It's hard to believe that I'm already writing my farewell journal entry for our exchange. The timing also coincidentally aligns with the end of my Fulbright grant. Nine months living in Peru while serving as an English teacher and cultural ambassador have flown by. In fact, by the time you read this entry, I'll have offically completed my grant period and will be on vacation travelling around Paragonia, Argentina and Chile!
I always say in various personal essays for application, and probably in a previous entry, that I believe language learning is a way to open doors. Of course there's a professional and academic benefit to learning a language, but it also lets you read new books, watch new movies and meet new people. This last one is the most imporant and the one I value most from my time in Peru. Without learning Spanish in high school and then at university, I never would have met my students, co-teachers, neighbors in my host communities and fellow E.T.A.s.
I'm finding it difficult to wrap up with a meaningful statement about Peru, because despite having spent nine months here, I still have seen only a very small portion of this country.
