To Lima
It has been my goal to work abroad after gradaution since I started thinking about what I would do after graduation. I spent awhile looking for a good internship abroad during my senior year and after graduation, where I could develop my technical skills, learn about business in another country, and have the cultural and language immersion that you can only get abroad. I would have been happy to go almost anywhere in the world, but month or so after graduation I found myself with this offer from Telefonica in Lima, not too far from where I did my first internship in Ecuador. The job seemed to be the exact kind of thing that would get me to come back to Latin America. I could work at a large company in a big city for a moderate amount of time and get the opposite side of the experience I had in Ecuador two years ago, while being immersed in a way I couldn't by starting fresh in a new part of the world. I was a bit thrown off to go from a big job search to actually having an appealing offer, but I decided to cash in and take it.
A month or so later I had moved all of my things from the past four years out of my apartment in Michigan back home to Vegas and was saying goodbye to my family and flying to Lima. And here I've been for the past 3 months.
I'm an intern in software development at Telefonica. Most of my coworkers manage the development of internal software systems since actual coding is done by third-party consulting companies, but I get to be an actual developer on one project as well as manage a group of consultants in another. I work from 9 to 4 on a good day (with a long lunch starting at 1). The internship started at the very beginning of July, and my last day of work is in early December. There are 8 other interns here working for Telefonica through AIESEC as well, from a bunch of different countries (Colombia, Mexico, Bulgaria, France, Spain). We all work in different areas, most in different buildings, but we have a really cool group to hang out with after work.
I live with 2 Colombian interns in a 3 bedroom apartment in Surco, a more residential district of Lima. The location is more out of the way, but it is one of the nicer places to live. There are tons of parks within walking distance, and little stores and restaurants on every corner as always. Two bigger supermarkets are a few blocks away, as well as a KFC and a McDonalds.
I work in Surquillo, a less nice district, in the same building as one of my roommates. It seems to be kind of in the shadow of one of Lima's nicer skyscraper filled districts. There are plenty of restaurants around though, and it's not too far from things, so it's not too bad. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to work every morning from my apartment using the crazy private bus system in Lima.
I've been very fortunate once again to be supported by an incredible AIESEC chapters, from the University of the Pacific here. These guys are one of the most well-oiled LCs I've seen, and they have gone well out of their way to help me multiple times. One AIESECer took an afternoon off work on two different days to walk me through the most awful bureacratic process ever to receive a package my dad sent me. They have made me feel much more at home in this huge city.
Alright, I just wanted to give a quick update about what brought me out here and what I'm doing. I have a lot more written about Lima and some trips and other things going on, which I'll post soon.