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Day 1: Hola Lima

June 5, 2019

I visited five different places; Lima’s government palace, the City Hall/Cathedral of Lima, Miraflores of San Isidro, San Fransico Convent visit, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Day 1 – Seoul

May 3, 2019
We had booked a plane for the wrong date to Jeju Island. Therefore, we used the subway to travel from the Incheon Airport to the Domestic Gimpo Airport and tried to ask all the different agencies to see if they had any open seats for a flight to Jeju. Every single agency said that the next opening was probably the next day, so my older sister arranged with her boyfriend to choose a time and agency for the departure the next day.

The next opening for a flight to Jeju was planned for May 4th at 8:30 pm—where check-in began at 6:30 pm and boarding time began at 7:15 pm. As such, we stayed at the LOTTE Hotel across the street from the International GIMPO Airport, which had a mall connected to it, after we left the airport.


Day 0 – Flight Columbus -> Detroit -> Seoul


The Delta Airplane that will fly from Detroit to Seoul-Incheon Airport. Boarding time began at 1:00 pm Eastern Pacific Time – New York, and departed at 1:55 pm (same time zone) for a twelve and a half hour flight.


The view of some of the islands near South Korea on the Delta airplane.


The flight arrived at Seoul’s Incheon Airport on May 3rd, 2019 at 4:25 pm (South Korean Time). Supposedly there is a lot of air pollution, so face masks are suggested; however, the face mask I had was difficult to breathe in so I took it off.

Peru Trip Overview

The trip to Peru was planned in the senior year of high school with my CCP Composition and Literature classes’ professor. As I had taken Spanish for four years, I had learned about Machu Picchu. Therefore, as soon as I saw that one of the locations to visit was Machu Picchu and that there was a chance that the site was going to close entry to visitors soon—only allowing viewing from afar, I immediately asked my mom for permission.

Explorica was the agency that the trip was planned through, and the overall itinerary was as follows:

Day 1 Hola Lima
Meet your tour director and check into hotel

Day 2 Lima landmarks
Lima guided sightseeing tour
Government Palace, City Hall, Cathedral of Lima, Miraflores, San Isidro, San Francisco Convent visit
Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology visit

Day 3 Lima–Cuzco
Fly to Cuzco
Cuzco guided sightseeing tour
Tambo Mach’ay, Qenko, Puca Pucara, Sacsayhuaman Fortress visit

Day 4 Sacred Valley landmarks
Sacred Valley excursion
Ollantaytambo Fortress visit, Pisac Indian Market, Wildlife Sanctuary visit

Day 5 Cuzco–Machu Picchu
Train ride to Agua Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo)
Explore Machu Picchu
Hike to Intipunku

Day 6 Machu Picchu–Cuzco
Machu Picchu free time
Transfer back to Cuzco

Day 7 Cuzco–Lake Titicaca
Travel to Puno
Andahuaylillas Chapel guided visit
Raqchi Temple guided visit
Shop at local ceramics market

Day 8 Uros Islands & Taquile Island
Visit with indigenous Uros families
Hike Taquile Island

Day 9 End tour
Sillustani Temple guided visit
Fly to Lima
Fly home

Day 10 Return home

Scholars Wellness Workshop

March 3, 2019 – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – at RPAC Second Floor Meeting Rooms

At this Wellness Workshop (hosted by the Student Wellness Center), there were three stations—financial, physical, and mental wellness. I managed to get an entire bag of items and four hours of relaxation. On my back to my dorm room, it starting snowing so I walked faster and make sure to keep the newly potted tulip seeds and poster dry and clean. At each station, I found many resources that would likely be useful to me in the future. The main resources I hope to take advantage of before I graduate are the free coaching services for nutrition, finance, and wellness. I would love to be able to go to this event again as I had really enjoyed my time at this event.

Spring 2019 Review

I tried out the new studying method that was recommended and that I thought helped me last semester, and it worked for all but one class—Chemistry 1220 (General Chemistry 2). Luckily I barely passed the class, and will not have to take it again. I hope to have much better results in Organic Chemistry 1 in the Autumn 2019 semester and show that I know the material—I just don’t understand how to properly and correctly apply it to the questions on the General Chemistry exams.

Other than general chemistry 2, all of my other courses went well and the overall semester was rather enjoyable as I slowly got used to college life. I focused a little more on my courses, homework, and studying, and stopped signing up and making sure that I went to every single meeting for my clubs/associations so I had more time to study and get things done.

I went to wellness coaching a few more times this semester before deciding to stop uselessly going every week when I should actually fix and complete the previous week’s goal first. I also went to nutrition coaching once this semester to tell the coach about the problems I had when trying to complete the goal from the previous semester and we tried to find new solutions. I tried going on a single shopping trip and spending all of my swipes at once and then prepping and eating the meals as I went the rest of the week (carrying the food with me everywhere I went) and it worked for some time before I got tired of the food I ate every single week (the same food) and the plan fell apart again.

Once the semester ended (finished with all of my finals), I am heading to Jeju Island, South Korea for one month, then to Peru for one week.

Women’s Gymnastics

February 16, 2019 –  3:50 pm – 5:00 pm – at St. John Arena

I went to a gymnastics event for the first time through this scholar event. It was amazing the see what humans can do with training and practice. The gymnasts did many different things that I am sure that I would not be able to do in my lifetime (I cannot even do a cartwheel).

Dog Adoption Volunteering

February 16, 2019 – 11:10 am – 3:30 pm – at PetSmart

The dog adoption event is hosted weekly by Canine Collective and is about trying to find adopters for rescue dogs. At this event, I was responsible for talking to prospective adopters about the dog, cleaning up after it, and keeping an eye on it with other dogs. Although I really wanted to adopt one, I knew that there was no way for me to take care of it as I did not live alone, currently did not have the time, I am not financially independent yet, and am not of the adequate age. I learned that when a dog is misbehaving, I should not pet him/her because it is like a form of reward and would be encouraging such behavior in the future.