If someone from Iceland, Ghana, or Oman were to visit you in the States, wouldn’t you want them to understand some things about your culture before they arrived?

From popular culture, movies, YouTube videos, articles, blog posts, and travel guides, we can derive culture, cultural context and clues. We encourage you to do this as you prepare to visit someone else’s home country! Here’s a list of resources that may help you understand your host culture and ease the transition between home and host countries:

Books/Guides

Start planning your independent travel now, or just read more about the country of Peru, these resources will help.

• Lonely Planet
• Frommer’s
• Trip Advisor (and the App for your Phone!)
• “The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics” by Orin Starn
• New York Times Country Profile of Peru

Videos/Movies

Now that GoPro cameras have become popular, it is easy to search the internet for videos that will show you what the city you visit will look like. Below are a few other videos we recommend:

Newspapers, articles, blogs, and radio stations

A great way to jump right into a conversation and make local friends is to start reading the local newspaper and see what is going on in Peru. Below are a few recommendations of Newspapers as well as past participants blogs and other resources

• El Comercio (Spanish)
• Peruvian Times (English)
• Blog from past student in Peru
• Guardian article on Peru’s Food Revolution

Language Learning Tools

Even if your main goal of going to Peru isn’t to learn Spanish, brushing up on those High School classes or just learning the basics before you arrive will really help! Below are some websites we recommend

• Rosetta Stone
• Duolingo 
• Google Translate
• Word Lens – App for smart phone