IFSA Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Partnership

I am a heritage student. As IFSA first Peruvian abroad in Peru, it was difficult for me to connect with my peers in IFSA. I would experience microagressions and just overall, I felt as if a majority of them did not want to connect with Peruvian culture/make the effort. Many did not check their privilege (being white Americans from a developed nation) and formed cliques. I did manage to find two great friends who were really there to experience the city and learn the language. We were all low-income and all pushed ourselves to get to know the city. I often questioned my identity. This is not a process I regret. Having dual nationality has permitted me to pursue experiences such as this one in order for personal growth. That in itself is something many people cannot afford. My mother was also in Peru visiting family at the time. She was medically uninsured and suffered a horrible accident during my second week into Peru. It was very upending and shocking. All of a sudden I had to deal with family, my mental health, school, my mothers health. All these burdens. Due to feeling so distant from most of my IFSA cohort, I only told the two I felt comfortable with. I felt incredibly alone. Although my IFSA director made efforts to make sure I had access to resources, I don't quite think he grasped how alone I felt among the peers who did not understand me. Its very hard to sit in class and wonder about how your mother is doing in the hospital, how your family is going to afford it, and if she'll have access to enough resources (she was in one of the poorest districts of lima) while your classmates complain about the cramped bus rides and how people stare at them for being white and speaking english (in a Spanish country...). Welcome to my life in the US where I've been ridiculed for my brown skin and accent.

IFSA in Lima, Peru was the perfect support system that I needed. I knew that I could always fall back on the friends that I had made through the IFSA program, but I never felt bounded by this circle of friends. I had the freedom to branch out and meet local Peruvians. Logistically, IFSA was great in preparing us to live in a new country. During orientation week, our resident director gave us a presentation on some of the essentials such as: public transportation, insurance system, health care, differences in academia, grading system, and etc. He was super easy to contact, and I could always ask him questions about any topic starting from visa situations to making new friends in Peru. Overall, I was able to grow so much through this semester by being in a new culture with a strong community.

I absolutely loved studying abroad with IFSA in Peru. My classes were engaging, I loved the city, and my host family was wonderful. I joined the swim team at my host university, through which I made a bunch of friends and improved my Spanish even further. Danny, the IFSA program director in Lima, was nothing but super helpful and really kind. The trips we took to Cusco and Ica were educational and fun, and I got the chance to travel a bunch with friends as well. I cannot more highly recommend this program!!

I went abroad in Peru which was a very different environment for me. I really enjoyed having the ability to live with a host family and experience classes with students in my program, but also Peruvian students. I took two Gender courses which were only offered at the master’s level. Though I was intimidated at first, I felt well supported by my on-site advisor, Danny. He was always there for all kinds of support. Also, I traveled a bit to the south of Peru with the program and on my own and I really enjoyed it. I got to learn about the history of Peru and some of the other ecosystems it has to offer. I wish there would have been additional support for various students of color going abroad, who have not traveled out of the country very much. Additionally, support for students who need more financial aid when going abroad.

As a Spanish major and Latin American Iberian and Latino Studies minor at Bryn Mawr College, my semester abroad in Lima, Perú allowed me to constantly utilize my Spanish skills on an everyday basis. Whether it was living in a home with a Peruvian family or out buying an ice cream from a street vendor on the city streets of Lima, I was always putting my language skills to the test and being challenged. Additionally, I was able to be in a setting where I really saw how both the Spanish language and Latin American culture intersect outside of the typical classroom environment. I enjoyed taking two classes at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú with Peruvian students which were focused on contemporary Spanish literature and Hispanic narrative, both of which I was able to count towards my Spanish major upon return to my college in the United States. In addition, I took two classes with my IFSA-Butler program (Peruvian Social Reality and an Advanced Writing and Grammar course) in which I learned specifically about Perú's rich cultural and historical themes. In the Advanced Writing and Grammar course I was able to read Peruvian literature written by some of the most well-known Peruvian writers, whom I had not previously been exposed to as my college in the states does not have a professor that specializes in Peruvian literature. I was also able to further strengthen my writing skills in the Spanish language through a myriad of essay assignments throughout the semester. Finally, my study abroad experience with IFSA-Butler allowed me to not only enhance my knowledge of another culture while also practicing my language skills on a daily basis but it also provided me the necessary self-growth to realize that in the future I will be able to accept any challenge that may come my way.

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.