THE END

I guess my blog should probably end here, because it is called Dani in PERU, and sadly I´m not in Peru anymore, so if you want to stay in contact with me or have some questions about doing an intercultural exchange or something else you can write me an e-mail.

--> gilmore_kelly@yahoo.com

I´d like to thank all of my loyal readers, who were always up to date on my blog. And I would also like to encourage anyone who is thinking about doing a year abroad or something similar to what I did this year, because this has been the greatest experience I have ever had and probably also the greatest year in my life and I know that this year will help me in the future.

I am already looking forward to visiting my Peruvian friends and family in a couple of years.

my AUSTRIAN home

When I opened the door to our apartment I immediately had the feeling that everything had gotten smaller. I went into my room and found everything really clean. It was good to be back, but I still really missed my friends and family in Peru. I unpacked, gave mom and dad some presents I had gotten them, gave them some chiffles and also made them listen to peruvian music. One of my best friends Lily came to my house and stayed until late. Then I stayed up late chatting with my boyfriend and some peruvian friends on msn. At night I cried and I have every day since I got here because I miss Tefy and everybody there soooooooo much!! I guess it´s going to take a lot of getting used to things again. It´s just so weird that I can drink the water from the tab, throw the toilet paper into the toilet and have so much luxuy again. And all the people speak German here, which is extremely weird for me.

It´s a LONG, trip

Daniel and I got up at 6 am. I took a quick shower, closed my suitcase again and carried it outside to the taxi that was already waiting for us. We were brought to the airport were an AFS volunteer was already waiting for us. Lucy came too and we checked in. Then we sat down and ate breakfast, said goodbye to Peru and got on the plane to Caracas, Venezuela. It was a 4 hour flight and I cried half of the time, because I couldn´t believe that I was really leaving the country I had been in for 10 months and that I loved a lot. Lucy and Dani made me calm down, but I just couldn´t help feel really sad. =(

In Caracas I bought some food in burger king, because I hadn´t been able to eat the airplane food. We checked in and were sitting in the plane hoping to take off soon, so we could then make our connecting flight to Vienna in Frankfurt when the pilot informed us that there had been some kind of problem with some passengers and that we would be taking off an hour and a half later than planned. So I started watching a movie called " 17 Again" and then finally we took off. I slept for about an hour on the plane. It was a new plane that had stairs that led down to the bathroom, which was awesome! Then about 11 hours later we landed in Frankfurt. We had missed our flight, so we went to change our tickets for a later flight, waited for not too long and then got on the plane to Vienna. It was only an hour flight and when we got to Viena Lucy spent about 15 minutes changing and putting on make-up in the bathroom, because she wanted to look pretty for the people who had come to see her. :) We quickly got our suitcases, then Daniel transferred some videos he had of me singing in Lima from his laptop onto my USB and then we walked outside into the "reception" hall. Mom spotted me before I had a chance to see her, ran up to me and hugged me and then Dad did. As we walked out of the airport I told my parents how weird it was to see so many white people with blond, brown and sometimes even red hair. Then we drove home and at 5:30 pm on Thursday we were finally in Graz.

Last stay in Lima

In Lima we went to call all our friends and family, then went back to the youth hostel and waiting until Nancy who was not staying in the same place as we were, picked us up to go eat lunch. After lunch we went to the "Indian market". Naja had a ton of money she wanted to spend so she bought Nancy a scarf and me a little chime. In the evening we went back to the youth hostel. I took the chip out of my cell phone and gave the cell phone to Nancy to give to Tefy when she got back to Piura. I used the internet in the hostal, chatted with a friend from my graduation class who lived in Lima and told him the adress of the youth hostel, so he could come visit me and he really did. We hung out for quite a while until 1 am and it was really good to see him again. I said goodbye to Naja and went to bed.

Saying goodbye

Gianmarco and Diego before giving me the flowers
me with tears in my eyes because of the nice gesture
Charly and I
friends!





