Adjusting to Trujillo by Ashley Hubbard

Adjusting to a different culture, food, and time difference is exhausting and hard, but the people here make it so much easier. I think the toughest day for me was the first day of class. A show was being recorded in La Plaza Mayor, the central plaza, and to get to class you have to cut through, but it was blocked off for the show. I gave myself an hour before class to leave and get there in time because I live 20 minutes away when walking. I started my journey and said hello to many people as I passed because the people are very friendly here. I tried to follow the map on my phone, but it kept trying to take me through the plaza. I went around, was turned around by workers and about 30 minutes had gone by, and I was nowhere near where the class was. Being extremely overwhelmed I started to cry. That is when I heard, “Hola”, come from one of the cleaning trucks. A man named Antonio in a neon yellow vest and worker pants came out asking me why I was crying. To the best of my ability, I told him that I was lost and couldn’t get to class because the plaza was closed. He walked with me the whole 30 minutes it took to get to the building, happily and without a complaint. He greeted people as we went along and asked me questions to soothe my anxiety. After walking up and down all the hills and taking all the obscure turns, I made it to class, thanks to Antonio. After this encounter of being completely lost in a new strange place and being helped by someone who didn’t have to help me, I felt safe and ready to tackle the 4 weeks ahead of me living in Trujillo. 

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