What's been happening on my front?!

Hieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I'm sure that you all will be overly excited and interested to learn that 2016 has been the year I grew out of both Peeps and Redvines. And on that note, I will move on to obviously less important and not at all interesting subjects.
I just spent a really amazing and wonderful week with my parents! It was honestly the best timing for their visit as well! Part of the problem with culture shock also comes from a feeling that there is no longer anything special to see around you. One of the greatest parts of spending that time with my parents was that I got to re- experience some of the extreme joy that comes with exploring a new place.
We spent the weekend all together in Lima, which I had never gotten to explore before. We also had amazing food and got some pretty fantastic news (my Mom might get published soon for one of her short stories!!!!!!). The first day we went to an amazing museum. The exhibits chronicled the native peoples of Peru. Some of the information was sad because of the realization of how much was lost when the Spanish arrived and tipped the scales in their own favor. To be fair, there was a lot of history that was essentially RuPaul's Drag Race but acted out by angry men equipped with literal armies. There were some pretty special things about this museum as well:
1) It is the only place you can see a full set of Inca burial armor.
2) There is a spectacular storage space filled with amazing pottery. My dad described it as being like the Department of Mysteries from Harry Potter, and I'm not sure how I could describe it better than that. It was honestly just amazing because there are so many different peoples' faces depicted in the clay as well as a wide array of religious symbolism.
3) The restaurant is freaking the bomb dot com dot weebly dot org!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then, the next day we went to a huge archaeological spot that just sits randomly in the center of a neighborhood in Lima. It was honestly slightly boring (because most of what you get to go see in Peru is dusty old bricks and this was no exception). However, I still learned a lot and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to see a different example of the genius of the Inca people and everyone else who lived in the rich past Peru.
Our whole familial experience in Cuzco together was rather quaint. June is the huge month of festivals, so there were lots of parades to see and people in fancy traditional- ish dress. We went to Machu Picchu, and the second time was better than the first. Part of that probably has a lot more to do with the guide this time, rather than anything else. However, seeing things with my parents alongside me instead of traveling alone probably also improved my experience.

Overall, I am just really thankful for my family's support through all my endeavors. (We'll see what they think when I dip my toes into stand up comedy or politics-- not much of a difference between the two, now is there?) Even though I am having some time finding motivation for my last two weeks in Peru-- wow the time has flown by, hasn't it?-- that does not mean that I want to keep you guys out of the loop of what's up in my life! Just know that if I need some "me time", I am just trying to figure out a different kind of adventure.
Thank you so much and I really love you all.
Elena Giselle