Ana Claudia and I
Fiorella and I
Diana and I
My tutor Miss Claudia and I
me wearing the signed school shirt they gave me :)
my class
the girls from my class :) ( one day we went to school with normal clothes)

In the morning I went to school with normal clothes because my uniform was already packed in my suitcase. I stayed until 11 o'clock and then said goodbye to everyone including my best friend Carlitos Vara. I cried a lot, I can't even imagine my life without all of my class mates and teachers in Peru. Then I went to the post office to ask how much it cost to send a package to Austria, because I could only bring back a suitcase that weighs 20 kilos and a carry one that weighs 8 kilos. Then I went home, where Carlos was already waiting for me. We spent some time together and then he and Tefy went with me to the post office to send a package. I said goodbye to Carlos, meet two really good friends of mine and said bye to them too and then went home, showered and squeezed the rest of my things into my suitcase. Then we put the big suitcase on the roof of the Volkswagen and the little one in the back and my mom, my sister Kathy, my aunt Bello, who had come from Catacaos, Tefy and I squeezed into the car. Our neighbor, Laurita drove, but the car kept turing itself off in the middle of the roadm which kind of made me nervous. When we were about to drove up onto a bridge the car stopped and started rolling backwards. We all had to get out, asked a couple of men to help us and starting pushing the car up onto the flat part of the road, which was hilarious because all the people stopped to watch us. Then, because it was late already Laurita drove like a wild person, shouting at everyone who got into her way. The rest of us in the car just laughed until we got to the bus station. Laurita, after parking the car said " Get me out of here!!!! ". :) Almost all of my clas mates and my best friends from last years graduastion class had come to say goodbye to me and my whole family was there too. I started crying and hugging all of them. I was still hugging people when someone told to to hurry up because the whole bus was waiting for only me. So I took one look back and got on the bus. Naja, the girl from Greenland and I had first class seats. We were both crying like crazy people and when then when the bus pulled out onto the street all of my friends ran up to the window or just stood there and waved until I couldn´t see them anymore. I cried for a really long time, and then listening to spanish songs which reminded me of my friends and family and made me cry even more. =( Neither Naja nor I were hungry, so we skipped dinner and then cried ourselves to sleep.

Last weekend in Piura

On thursay I did something really crazy, then went to a friends house to work on a spanish presentation, which was really fun. So many things happened that day, I'm sure I will never forget.

On Friday I went to school, had a power point presentation in Spanish class and we had a little going-away party for me. We took lots of pictures, ate chips and cookies, danced and had a good time. My class gave me a shirt from school with all of their signatures on it and also a really big thing of roses and other flowers. I cried a little. :(

In the afternoon I went to the market and then to the center with Claudia, a friend of mine. In the evening we were all supposed to go the Steve's house before going to Queens (the disco), but there was no water in my house, so I had to fill containers with water and wash first my hair in the sink and then the rest of my body by pouring water in cup over myself. That took quite some time and when I was finished straightening my hair and getting ready it was already really late, so I went straight to Queens where Steve, Lisa and the rest of the AFS people were already waiting for us. I think I was one of the few people who didn't get drunk that night. I danced with a couple of friends, including Ricardo, whom I was looking after since Tefy was grounded for getting bad grades and didn't go to Queens. We went home a little after 4. It was a fun night.

On Saturday I got up early, cleaned the house, put baloons on the walls, decoraded the place and then got read. Carlos came to see me in the morning and we had a good talk. Around 3 my friends starting coming, Winnie, Ricardo and others. We sat in the living room and talked and ate and had a good time. In the evening we all went to a friends house, but went back home early.

On Sunday I spent the whole day packing my suitcase which was really frustrating becauase it weighed a lot more than 20 kilos, so i came some shirts and a sweater to Tefy which made things easier.

MOVIES

We really do look like brother and sister, white skin and green eyes, just like on the poster :)

Ricardo and I eating french fries and ice cream in the food cort

On Sunday Tefy, Ricardo and I wen to the movies and watched "La Era de Hielo 3" (Ice Age 3). On Monday I just stayed at home doing my homework and on Tuesday I went to the university with Tefy and got to know all of her friends.