As has been the case for everyone over the past few years, the pandemic has caused more than a few disruptions in my beautifully laid-out plans. I applied to the SLA program to study Spanish in Cusco, Peru for the summer of 2021, but this program was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Given that I was going to study abroad in Santiago, Chile in the spring semester of 2022 (where I currently am now!), my hope for participating in the SLA program was to improve my Spanish before arriving in Chile. Obviously, this plan did not work out as intended, and I am now in a unique position where I will be heading to Cusco after spending five months in Chile. Though it isn’t what I had in mind, having been immersed in the Spanish language as well as having experienced adjusting to and living in a new culture for the past four months (it will be five by the time I arrive in Cusco) will allow me to adapt more quickly to the environment in Peru, which will be useful given that I will be there for a shorter period of time. However, this is not to say that my time in Peru will be exactly like my experience in Chile; on the contrary, it will be importantly different.
The largest difference will be that I will be without fellow Notre Dame students while in Cusco. This will be a challenge, but it will force me to live completely in Spanish more so than I am now, which will allow me to really focus on my language skills. Additionally, though they are neighbors and share parts of their cultures, Peruvian culture is certainly different from Chilean culture, and this will provide me with the opportunity to compare the two and deepen my understanding of their intricacies.
I’m expecting to use my Spanish with my host family, with my professors and classmates, and with the locals of Cusco I encounter in restaurants, museums, and any other place I can interact with them. As a environmental science student, I intend to investigate the environmental aspects of Cusco and of Peru in general, identifying the main challenges and current efforts to increase sustainability. As a devout Catholic, I am also excited to attend mass in Cusco and learn about that Catholic culture present in the city.
I think it is impossible to not change or grow while spending any significant time in a country other than your own. I hope to grow as a person by pushing myself out of my comfort zone and independently exploring a new city and a new culture. I hope to continue to become more open to new people, perspectives, practices, and platos (foods!). The past few months in Chile have been among the most formative of my life, and I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to pause in Peru before heading home for the fall.