November already.. This means 2 weeks of university to go, one week of exams and then TRAVELING! My god, canot believe that I managed to live her for 4 months already.
Last weeks my parents visited me and they had a great trip through Peru. It was good for them to see how I live and how awesome this country is. Especially because they did not want to let me go before. They really loved the trip and they saw a lot.
I joined them to Cusco, to see the Machu Picchu together! This was so great. It was really the highlight of Peru! The Machu Picchu is the city of the Inca's and is really impressing.
On the university it is still not totally going how it should. Some groups do not want you to participate and they finish the work and write your name on it, while others just do not want you in their group. Next week we have to hand in 4 big end assignment and this is kind of stressful. Although we did not do that much during the semester. It begins to irritate me that we have to go to classes obligated and have the little exams. For this I am glad when I am back in Tilburg again. What a good thing is that the students partcipate a lot in discussions. I really want to do this more, but the spanish is still a barrier for me. Therefore I just answer in English. It is only hard to hear what the others say so I never know if the students already gave that answer.
The weather in Lima is really better now and I see more blue air then grey air. We can walk in shorts and I am almost tempting to go to the beach, but maybe this is a little bit to much.
Everyone starts to plan his trip for december. I am not totally sure about this yet, but probably we will start in Bolivia and then go to Argentina and or Chile.
I could never imagine a year ago that I would do that. Me, a 20 year old girl. But I am gonna do it and I will enjoy it.
I will update after finishing my assignments.
Nos vemos
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Time flies..
I know it is a long time ago that I wrote something on my blog, but life here is just going so fast!
It feels like only 2 weeks past, but in real life it is 2 months since my last blog.
University life is going normal. It is still like highschool, they are leading you in everything you have to do. A couple of weeks ago we had an examweek, what ment that we had only 2 exams in that week, so it was really relaxt and this was the reason why Merle and I decided to go to Huaraz. Of the two exams, I had one oral and the other one was written, but also this was like exams on highschool, in small rooms with tables in straight lines. You also have to cover your name after finishing your exam, so that the teachers can't give you a higher grade because they know who you are.
The annoying thing is that there are still the controls, cases and trabajos so that we don't have that much oppurtunities to travel anymore, but we still try to arrange something.
The second part of the semester is really more busy, because we have to do a lot of trabajos final included with a big paper and a presentation. The level is still not that high and a lot of students want to help you. I have to admit that not everyone wants to do that, because some people kicked us out of our group, with no good reason. So I think that they just don't want to put effort in working together with exchange students who's spanish is not perfect.
They told us that the profesors are really nice for exchange students and that it is not entirely true. Some just don't want to help you and some want to fortunately. But still you have to put some effort in it, they don't always expect that your spanish is sufficient.
About my spanish level, it is really getting better! I can understand most of it and I can have conversations! It is nice to recognize this after a couple of months, because before I thought that it will never improve.
Last week my parents arrived and I showed them around in my life. This was really a nice experience. They now know how I live and their image of Lima totally changed. They really liked it here. Now they are travelling and tomorrow I will meet them again in Cuzco and I will go to Macchu Picchu, the biggest touristical atraction in Peru I think. So I'm really excited to go there!
Time flies so fast, it is so bad and I really don't want to think about going back! But there are only 5 weeks left on university and after that a month of travelling will start.
I promise that I will give an update after my trip
It feels like only 2 weeks past, but in real life it is 2 months since my last blog.
University life is going normal. It is still like highschool, they are leading you in everything you have to do. A couple of weeks ago we had an examweek, what ment that we had only 2 exams in that week, so it was really relaxt and this was the reason why Merle and I decided to go to Huaraz. Of the two exams, I had one oral and the other one was written, but also this was like exams on highschool, in small rooms with tables in straight lines. You also have to cover your name after finishing your exam, so that the teachers can't give you a higher grade because they know who you are.
The annoying thing is that there are still the controls, cases and trabajos so that we don't have that much oppurtunities to travel anymore, but we still try to arrange something.
The second part of the semester is really more busy, because we have to do a lot of trabajos final included with a big paper and a presentation. The level is still not that high and a lot of students want to help you. I have to admit that not everyone wants to do that, because some people kicked us out of our group, with no good reason. So I think that they just don't want to put effort in working together with exchange students who's spanish is not perfect.
They told us that the profesors are really nice for exchange students and that it is not entirely true. Some just don't want to help you and some want to fortunately. But still you have to put some effort in it, they don't always expect that your spanish is sufficient.
About my spanish level, it is really getting better! I can understand most of it and I can have conversations! It is nice to recognize this after a couple of months, because before I thought that it will never improve.
Last week my parents arrived and I showed them around in my life. This was really a nice experience. They now know how I live and their image of Lima totally changed. They really liked it here. Now they are travelling and tomorrow I will meet them again in Cuzco and I will go to Macchu Picchu, the biggest touristical atraction in Peru I think. So I'm really excited to go there!
Time flies so fast, it is so bad and I really don't want to think about going back! But there are only 5 weeks left on university and after that a month of travelling will start.
