Montanita

This weekend we decided to go to the hippie beach town of Montanita. Took a night bus which wasn't a bad way to spend a night since I just sleep on buses anyway to try to not have motion sickness. Basically all we did was sit on the beach, the gross beach with LOTS of creepers creeping. We also rode the waves. First time I've been to a beach with surfers everywhere. Or been body surfing in such powerful waves. But it was incredible.

I would go out in the water. First of all, salt water is not enjoyable, sorry to say. But anyway, the waves were the biggest I've ever ridden. Some were a good 5 feet above the water line. Waited for a while for a good wave to pass by, then would ride it. Never got super far, but got super torn up and flipped around by those waves. My hair suffocated me multiple times and I would come up, gasping for air, and a wave would come and smack me in the face. Good times.

We stayed in Montanita for a few days then Friday morning 4 of us decided to take a plane back to have more time in Quito. So we got to the airport, found the cheapest flight ($80 ugh) and checked in, ate some sketchy Chinese food, went through security where I had to check a bag because I forgot I had a Swiss Army Knife in my bag. My bad... Haha. Waited around for a bit, looking for Gate 4 but it had a different airline completely on the TV behind it. We asked Gate 4 where our plane was, they told us to go to Gate 3. Went to Gate 3, they told us to go back to 4. Confusion. Basically what happened was there wasn't a plane for us, a physical actual plane was not to be found. So instead of leaving at 3, having a 30 minute flight and getting home by 4, we left Guayaquil around 5- finally. Got on the plane, flew for a while, then the pilot came on the microphone and said "Due to bad weather in Quito, the airport is closed until at least 6pm. We're going to turn back to Guayaquil now." It was 5:20 at this point. So that's what we did. Then we sat in the Guayaquil airport for hours, eating overpriced Chex Mix and waited until about 9 when we finally got to leave. Needless to say, if we had just taken a bus, we would have gotten back half an hour before we did via plane, for about an eighth of the price. Good times.

And I got lots of weird bites all over my face. My face looks like a pepperoni pizza with all the bites/zits going on. Not pleased.

Oh well. Ecuastyle.

The 12 days near Christmas

On the first day near Christmas, my mother comes to town. I will see people off who I may never see again but hope to at some point during this crazy life.

On the second day near Christmas, I show her around Quito, meet my friends, spend lots of time together

On the third day near Christmas, more tours of Ecuador, and it’s Family Quiz Night. Last night all together SUPER BITTERSWEET

On the fourth day near Christmas, I LEAVE FOR THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. it’s only been my dream since i was 10 to go there. flight#3 of the 7 I’ll do in a week.

On the fifth day near Christmas, we spend time touring islands, snorkeling, getting tan, living the dream, looking at iguanas and blue footed boobies and finches and giant tortoises.

On the sixth day near Christmas, it’s my birthday! No longer will be a teenager. But I get to spend it at the Darwin Center being a nerd so it’s worth it. Get to see Lonesome George that day DREAM COME TRUE. hope he lives.

On the seventh day near Christmas, it is Christmas! Spent on Santa Cruz exploring and enjoying the warmth. But I have to say goodbye to Jeff that day. mehhhh.

On the eighth day near Christmas, return to Quito, flight # 4 of 7 for the week, say goodbye to my host family and spend my last night in Ecuador.

On the ninth day near Christmas, I GET TO GO HOME!!! not excited about flights 5-7 of the week when it’s high holiday travel. but that’s okay. I get to see snow and freeze my ass off and have a grand ol’ time.

On the tenth day near Christmas, I will go shopping and spend time with my family. Probably have Christmas celebrations. It will be splendid.

On the eleventh day near Christmas, more family time, breakfast club reunion.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, I will ponder the spelling of ‘twelfth’ and throw a baby shower for my sister because I’m SO EXCITED FOR HER BABY TO COME but have no idea how to throw a baby shower.

atypical like my life. busy. absolutely amazing. living the wavy life and the dream as my pal will would say.

One week left!

So much has happened in the past month or so. Finished up classes/still have to correct a project to "comply with the objectives" or something of the assignment and make it perfect. I guess I could be doing that right now but don't really want to. My grades are a lot better than I thought they would be- definitely a good feeling, but I still might get straight B's. Oh well.

