Today was different, and I liked that. It wasn't so much different in pace or anything like that, but I was able to get out of the house for a little while and get to know more students from Cusco and other universities. I do enjoy meeting new people, but usually I am terrified by the thought of having to introduce myself and completely explain myself to a person. I am also afraid of rejection, and the thought of attempting to introduce myself to a person terrifies me because I always imagine them not wanting to get to know me. However, I sucked it up a little bit and met a couple of...interesting people.
The reason for this whole topic was the "Intercambio" we had tonight. It was an occasion where our group from Missouri and others (Iowa, Iowa State, Duke, etc.) came together with some Peruvian students to talk and get to know one another. For the first half or so of the entire evening, we all basically stayed in our own groups and talked amongst each other. It was comfortable. It was easy. However, I knew that soon enough the time would come to spread my wings and talk to other people. If I cannot do it now, how am I supposed to do it when I am running for the Presidency of the United States?
As the evening wore on, I met Helen from a small university in Texas. She has lived in the same town her entire life, but wants to get out after she graduates. However, she doesn't know what she wants to do after she graduates or where to go. The only thing she did know was that she wants to do something with languages. Being both and English and Spanish major, I think that would be a good choice.
After I left that conversation, I went over to talk to Caroline (spelling?), Natalie, and Madison. Natalie and Caroline go to the same school in New York, a very small school that participates in NCAA D-III. Their women's basketball team made it to the NCAA tournament for D-III and made a streak through the tournament, which is a big deal according to those two. Madison had already graduated from a D-I school of which I do not remember the name of. However, through this entire experience I was happy to have met other people even though I will, most likely, never see them again. I am also very happy that I was able to remember that much about each of them, especially their names. Usually, I am very bad with names. Someone can tell me their name and I will forget it about 10 seconds later, but I feel pretty accomplished after having worried about it so much.
When we left the "Intercambio" I escorted a couple of the girls from our group a discoteca with the help of Edward and a couple of Peruvian guys. Upon arriving, the girls enjoyed dancing a little salsa and then came the American music. After hanging around for a little while, I knew that the girls were having fun and that it was a good time for me to head out. I felt comfortable leaving them under the care of Edward, as I knew Cecilia didn't mind that at all, and so I told them all to be safe and I headed out. I enjoyed quite the jog back home, too. Starting out in the Plaza de Armas and running all the way home was really refreshing. Unfortunately, the thin air got to me a couple of times and caused me to walk to catch my breath. But, after walking for a short period of time, I took off again heading towards my final destination of my bed and a Skype date with Amy.
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