Took a day off school on Monday to go down to Leeds. It was my brother's graduation but there was only tickets for my mam and dad and I didn't really wanna pay to sit for an hour and a half watching strangers get up and collect a piece of paper. Snoozefest! So, I'd decided a few weeks ago that I'd bring my friend Megan and we'd just go shopping, as I do love Leeds for shopping, it has everything! Went straight to Urban Outfitters (there aren't any near me). Absolutely love that shop, especially how they blast out the music. Looked around for ages and got a short sleeved denim shirt for myself, and a bracelet and necklace for Alex's birthday present as I was in Peru for hers (which she liked by the way). Also looked at some vintage shops and got a cute re-made top from Blue Rinse. Will probably post pictures of these items at a later date.

Went back to sixth form on Tuesday after having over two weeks off for Peru. Wasn't a very eventful day. It was sports day on Wednesday for the lower school; sixth form didn't have lessons so I stayed off again. Went in today to go on this shitty walk to a river then came back to school for a BBQ. Was pretty boring again so got a lift home just after lunch. Now gunna try and catch up on some textiles work that I missed. Oh and here's some more Peru pics. Might put a few up each day rather than hundreds at once. The first photo is from a class of kiddies that we worked with for abit and face painted. Aren't they cute? And the second photo is Fran, Me and Emily, after we'd climbed to the top of the mountain that we were working on. :) x

Oh Peru

Peru was amazing. Best two weeks of my whole life. Loved every minute of it. The experience opened my eyes to poverty and the extremes that can coincide right next to each other. I would like to think the trip has changed me in certain ways, but who knows, I think I'll have to give it a little longer to find out. Felt like we were there for about 1 month, rather than just two weeks; we did so much in the time and we never sat still. Since, I've got back I've literally done nothing and have been soooooo tired.

Did loads while we were but had two main projects that we worked on for most of the time. During the week, we worked at the barrio Raucana's school. We dug up parts of their football pitch and re-concreted it, and also planted trees and painted many murals. We were kinda swarmed by the children at the school, they've never seen English people before, so they constantly asked for our autographs and photos with us on our cameras. We did little craft classes with them, taught them a few English songs (head, shoulder, knees and toes and the hokey kokey) and played some simple games with them. Mainly activities that didn't require too much Spanish speaking, as we hadn't really nailed that part yet.

On the weekend, we would travel to a different area of Peru called Carabyllo. The livelihoods of the people there were even tougher than with the children at the school and nobody ever visited this place, so a big group of English kids looked even stranger to them. Our work here involved levelling out a section of the mountainside and making it suitable for a building of some sort. We also planted trees and plants, made steps to make it actually accessible and again worked with the children.

Can't really explain how I felt throughout the trip as I went through so many emotions. It still gets me though how the Peruvians were so warm welcoming, friendly and happy with what they have even though they have absolutely nothing whereas wealthier people can always find something to moan about. Although the whole trip was memorable, the attitudes of the people will be something that will stick in my mind for the rest of my life.

As soon as I got home, I wanted to be back in Peru. We've all agreed we'd love to go back and although we wont get the opportunity with sixth form, I'm sure we can figure something out ourselves. Cannot wait until that day comes, but for the time being, I have enough memories to keep me going. :)