My Peruvian Prom!

I went to prom yesterday!  I began the day by getting up and showering, then had to stop by my school with my host mom.  Then we went to the salon, pretty early, at like 12:30.  My host mom got her hair done too because it was her birthday yesterday.  So for my hair, I got a tight little french braid on one side, just a little one for a bit of  'decoration' as the hair-lady put it...and just curls.  At first, the curls were suuuuper tight and bouncy and I felt kind of childish, like I was 8 years old and getting my hair done for my first communion or something, instead of my prom....hahahaha but by the end of the night the curls loosened up.  So we left the salon at like 2:30 and went back to the house, had lunch, and I wore a hair-net so my curls wouldn't completely uncurl by the time prom started (we probably went to the salon too early)

Here's some pictures of my dress and shoes and stuff:

Up close pic of my dress

my dresss :)  90 soles= 32 $ USD

First time in heels actually didn't go too badly!  But my feet hurt reaaaallly badly by the end of the night 

The bracelet that my best friend Chachi's mom lent to me

My wrist corsage thing (blanking on what it's called)

Fake but still nice :)

So then I got dressed and ready by like 5:30, and my date, Eduardo (from my peruvian school) got to my house around 6.  Then Solange and Renato (two more people from my school) also came to my house so we could all go together.  I wanted to take photos all together in the little park outside my house, but by the time everyone had arrived at my house, it was already past 7 and pretty dark, so I knew the pictures wouldn't turn out very well.  So we just took some in the hotel.

Here's how I looked at that point:  (I looked the best at this point of the night, my makeup was good and my hair was still curly haha):

My host brother walked in and said "you look like taylor swift!" it was hilarious

I think I looked quite nice :) hahaha

So prom started at 7:30, but we arrived around 8:30 because we decided to stop at starbucks and mcdonalds beforehand hahaha.  It was funny.

So then we took a taxi from mcdonalds to the hotel, Los Delfines.  It is a huge, elegant hotel, but our prom was in a surprisingly small room, basically just tables and a dance floor, and a little 'reception' area outside, but it was still nice.  Unfortunately, there was limited table space, so a few students and their dates ended up sitting at the parents' tables.  Oh yeah, that's a pretty weird difference here...parents come to the prom.  I think that's pretty weird.  My host parents didn't come.  I am really glad I was not seated at a parents' table.  Some teachers and the school principal were also in attendance.

So yeah, we got there late, as I mentioned, but, being Peru, a lot of people still hadn't arrived at that point, so everyone was just chilling in the reception area, taking photos, admiring eachother's dresses and whatnot.

Here are some pictures from that point of the night:

Me and Eduardo

Eduardo and Solange

Me and my friend Andre.  He used to live in Miami

Andre and Eduardo

Me, Eduardo, Solange

Another of me and Eduardo.  As you can see, my hair had uncurled significantly, but oh well, it still looked good.

Connor and Emilie (connor is an exchange student from the US, emilie from Denmark)

 

Chachi and his date, Sandra

Victor brought a girl from our school named Almendra, and also brought Marcel, another exchange student from Belgium

So when everyone had arrived and was ready to start (probably around (9:20, nearly 2 hours late) all the 'couples' were lined up in the reception area while all the parents and other guests were seated, waiting inside.  And then we were called in and announced, couple by couple, and we would take a little walk in a circle around the dance floor, and then sit down.  So Eduardo and I were called in, did the lap, and sat down.

One of the last pictures I got before my battery died...

And we were served drinks and dinner, as you can see by the pictures above.  Dinner was decent/so-so (I rarely like anything, so it's always hard to tell if it's just my pickiness or if it's cooked badly hahaha).  And that would be about the time that my camera batteries died.  That is my WORST NIGHTMARE and it happened.  After graduation, I didn't charge them, because I didn't realize they needed to be charged....so although I did get some good pictures, I was disappointed I couldn't take anymore the rest of the night.  There was a photographer there, taking photos of everyone...but I'm not sure where those photos are.  So then we finished dinner and dessert around 11 I think...and then everyone danced pretty much the rest of the night!  And I actually did dance, somewhat!  Well, everyone around me would be like "Ginger, come on, why aren't you dancing? Move your body! Do something!" and I'd be surprised, like, "what? this is me dancing!"  hahaha.  It was tons of fun, typically not something I would enjoy, but I did have fun, and I am so glad I wasn't just moping around in a corner the whole night while everyone else was dancing away.  But my feet did hurt from my heels...luckily I am a genius and brought a pair of flats to change into for dancing :)

And then Eduardo and I left at like 3 AM, although many people remained dancing at that point.  Prom was supposed to end at 4 but I don't know if it actually ended at that time.

So we took a taxi and I got dropped off at my house, and went straight to bed, still in my curls!  haha and my hair is still kind of curly now, at 4:30 PM the next day! 

It was such a fun, memorable night, I am sooo happy that I had the opportunity to go!  What an amazing thing to be able to participate in--prom in another country!