So this weekend there was a festival put on by my university called FestiUSIL. It is a music festival with beer and food and games. It was such a blast! It was in a district about 40 minutes from the university called Panchacamac; there is a USIL campus there. The thing that surprised me the most was the drinking.

Drinking back home is such a “bad” thing, there is always cops waiting to bust someone or get someone in trouble, but here it is such a cultural thing. While waiting in line for buses at the university there were so many students drinking alcohol, in public, outside of the school! This would never be okay at WOU nor any other university for that matter. I was told that the only way to get in was by going by the buses that were provided by the university, as well as the only way to leave. Nobody could come or go by taxi, or any other form of transportation, simply because they knew people would be drinking so instead of trying to stop the drinking, they work to stop the drinking and driving. I think that if other schools though of things like this there may be less problems, but like I said, I do understand it is all a cultural difference.

The other thing that surprised me was that the festival was sponsored by a beer company, so the only thing to drink there was beer, water, or Pepsi. Again, not something you would see at a University in the states. I always find it so interesting the cultural stigma of alcohol. But needless to say, it was a great festival!