In the beginning, there was equatorial light and cold feet

First thing is first: alas, I am not the genius behind the title of this blog. My beautiful friend Gigi  has a knack for crafting witty, pithy titles of papers and such and was kind enough to share her brilliance with me. Is there any idiom that better encapsulates a twenty-something's first venture into the big wide world via a semester abroad in Lima?

No doubt this is an extremely exciting event for anyone involved, and I mean not just myself but everyone I am connected to--friends, family, work associates, fellow church goers, academic colleagues, dorm compatriots. If I attempted to relay the details of my trip to all of you individually, I would have no experiences to share since writing emails would consume all of my time. This way I can kill many, many birds with one blog and the only guilt I will have to endure is any shortcoming in failing to publicize Perusal sufficiently--and in any case, should I forget to inform you from the start, you can always begin right here on February 10, 2011, when I am quite convinced that this was the dumbest idea of my life.