My uncle Dave found out last week that he has pancreatic cancer, one of the worst kinds of cancer to treat, and it's spreading to his liver and to all his organs. He decided not to do chemo because it wouldn't buy him much time. So instead he's going to live his life to the fullest for about a month, travel to visit my aunt and uncle who live in the Florida Keys so he can enjoy himself for a month or so and then his body will attack itself and he'll be in too much pain to continue on so he'll have a few months of suffering. Basically he has 3-6 months to live. Such a weird thing. I've never had someone this close to me on the verge of death/die. It's especially weird just hearing about everything over skype or the phone and not actually being there. He's trying to be positive and just live as long as he can fight. Guess that's all anyone can do.

Last night was the last night of all my friends all together. We went out and got pizza at El Hornero- our favorite/the cheapest pizza for good reason, but it's a tradition. Then went to our favorite bar, Finn McCools for drinks, foosball, and just great company. Definitely bittersweet. But our favorite song came on at the end of the night to dance to- Learn to Fly by the Foo Fighters so we just danced our hearts out, said our goodbye's/see you laters and left. Everyone is excited and ready to go home but we'll never be all together again. I'm one of the last to leave which is always strange. I haven't cried yet but my closest friends haven't left yet, well Jessie and Ben did but I know I'll see them. Valerie does tomorrow. Have to say goodbye to Meaghan on Wednesday and Jeff on Saturday. Jeff's going to be the hardest. Don't want to think about it.

But on a brighter note, my mom comes in tonight! We'll be touring Quito (what we're doing I have no clue) and then go to the Galapagos on Wednesday until Sunday and home on Monday. I'm so excited. I've wanted to visit the Galapagos since I was 10 or so. Dreams come true!

2 weeks left

Today marks my day with 2 weeks left in Ecuador. I cannot believe it. People are starting to leave and have already left, and I read their facebook status's about being home and it's so weird! The first month or so was really slow. Lots of new things. Lots of places to go. The language was overwhelming and everything was brand new. But once I got into the swing of things, everything has flown by. Especially the last month. I haven't done anything too substantial. No crazy journeys to the jungle, only one trip out of Quito to Otavalo for the 3rd time haha but other than that just lots of Quito time. I feel really comfortable here. I still am cautious when I know I have something valuable on me. I actually brought my laptop to school today to take an exam. But I've just learned that being street smart is just being aware of your surroundings, knowing what you have to lose, and keeping it safe. Blending in is the best way to do that, even though whenever we walk around, we always talk loudly in English which draws attention but we're normally fine.

I'm done with my semester! As of about 10 minutes ago I turned in my last paper and can fully enjoy the rest of my time here. Not that I didn't fully enjoy my time thus far, but I don't have any schoolwork left. Definitely the worst semester thus far as for my grades. Hopefully it doesn't matter too much, I think only one matters for grades for my GPA and the others will show up on my transcripts and hopefully won't matter too much. The learning I've done since I've been here has been amazing and I'm sure it'll reveal itself to me in the upcoming months and years. More about taht when I get home. I still have 2 weeks.

Plans for the next 2 weeks:
Leave tonight at 10pm for Montanita. The hippie beach.
Return Fridayish sometime.
Hang out with everyone on Saturday before most people leave Sunday
Mom comes Sunday night.
Monday hang out with Mom and my friend Jeff and his family
Tuesday do the same
Wednesday head for the Galapagos until Sunday!!!!!!!!
Monday the 27th head home.

I didn't think I'd be this ready to go home and this excited for Mom to come down. Thanksgiving was rough because all my family was together and I couldn't be there. So I'm incredibly glad she's going to be here. I've never ever spent a birthday or Christmas away from my mother. How many people can say that? Very few.

The next two weeks will be filled with all sorts of emotions. Excitement for Mom to come and to go back to the States. Sad to leave these wonderful people I've met from my friends to my host family. Scared and curious for the future. Pure joy to go to the Galapagos. Probably many more I'm forgetting. But I'm going to live it up!