I promise that I will give an update after my trip
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
First weeks on Universidad del Pacifico
Today I started the third week at Universidad del Pacifico.
This is one of the best universities in Lima and I guess it has the best economic department of all the universities. The peruvian students are all children of the richest inhabitants of Lima. So it is not strange when you see an Apple laptop in one of the lecturerooms.
Like I told you before, my Spanish is really not sufficient so to understand the classes is really hard. Some lecturers are easier to understand than others and it is not that I don't get anything, but it is just hard. By the way the first week I was also really sick, so it was not the best start for me like you can imagine. The level of the lectures is not really high, but for us high enough because of the Spanish. Also we have to do a lot here! Every week there is a test our a presentation and that is why you have to read a lot and like you can imagine, it is all in Spanish..
I have to admit that I can notice that my Spanish is improving, but I have to put a little bit more effort in it. It is just that when you are on exchange you also want to meet other people and not only study. I only hope that after 6 months I can speak Spanish reasonable fluent.
Chau!
This is one of the best universities in Lima and I guess it has the best economic department of all the universities. The peruvian students are all children of the richest inhabitants of Lima. So it is not strange when you see an Apple laptop in one of the lecturerooms.
Like I told you before, my Spanish is really not sufficient so to understand the classes is really hard. Some lecturers are easier to understand than others and it is not that I don't get anything, but it is just hard. By the way the first week I was also really sick, so it was not the best start for me like you can imagine. The level of the lectures is not really high, but for us high enough because of the Spanish. Also we have to do a lot here! Every week there is a test our a presentation and that is why you have to read a lot and like you can imagine, it is all in Spanish..
I have to admit that I can notice that my Spanish is improving, but I have to put a little bit more effort in it. It is just that when you are on exchange you also want to meet other people and not only study. I only hope that after 6 months I can speak Spanish reasonable fluent.
Chau!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
First weeks
I'm now almost 3 weeks in Lima, Peru.
The depart was really scary, you go from your known and safe envitonment to a different place which is said to be criminal and dangerous. The flight was really heavy, because it was a long trip and we didn't had our own television screens so we were a little bit bored. When we finally arrived it was 7 o'clock in the evening and the traffic was really chaotic. In the way to our apartment we saw all new and different things: we are in South America now! We were really tired so we went to bed early.
Now we are taking the intermediate level of Spanish course. We expected that everyone had about the same level as we, but that turned out different. Most of the people had Spanish classes for 4 years or more. The Spanish course forces you to speak a lot of Spanish and I think that is just what we need. However we really need to learn some words. It is hard to have conversations, but after almost 3 weeks we can notice that it is getting better. So don't expect that the 8 months of Spanish on Tilburg university are sufficient.
We also had our mandatory day at the university. You don't get really a lot of useful information, nut I guess it is necessary and it was a goos oppurtunity to got in touch with the other exchange students. The next day we had to pick our courses. The system was really stupid. They arbitrary picked some names of a list and that students were allowed to select their courses. The stupidest thing is, that there are only 5 students allowed in every class, so it was really stressful. I was one of the last persons, fortunately I could still pick the courses I wanted.
Because of a week of between the Spanish classes we already traveled to Arequipa. This was really nice. Unlike Lima, the weather was good. In Lima it is almost always grey and at this moment really cold. This Thursday we go on a trip again, nut only for a couple of days, because Monday the university starts. I'm really excited about that. I will let you know how it was in my next blog.
Ciao,
Eline
The depart was really scary, you go from your known and safe envitonment to a different place which is said to be criminal and dangerous. The flight was really heavy, because it was a long trip and we didn't had our own television screens so we were a little bit bored. When we finally arrived it was 7 o'clock in the evening and the traffic was really chaotic. In the way to our apartment we saw all new and different things: we are in South America now! We were really tired so we went to bed early.
Now we are taking the intermediate level of Spanish course. We expected that everyone had about the same level as we, but that turned out different. Most of the people had Spanish classes for 4 years or more. The Spanish course forces you to speak a lot of Spanish and I think that is just what we need. However we really need to learn some words. It is hard to have conversations, but after almost 3 weeks we can notice that it is getting better. So don't expect that the 8 months of Spanish on Tilburg university are sufficient.
We also had our mandatory day at the university. You don't get really a lot of useful information, nut I guess it is necessary and it was a goos oppurtunity to got in touch with the other exchange students. The next day we had to pick our courses. The system was really stupid. They arbitrary picked some names of a list and that students were allowed to select their courses. The stupidest thing is, that there are only 5 students allowed in every class, so it was really stressful. I was one of the last persons, fortunately I could still pick the courses I wanted.
Because of a week of between the Spanish classes we already traveled to Arequipa. This was really nice. Unlike Lima, the weather was good. In Lima it is almost always grey and at this moment really cold. This Thursday we go on a trip again, nut only for a couple of days, because Monday the university starts. I'm really excited about that. I will let you know how it was in my next blog.
Ciao,
Eline
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