It’s the final countdown…

I am sorry that it took me such a long time to update this blog, but I guess every exchange student can relate when I say that there are just a million things to do while being on exchange.

So, where to start?

Although it seems like the midterms were like a year ago, I just want to give you a quick update on how they went. It was a really hard week, culminating in my 3-exams-horror-day. By the time I was writing my third exam on that day, I could hardly think anymore and I felt like I was a robot, just writing anything to fill the page. Ironically, it turned out to be my best exam. I guess I should make that my next strategy: not to worry too much, just write something, anything really and go home and relax. My grades in the midterms are not extremely good and are lower than my Tilburg grades, but at least I passed almost all of my subjects. Considering that all of my classes are in Spanish and the exams of course were as well, I guess I am quite satisfied with the results. I expect the finals to be better, because my Spanish improved significantly over the last few weeks.

After midterms weeks a friend and I decided that we deserved a break from university and went travelling for a week. The best way to summarize this trip is simply saying WOW!! We started in Cusco, which is the base for exploring Machu Picchu. Awesome. I think I have never been at such an incredible, atmospheric place before. The word I use mostly when I describe Machu Picchu to my Peruvian classmates is “marravilloso”! Being surrounded only by fog-covered mountains and looking at the ruins of the ancient Inca-city, I just felt an incredible happiness and the thought came to my mind that regarding my exchange, I made a truly perfect decision. In an instant, I would choose Peru again. I would suffer through the first weeks of university again. And I would definitely recommend Peru as a possible exchange destination!

Furthermore I want to give a small update about my level of Spanish, because I guess most people who are considering going to a Spanish-speaking country, will ask themselves the question whether his or her level is sufficient. As you probably could filter out from some of my blogs, it is an understatement to say that at times I was frustrated with my slow progression of learning. A good friend of mine told me again and again that there will be a time, in which suddenly it all makes sense and then I would be able to understand a lot and will be able to talk. Although I knew that he is right most of the times, I still highly doubted that. But it turns out that he was right: I think I got to this point. Finally! Just today I gave a 15 minutes presentation, in which I started talking with the help of my notes and by the end of the presentation I realized that for most part, I didn’t even look at them. I talked more or less freely for 15 minutes, which is my biggest accomplishment so far here. These moments are worth all the misunderstandings (which are still happening, actually just yesterday there was another one with one of my “profes”, when I answered his question with “No, please don’t turn on the air-conditioning, it’s cold”, when in fact all he asked me was whether I knew if my classmates were coming to class that night). Of course it is far from being “good” or “fluent”, but considering that during the first weeks I could hardly say anything, this feels like a big victory to me.

So my advice to everyone, who is considering going to a Spanish-speaking country and is unsure of his/her level of Spanish: Yes, it is painful in the beginning (especially at the Universidad del Pacifico, because class participation and group works are big here). Yes, there will be misunderstandings. Yes, there will be frustration and I guess sooner or later the question “Why didn’t I choose to go to an English-speaking country?” will pop up. But there is a point when you suddenly realize that you actually improved and are able to communicate rather freely and without being uncomfortable. And believe me, when you realize that this moment has come: It is incredible!

Wow, I guess this wasn’t a small update on the language part. Next time I will write more on what makes Peru and Lima so special to me. And then…finals…and then…traveling for 8 weeks to Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Columbia. I really can’t wait for these adventures to start.

Besos to everyone and especially to all students who are on exchange right now: Enjoy the final countdown!!!

Katrin

PS: As a final note, I would like to add that so far the support from the International Offices from both Tilburg and Lima has been great during the whole exchange process (although I hardly had any problems). Thank you for making this possible!!! Now that my Spanish is better, I am actually glad that you are encouraging us to go to Spanish-speaking countries. You can expect a little postcard coming your way in the next few weeks, if it doesn’t get lost on the way… J

Nevertheless I would like to add that I wish Tilburg University in general would consider that there are many students on exchange and therefore NOT in Tilburg this semester to attend all the important meetings about the Bachelor Thesis. I don’t know how this was handled during the last few years, but it would be nice if at least there was a note saying that there will be information published online for the exchange students, who are not going to make it to the meetings so that we get supplied with everything we have to know about registering for the Thesis as well. However, this is a general thing and does not concern the International Office in any way.