I was born in La Oroya, Peru and immigrated to California when I was 3 years old. I grew up in Northern California and moved down to San Diego for college. I am currently a 5th year at the University of California, San Diego. I chose my study abroad program location because I hope to gain a more rounded understanding of Peru as a student who will be studying and living there. Peru is part of my identity and it shapes my experiences here in the US. I am a person of many layers and a complex identity. I am neither fully from Peru nor fully from the US. I am in between. As Gloria Anzaldua, a queer Chicana writer once said, I am nepantla and I am the border that lives between both identities. I know that as a "study abroad" student I won't be able to get a full perspective of permanent life in the beautiful sierra of Peru. I hope that my time and study there will humble me to see the beauty and strength in an indigenous culture that has persevered across ages of Western colonialism and globalization.