Staying alive

Culture shock. How do you know if you have it? What does it feel like? Well, it feels like seeing an entire roasted pig (head and all) on the kitchen table for lunch. In Peru, it's called lechón, and it is a delicacy that my family bought from Lima. I ate it, but it was one of the biggest struggles of my new Peruvian life. I want you all to see it, so here it is:


I am officially living with my host family in Cusco. They are a very nice retired couple with five children who have moved away. I have never had a television, my own bathroom, or a king sized bed, so it is so strange to have that all for the first time in Peru.

Besides the suckling pig, food here is so different. We eat bread and jam for breakfast, and HUGE lunch, and a tiny dinner at around eight at night. As someone who is suffering from a caffeine addiction, the coffee could not be any better.

Other differences...traffic lights are hard to find and stop signs are more like suggestions. Every time I cross the street I pray I don't get hit by a rogue Cusqenian car. Only the bravest of the brave drive in Cusco. And did I mention how cold I am? It is seriously time to buy some alpaca sweaters. Okay well, that is it for now, I just wanted to show every Alliot complainer my lunch. ¡Ciao! (That's how people say goodbye, but doesn't it sound Italian?)

Estoy aqui

After more than 24 hours of flying and layovers, I'm here, I'm here!! I got off the plane in Cusco and met up with the 14 other people in my program. It was great meeting everyone, especially since we come from all different areas of the United States. It is hard to believe that I will be here until December.

Our first few nights we stayed in a small town an hour away from Cusco called Urubamba. This is what it looks like:

We stayed in a hostel here for four nights and tonight we head out to Cusco but here are some things we did in Urubamba:

1. Went to a guinea pig (or cui en español) farm.
There were so many but own one cui was black. In Peru, the black ones are good luck and they are rubbed on people who are sick for healing purposes. Look at this:
2. We saw how chocolate is made. It turns out the seeds are grown, toasted, and then ground with peanuts and some sugar to get the real deal. Hershey's better watch out because this natural chocolate is pretty delicious. I think i'm going to go back today to buy some more!

On another note, there are a few things about Peru that have surprised me. First of all, it is so cold! I thought (in my ignorance) that it was supposed to be cold under the equator, but I find myself doubling up on my sweaters during the day. Another thing (which may be too much information for some), toilet paper is hard to find, so it is suggested that we all carry our supply around. More to come, but I'm going to end on one of my new favorite pictures:
¡Qué hermosa! (that means what beauty).

This is how we do it

Today my family and I dropped off my sister, Lauren, at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. Lauren, like myself, is becoming a knight, but she is a golden one. I don't know if we really like royalty, but I think it's pretty funny that out of the hundreds of possible mascots (and there are some strange ones) we chose the same one.

Being on a college campus and watching all the freshmen moving in really made me miss school. Seriously, I teared up when I saw the anxious families lugging the bins of notebooks, bedding, and clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I'm so excited to study abroad and try new things, but I know that I will miss the beautiful comforts of my college home.

While at Clarkson, I couldn't help but notice the differences from my own school. Here are some of them:
1. Freshmen have to choose a meal plan. This should seem normal but it is something so foreign to me. It must be so overwhelming to decide on day one how many times you will eat everyday. I wander into Alliot, our dining hall, at least three times daily, so I definitely take this freedom for granted.

2. The campus bookstore was not like anything I have ever seen before and is more akin to a Barnes & Noble. It was spectacular, to say the least. Along with their books, which included a children’s lit section, they sold North Face backpacks, which is an upgrade from the usual Vera Bradley selection. Check this out-


3. It is not as green. Not as in, St. Mikes has more grass, but when I think of SMC, buzzwords like “sustainability,” and “smaller carbon footprint” come to mind. We have a competition to see which residence hall can reduce their water and electricity bill and that has to count for something.

Every school has it’s own feel, but after all they are more alike than different. So I feel it is best to sum up this post with words enthusiastically uttered long before Asher Roth. I love college.

The dog days are over

It's sad to say, but summer is winding down. Has it really been more than three weeks since my last post? Wow, so sorry but things around here have been CRAZY, caps required. My little sister leaves for college tomorrow and I leave for Peru in less than two weeks, so my house is a swarm of suitcases and check lists for packing (we don't mess around).

I have decided to compile a checklist of necessary things/pre-departure activities for those of us who are studying abroad. I'll start with the practical items:

1. PASSPORT-Make sure yours does not expire during your travels, and especially make sure that you do not realize this a month before you leave like I did. Expediting passports are expensive, this $60 could have been much better spent elsewhere.

2. Get an International Student Identification Card (ISIC, for short). For only $22 they provide emergency medical coverage and tons of discounts in more than 100 countries. Half-price entrance at Machu Picchu, here I come!

3. A good travel book. I bought the Rough Guide to Peru. Now, I'm not sure if my experience will be "rough," but it is a great source to look for transportation, food, and packing advice.

4. The necessary gear. New culturally acceptable clothes, because not everyone likes flannel and jeans like SMC does. An external hard-drive incase something awful happens to your computer. Electronic adapters. And for my new favorite things, I bought wonderful, multiple day backpack and hiking boots. Wanna see?