Lady Guaguas and Fiestas de Quito

Tuesday night was quiz night. Our teams won 1st place (Lady GuaGuas) and 3rd place (The Pinchinchillas) so we had to have our prizes. 3rd place got a pitcher of beer to drink. 1st got $50 behind the bar to be used by Monday. So last night we went to use the 1st place prize, during happy hour. Lots of cuba libres were had. But this week is also Fiestas de Quito which are celebrations of the foundation of Quito as a city. We were told they were really dangerous. We just didn't expect them to be as dangerous as they got. Inside Finn McCools, we were fine. Had some creepers creeping but nothing out of the ordinary. We left at one point to go dancing at another bar. One girl from our group had gotten completely wasted so we took care of her, but there was a lot of other activity going on so there were NO cabs around. What other activity, may you ask? Well, we walked and saw a crowd of people, mostly police officers which didnt make sense. But there were 5ish people laying on the ground, hands on their heads, with masked gunmen pointing their guns at the people. I have never seen this in real life. It was scary. But we stayed and watched, I don't know if it was real or what was going on but it was mildly terrifying. Went back to Finns for safety, left, got home safe with a really nice cab driver. I get up this morning and see that two of my friends got mugged- like thrown on a wall as the robbers dug through their pockets for money.

I knew Quito was a dangerous city, but didn't really see things in real life until today. I just want to stay home now, or stay in super safe locations. Hopefully I can find these locations to stay.

December

Thanksgiving was last week and it was definitely an interesting day. Went to school, took a test. That day was also the International Day Against Violence of Women so my Gender and Society class had a day to recognize it. My group made these big cardboard cutouts of different shapes of people, painted them black, wrote different facts about violence like "8 out of 10 women in Ecuador experiences some sort of domestic violence at some point in their lives" and had a little slogan. They looked really cool. Had about 20 that we put around the campus. Another group did a little play. Others handed out flyers and information. We all handed out little purple lassos to everyone to wear. It was really cool. Then I went to my host aunt's house. She's originally from New Mexico but married an Ecuadorian and tries to teach her kids English and celebrate traditions. So she made a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Turkey. Stuffing. Mashed Potatoes. Corn. Cranberry sauce. Fresh apple cider. Pecan pie. Pumpkin pie. So delicious. It was nice to be able to celebrate, but wasn't the same as being with my family, doing our traditions of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade (which I watched a bit of online!), then the dog show, eating together, picking at the turkey as it's being cut, scoping the ads for the best deals for black friday, etc. I talked to everyone, though, which was definitely nice.

Then I went to my friend Vale's house for another Thanksgiving feast- this time it was less than traditional. We opened bottles of wine and cranberry sauce cans with knives, had homemade mac n cheese, sweet potato casserole, avocado and grapefruit salad, cranberry sauce, pan de yuca, cookies and cake. It was definitely abnormal and what college students would do, but it was also nice to be all together, even though we lost in the finals of the South American Cup in soccer that night.

Sunday was the census day so we all were legally forced to stay in our houses from 7am-5pm as high schoolers would come around and have you fill out a form. My census girls came at about 4. The questions were necessary but semi-interesting. How many lights does your house have? How old are you? Where were you born? What is your race? (70ish percent of Ecuadorians say they're white... lies. They're mestizo which is a mixture between Spanish and indigenous.) So that was interesting.

Tuesday night was quiz night. It's every week at a bar called Finn McCools. There are 5 categories with 10 questions each, all are super random. My friends go almost every week. I've gone 3 times now. But we actually won it this week! We get $50 at the bar to spend before Monday so we're going to spend that tonight. Should be fantastic. I didn't really contribute, but it was still fun.

It's getting to be crunch time for school. Next week I have a dramatization, 2 tests, presentation, 3 papers due, and much more. I'm trying to be productive but it's difficult when I just want to sleep and get over this cold I'm getting. I'll go buy some coke and cold medicine and hope for the best.

Lately

Hm. I don't know what I've been doing lately. Haven't traveled outside of Quito since my class trip. I went to a soccer (futbol) game and it was absolutely insane. Fireworks. Toilet paper thrown on the field. Fire extinguishers. Every crazy thing you can imagine, people had it. It was the quarter finals for the south american cup. They won that game, won the next one. Onto the finals! Should be quite exciting. I don't know anything about the game but I'll probably go.

My Spanish has really improved lately. Everyone who I talk to says it's really strong and I'm good at grammar and pronunciation and all that jazz. That's why I came here, I guess, so it's good that I'm finally getting to that point to communicate. Of course, when people talk too fast or mumble or use words I don't know it's difficult, but I'm definitely learning a lot.

My friend Jessie turned 21 and her parents came down from the states for a week. They rented a Chiva (party bus) which took us all around the city. So much fun!

