Welcome to Peru!

¡Hola, familia y amigos!  It's about time I got around to creating a blog.  (And it's not lima beans, it's the city Lima!)  As you probably know, I am studying abroad this semester in Lima, Peru for my Spanish major.  I left the U.S. on February 24 and will return on July 15.  I've been here almost three weeks now and have been enjoying living in and learning about Lima!

This is a view of Lima from near the beaches.  Most of the city is up on cliffs.  The weather has been warm and sunny during the day for the most part (around 80 degrees), with nights getting linto the 70s and maybe upper 60s.  It's very humid in Lima, but coastal Peru is desert.  It may sprinkle or mist every so often, but it really doesn't rain here.  It's still summer here right now, but near the end of April the weather will change and it will typically be in the 60s, overcast, and 95% humidity for the winter.

Lima, the capital of Peru, is a city of approximately 9 million people.  The entire STATE of Wisconsin has about 5.6 million.  So far I haven't minded big city life.  Lima has various districts, kind of like the different neighborhoods of New York.  I live in Miraflores (the coast pictured above is probably Miraflores or nearby), and the university I attend here, la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, is two districts away in San Miguel.  More on transportation later... Lima traffic is rather chaotic.  Ok, not rather... it's very chaotic most of the time.

La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru), which I shall henceforth refer to as either PUCP or La Católica, has about 18,000 students and is considered a rather prestigious university, founded in 1917.  It's also a gated campus with plenty of green space.  They've got a wonderful variety of birds (if you don't know, I'm a birder- I love birdwatching), as well as a cute species of squirrel and some deer.  Yep, there're deer on my campus.

FYI, Peru is spatially in the US Eastern Time Zone, but now that you all have sprung ahead with Daylight Savings, I'm at the same time as Central Standard Time!  Peru doesn't do Daylight Savings.  It's kind of weird to ponder... time changed for you but not for me...

Also, lesson of the day:  Don't assume the person in the elevator with you lives in your building and knows how the elevator works, and will push the right button so the doors don't start closing as you're trying to unlock your apartment.  The elevator bit me.

(I have more photos on facebook.)

More to come: food, fun, transportation, classes, host family, cuy...