5. Indulge in your favorite things. For me this means marathon movie watching and mass ice cream consumption with my sister. I've also been doing a lot of magazine reading, just because newspapers are dying doesn't mean mags aren't alive and strong!

Well...hiking gear is not cheap, so I'm off to coinstar to convert all my spare change to buy a sleeping bag for below 15 degree temperatures! Enjoy all the lemonade and sun while you still can!!

Ain't no reason things are this way

Two nights ago I was flipping through the channels on TV and settled on a documentary on HBO. Usually I am too tired to watch television and end up falling asleep on the couch with a melted bowl of ice cream by nine o'clock. That night was different and I watched Homeless: Motel Kids of Orange County with my sister.

The title is pretty self explanatory and this program is vastly different from the typical shows about Orange County. You all know what I'm talking about: Laguna Beach, the O.C. and the Real Housewives of Orange County definitely ring some pop-culture bells. However, these kids on this documentary don't lounge by their pools, get waited on by the hired help, or even go to Disneyland which is walking distance from their motels.

Most of the children were younger than seven and their pastimes consisted of playing in the dumpsters or dangling from the motel's balcony. When they aren't at school, Church run soup kitchens are their main source of food. All these little kids wanted was a house, something I was afforded without struggle. When I was their age I wanted macaroni and cheese, Barbies, and eternal summer. The motel kids go to school in the summer to avoid staying in their discounted rooms all day long.

I know that during sometimes I can get too caught up in my own life, but this documentary was a reminder of what other people are facing. I strongly encourage people to see this program, I will be very surprised if you aren't affected.

Reasons to love

Burlington, Vermont. What a wonderful place, and I am so glad that it is only an hour away from Plattsburgh. I am reminded of it's proximity daily, because friends, I have discovered that like the song, it's a small world after all.
When I go into Starbucks with my sister to buy a pick-me-up carmel frappuccino, the first thing I see when I walk in is Seven Days, Vermont's weekly entertainment newspaper. One of my professors works at Seven Days and seeing this tie to SMC makes me happy.

Last week I wrote that during the summer I do an abnormal amount of reading. Anyways, the setting of the book I just finished, The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, is loosely based on COTS in Burlington. COTS, which stands for the Committee for Temporary Shelter, offers housing to people who are in need. St. Michael's has a very close relationship with them through the MOVE program, so it was neat to read about them from a literary perspective.

Lastly, the strangest thing happened while I was at work on Saturday. I was just wandering around the campground, doing some lovely maintenance work when I spotted someone who looked unusually familiar. He asked me where the showers were and I couldn't drop the feeling that I knew him. I looked a little closer (I had to squint, I refuse to wear my glasses) and I decided that yes, it had to be the person I thought it was. A little over a year ago I went on an extended service trip to Baltimore, Maryland. My group worked closely with a soup kitchen called Our Daily Bread. An Americorps volunteer was our quasi-boss. I guess when he's not being a Baltimore superhero he likes to come and camp in Upstate New York. This was too weird and I still can't get over the coincidence. I wish I would have told him where I recognized him from, but alas it was too late.

I am pleased to say that I will be making another return to Burlington to see the Swell Season (they are the people from the movie, Once) at the Flynn next Wednesday. I am so glad that I go to a school in such a cool place, and it's seriously strange how SMC connections pop up everywhere. Until next time!

Watching the wheels go round

I find it almost unbelievable that I have been home from school for more than two months. It's crazy! It feels like yesterday that I was packing up my beloved room in Founders to head back to Plattsburgh. So, I thought it was a good time to recap some of the highlights of my summer:

1. I went hiking with my dad and lovely dog, Millie, up Panther mountain in the Adirondacks.
2. Going to Cape Cod to see friend and fellow blogger, Michaela. The fact that I saw Taylor Swift just added to the fun.
3. A bunch of my friends came up for my sister's high school graduation. It was so nice to see everybody and revel in the beauty of SMC love. Look how adorable we are:

4. I visited my cousin, Meghan, who lives in Burlington. Together we went to the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury. The tour we went on was full of cow jokes and ended with a free sample of Milk & Cookies. What can be better than free ice cream? While in the flavor graveyard I learned that peanut butter and jelly was once a legitimate ice cream flavor. Weird.
5. I went on my first jetski ride ever! And I loved it!
6. Thanks to a wise friend I have invested in Netflix, and it was a wonderful decision. Some really good movies I have seen are the Lovely Bones, Legends of the Fall, and my personal favorite, Whip It. It's about a girl who joins a roller derby league. Is anyone interested in starting a St. Michael's chapter? Just let me know...
7. My friends Kelsey, Shelly, and my sister went to a Passion Pit concert in Montreal. Montreal is such a fun city and the concert was amazing because we were so close to the band. Here we are, post concert enjoying the night air (sorry about the angle, it's my sister's attempt at being artsy).

8. I've been reading nonstop. At school I don't really have time to read for fun, but at home it's almost all I do. So far Jeannette Wall's memoir, the Glass Castle, has been the best.

This is it for now, but hopefully I will have many more adventures to go. 43 days until Peru!!!