It's a wild world

I go home in one week. That simple truth is presiding over every decision I have made in the last few days. My life in Cusco is wrapping up and things are just a little bit crazy. For starters, I have that lovely 40 page paper looming over my head, making fun final trips around the area almost impossible. I have been buying presents for people back home which is a lot of fun and really stressful at the same time. And the beast of them all-packing. I decided that I am going to donate a lot of my clothing to make room for all of the aforementioned gifts in my suitcase.

Today I picked up my suitcase from my host mom's house because I left most of my things there while I was in the jungle. I went through my things and I couldn't believe how many unnecessary things I had. First of all, I only ever wore three pair of pants here, which doesn't excuse the SIX that I brought. Shorts? What was I thinking. Wearing shorts in Peru says "Hello, I am a tourist with absolutely no cultural understanding or knowledge of climate." Sure it's hot around noon, but it will rain at 3 o'clock and drop to forty degrees around 6.

Things I have accumulated while in Peru:
1. Knee high black rain-boots. While they are trendy at SMC, these boots were not for fashion but for practicality. There are some pretty deep puddles in the rainforest.
2. A knit mask/hat combination for traditional dancing that SIT made us do in Lima. Seriously, I will never wear it again, does anyone want it? Here it is:

3. Notebooks and binders, what are those? Sometimes I really do forget that this is a school affiliated thing and not just a three and a half month long adventure.

I guess what I am trying to get across is that I am in a complete state of shock that this time next week I will be heading home to New York. I am going to be honest, there are times when I would like nothing more than to be home where things are comfortable and easy. Where I can speak English freely, eat things I am used to, and not worry about standing out. But things aren't supposed to be easy all of the time, that would be so boring. A lot of the time I think about how much more accomplished I feel after doing something I never thought I could do. My friends and I were talking to another tourist in our hostel and he told us that we are living the dream. I guess that is true.