busy but in a good way

So I've been meaning to post for awhile now but I have been rather busy with the first week of classes.  Weekend update:  Saturday I went to crepes and waffles with Amelia and Audrey from my program.  Shockingly, I did not get a crepe like I usually do because I am sticking to my healthy diet and low budget - thus I got an apple oatmeal pancake which was pretty tasty and counted as both my breakfast and lunch.  After that we went to the artisan markets on La Marina for some shopping.  Having been there a bunch of times before, I had already seen most of the goods and didn't plan on buying anything, however, some unique earrings caught my eye so I bought some.  In the evening I went to Iglesia Alianza for my small group and the youth service.  It was awesome.  My small group is much smaller than it was last semester since it got split into two groups, so I feel more comfortable and actually contributed to the conversation.  Success!  Afterward I went out to eat with peeps, mostly from the other section of the old small group - I had some trouble following conversation there because people kept talking at the same time.  But overall my comprehension is just a million times better than it was for the majority of last semester.  :-)
Sunday I went to the "beach" with my family which was really a club for navy veterans or something like that - you could see the beach but there was a brick wall blocking you from it and there were pools and lots of grassy area.  A famous cumbia artist was giving a concert, so my family was excited for that.  The singer's name is Tony Rosado and I actually was familiar with a lot of his songs, though I cannot say I knew every word.  Diego LOVES swimming!  And splashing people.  He thinks it is hilarious to pound the water and watch you get a faceful - but his laugh is sooo cute you cannot get annoyed with him for doing it.  Joe's family was there too - his mom, dad, brother, and nephew - as well as some family friends.  We did not get back until late which was a bummer for me because I had made plans with some girls in my group to have some Christian bonding/prayer time and wasn't able to go.  All-in-all, it was a rough day for me, but made much better when I got home and had the opportunity to skype with Lauren who I wish with all my might were able to come back this semester, but she's graduating in May so she had to spend her last semester at Gordon.

Monday I spend the entire day at the university...9 to 6.  I went to three classes,  Contemporary Peruvian Narrative, Peru in the Modern Times, and State and Politics in Latin America.  The lit class was interesting but has a TON of reading - I still think I am going to take it because I have to have literature.  I did not like the prof of the history course nor did it seem to be very modern, considering it was covering 1770-1930, so I am not taking that one.  I enjoyed the politics course despite the fact that half the class is exchange students, which means there's about 20 other american students.  I didn't really come all the way to peru to take classes with other americans, but I do need a polysci class and the prof seemed good.  Tuesday I went to two history classes in the morning and a philosophy class in the afternoon.  I like both the history classes but I think I may end up taking the 8:00 one which meets tues./thursday so that i don't have to have class on friday.  in the philo class the prof talked about all the books we could read during the semester but when i asked him at the end if there were specific reading assignments he said no that we just had to read something from the list that interested us.  I'm not sure how I feel about having that much independence in a course.  also the grade is based solely on a midterm and final which is a little intimidating.  Yesterday I was supposed to check out yet another history class, but unfortunately was incapacitated in the morning with extreme stomach cramps and many many strips to the bathroom.  I cannot think of what I might have eaten - I had only had food in the university cafeteria and in my house.  In the afternoon I made it to my polysci class but was feeling pretty out of it and had trouble concentrating.  When i got home I knew I needed to eat because I was hungry but nothing sounded good and I was afraid of worsening my stomach issues - I ended up eating some cereal with yogurt but soon I felt sick and had even worse stomach pains than in the morning.  Not the best day in the world.  I skipped the theology class I was going to check out this morning because it was at 8 which was too early after not sleeping that well last night.  Made it to my lit class at 10 and was fine for the rest of the day, thank goodness!  I have kept myself on the BRATTY diet today: banana, rice, applesauce, toast, tea and yogurt.  A little yogurt at breakfast, only rice for lunch, and some cereal/yogurt for dinner.  Oh and an applesauce and tea in there somewhere.  So far so good.  Maybe tomorrow I will try eating normal food again.  Anyhow, I have a lot of reading to do because I didn't finish my lit stuff for today since I was so sick last night.  And now i have more reading to do for the next class.  I don't want to get too far behind.  I have some pictures from the mirabus tour that my program went on on Friday but i have yet to download to my computer, so I will post them soon.