Site Title

As time continues to tick, the closer I am to embarking on a two-week experience across Peru. While exciting, I have to admit I have hesitations. This will be my first time traveling abroad, and I don’t know what to expect. Throughout my college career, I’ve noticed that I randomly apply for opportunities even if I know no one who is also participating. This feels like a similar situation, I applied to Study Abroad in Peru and I only really knew one person who was planning to attend. But, she dropped (it’s okay because she has an amazing internship opportunity this summer).

Yet, what has fear done for anyone except prevent you from getting out of your comfort zone. Even though I am nervous and possibly a little scared, it gives me the chance to be brave and do something that I didn’t think was possible. So, girl I got to GET UP!

My ultimate goal is to be present. I don’t want to overthink and possibly ruin what could be an amazing experience. Some of my other goals include:

• Trying a new food and/or drink everyday. I want to eat authentic, locally sourced food.
• I don’t want to be too engaged in social media while on the trip.
• I want to absorb as much information as possibly from going to museums, meeting companies, NGOs, community members, etc.
• I want to continue to learn about ways to sustain our planet.

I’ve been saving videos of Peru that I hope to watch when my schedule permits; however, in the meantime I’ll do quick searches for a little research. As of right now, I’m excited to visit Cusco, Peru. I found this place called Florencia y Fortunata Café, a woman-owned speciality coffee shop. It is also operated by women, including baristas and farmers. I’ll also excited to visit the Rainbow Mountains, because it looks insane and I need to see it in-person.

From our pre-departure classes thus far, our leadership development workshop with Mr. Harold Mock was a highlight for me. Mr. Mock is a name that I had definitely heard of once before, but this was my first time meeting him. I don’t know what I was expecting from him, but he was really cool. I also enjoyed the classroom being split between Perceivers and Judgers and allowing both to determine how they travel or spend 5 million dollars.

In our most recent pre-departure class, we all conducted presentations on a sector in Peru. I enjoyed all, but one of my favorites included Macey’s “Entertainment in Peru.” I enjoy listening to music, but I liked that she included different forms of media/entertainment. For example, she discussed that Peru enjoys radio and television (she also mentioned TV reaches 100% of households), then included examples TV shows that we know in the U.S. that are also in Peru like “Dancing with the Stars” and the Grammy’s. She also discussed television personality Gisela Valcarcel, who sounds incredibly talented. Lastly, Macey included Peru’s vibrant dance, music, and nightlife. In addition, I appreciated Sarah’s presentation on Geotourism in Peru. She discussed Inkaterra and the owner, José Koechlin. I think the concept is unique, not only providing a travel experience, but also protecting the planet. This is the first climate positive resort in the world, and the money made from the resort goes back into the environment to preserve biodiversity. Finally, I admired Karley’s presentation on Inca Kola. My reasoning is not only because we had a mini tasting of the drink, but I liked how detailed her PowerPoint was. My highlights from the global brand, include their Women Entrepreneurship Program, pivoting towards renewable energy by 96%, reducing water usage per bottle by 4.4%, and recycling plastics by 25%. In all, I learned a ton of information from everyone’s presentation.

To close our recent pre-departure class we participated in a Mercury Negotiation exercise. In my opinion, I think it went generally alright. Our negotiation exercise represents a standard for International Alternative Dispute Resolution by illustrating finding a common ground and creating joint solutions verses a legal battle where there is one sole winner. In our exercise there was a facilitated mediation to reconcile the competing interests of industrial powers, developing countries, and environmental advocates. This application of ADR demonstrates how complex, multi-party disputes involving scientific uncertainty and national sovereignty can be resolved through interest-based bargaining and voluntary dialogue. In summary, the mercury negotiation exercise shows how alternative dispute resolution can successfully tackle global issues and concerns.

3/11/2026