could ever explain.

The host family I was placed with was also mostly good. I lived with two laicas consagradas, or consecrated laypeople—ultimately, nuns who lived among regular people. This led to many interesting experiences (considering I am not religious myself) and occasionally some issues. It is common in Peruvian culture to not make problems very public or obvious, sometimes to the point of holding in too many thoughts/feelings, so passive aggression can become a factor that can build over time. A few times it did come to a head, but ultimately we were able to work through our differences and learn from each other (I hope). When this was not a factor, they were very grandmotherly and sweet. Our house was always very clean and I was lucky enough to have a few minutes of hot water every day for a shower. Two meals a day were provided.

The academics were slightly challenging because this program was entirely in Spanish, although I did pick one class through the university which I came to regret—Laboratorio de Arqueología 4-arqueozoología (Archaeology Lab 4-Zooarchaeology) taught by R. Villar. There were only 6 students in the class, yet class times and locations were constantly changed and everyone in the group knew about it except for me for 8 weeks. No emails/texts/etc were sent to everyone, but somehow everyone knew where to be except me. This did not happen in any of my other three classes, so I find it unlikely that I was just being a confused foreign student. She moved the midterm date a week early (also without anyone telling me). We had a component that required us to make our own bone tool, but I had difficulties due to my medical condition (which we discussed, she told me not to worry about that component), and although I completed it and brought it to the final to turn in (which no one came to because they had cancelled it without telling me), she still gave me a D for the project. Overall, it was a very bad experience and has been my only C in a class in my entire college career; I wish I would have taken a different class. Other than this, I learned a lot through my other classes—especially through my advanced Spanish language class through IFSA-Butler. My teacher Rossana Díaz Costa was awesome and really cared about all of us, both academically and as a friend. Peruvian social reality was an eye-opening class, although we mostly talked about the ex-President Alberto Fujimori and his daughter Keiko, who ran in the elections this year.

Our group traveled to multiple places in Peru including Arequipa (student-run trip), Cusco and Machu Picchu, El Carmen, and other places (through the program). Each of these trips focused on a specific part of Peruvian culture. Cusco and Machu Picchu focused on the indigenous Peruvian lifestyle and sustainable farming while El Carmen focused on the Afro-Peruvian community-which I found quite interesting and unexpected. These trips really allowed us a nice break from hectic Lima and gave us a chance to experience and learn together outside of a classroom setting. The trips were some of my favorite parts of studying abroad.

IFSA-Butler also set me up to volunteer with a local archaeological site called Huaca Pucllana so that I could complete my community work in a place that aligned with my studies and interests. I am an archaeology major, so this was a great opportunity. I met a many of the archaeologists at the site and was even able to become good friends with a few of them. Some of them directed me to resources I could use for my thesis when I returned to the US. I spent over 80 hours in the lab cleaning and organizing archaeological materials like plant remains, bones, shells, and ceramics. Although I wasn’t able to dig (they began digging during finals week), this was still a valuable experience and was a great addition to my resume and understanding of my field.

There were many positive and negative things about studying abroad, but they were more or less personal matters. The things provided by IFSA-Butler were consistently excellent and helped me a great deal during my time there. I would recommend this program (or others through IFSA-Butler, as I would assume they have similar standards) to anyone who is considering going abroad and who wants a program that will take care of them, challenge them, show them around the world, and ease the process of reintegration to the US.

One weekend after midterms, I needed to get out of Lima for a weekend. Semana Santa was over, and things had quieted down overall, but I was still ready for a solo trip and a little alone time. I settled on a little town called Churin, a popular weekend getaway for natives of Lima, but basically unknown to tourists. The town is known for its natural thermal baths and abundant trout. So Friday morning, I went to downtown Lima, bought a bus ticket for 20 soles, and set out on a 5 hour bus ride northeast of Lima through the mountains. Though they're currently working on building a highway, right now it's more of a dirt path on the side of a mountain. In places, I thought we would surely fall off the side. But we didn't, and we arrived in the tiny town of Churin in the afternoon. The whole place was only a few blocks, but they were lined with small hostels and restaurants. I spent a very relaxing weekend sitting in mountain hot springs, speaking Spanish, and eating delicious food.

Peru is an amazing country but it can be a little overwhelming if you don't have the right guide. Ifsa was there with me every step of the way-from making sure i had a wonderful housing situation, to making sure that my special dietary restrictions were met (i keep strict kosher) and everything else. the staff is extremely conscientious and concerned about making everyone's experience the best one possible.