I've been helping out at a school in Lumbisi which is a small, poor country town. We have English lessons and then recess. I don't know if the kids are actually learning anything or just regurgitate what we tell them and immediately forget it. But it's very fulfilling to go sometimes. The kids are really nice, well some of them. There are 3 bullies that are almost kicked out of the program, but they're also the ones who really want to learn English. So we have a special class for them so they don't interrupt the main class.

I've been hitting the party scene in Quito more. I go to the same 5 bars, do the same things, but it's always different with different people.

Lately it rains every single day from about 2-10pm. Oh, the best part? I left my raincoat in a computer lab. Sucks. So much. I loved that raincoat. I bought an umbrella but it's not the same. Now I have to buy a new winter coat because that was the outside layer of mine. UGHHHHHHHHH.

My friends and I got all dressed up as various Harry Potter characters and went to see the 7th movie. I'll admit, I didn't read the book. But the movie was phenomenal. So sad. Jumpy. But really good. Even better when we dressed up and the boys in my group battled in front of the movie theater.

My mom is coming to Ecuador on December 19th and then from the 22nd-26th we're going to the Galapagos Islands! Christmas and birthday in the Galapagos? Cannot wait.

being abroad has made me learn so much about cultural differences and the world in general. grown up so much. but it also has made me miss things about the USA that i never though i'd miss. those things include:

- drinking fountains
- being able to go to a sink, stick a glass under and drink the water. not boil it. not waste lots of plastic bottles getting water.
- chinese food that doesn't make you sick
- thai food that doesn't make you sick
- food in general that doesn't make you sick
- Hershey's cookies'n'creme bars
- chocolate
- goldfish/cheezits
- my sister
- Halloween
- texting endlessly
- cell phone plans, not ones that run out every week
- phone with a keyboard and not my little nokia, even though it has snake
- weather that changes with seasons
- being productive

But don't get me wrong. There are definitely things I'll miss when I'm gone
- getting a full meal for $2
- traveling each and every weekend around the country
- improving my language and conversation skills
- warm weather
- the beach so close
- living in the mountains
- learning so rapidly about cultural differences
- buying bread for 20 cents regularly
- flowers everywhere


overall it's been a great experience thus far. some bumps along the way but that's to be expected. less than 2 months to live fully. let's do it.

Salida de Campo

I don't really think anyone reads this. Oh well. It's a good way for me to journal what I've been doing.

This weekend I went with my Areas Protegidas class on a field trip for 4 days. I kind of wasn't too excited because it's not my favorite class, but went anyway. We had to be at school at 7am Friday morning to leave. Hopped on our private Jaguayana bus and headed for Jerusalem. The class is about protected areas of Ecuador/the world and all the organizations that protect them/why to protect them because of the species they have and whatever else. Kind of interesting, makes me appreciate special areas of the world but it's just kind of boring to learn about and hard in Spanish.

Jerusalem is kind of deserty, it's a dry forest. Not exactly my thing. I felt like I was in Utah or somewhere. We walked around in the heat for a while on trails. There were signs everywhere with braille on them. Not exactly sure how a blind person would be able to enjoy them as they're hilly trails with things to trip over but oh well.

Next stop was Cotocachi Cayapas, a huge protected area with a volcanic lake called Cuicocha within. It was beautiful although a bit cold. The lake was cool- there's these little mountains in the middle of it. It's a sacred site for indigenous groups to do ceremonies to worship the earth, etc. Jessie and Meaghan had already climbed around the whole thing and none of us were really feeling the trip so we just sat around, staring at the lake. Probably wasn't the right mentality to be always wanting to go to the next place, see the next thing, but that's how we all were all weekend.

We went to an indigenous village, not really sure what tribe it was, and stayed in a really nice hostel there. The men of the tribe played some traditional songs on their drum, pan flutes, recorder-type instrument and guitar. Reinforced that I want pan flutes to be obnoxious with. Also learned how all the fabric for everything in Otavalo is made- with oldschool weaving machines that seem to take forever to use. So much respect for them now. And all the designs have meanings about how the people work and use the land and worship it, they're not just random people or houses.

Next day we went to Golondrinas, one of the areas I'm studying. We went on this hike that we were told was one hour. Kept walking. I figured it was a loop but I also didn't know what the destination was. Just kept walking. Walked through a cow pasture. Walked to a waterfall that was pretty big. Then I was told we had to turn around and go back the same way we came. Started at 12. Got back at 5. Hadn't eaten lunch and everyone felt so weak and hungry. Totally not cool. But they did let us go to this resort thing and swim/shower so that was very nice.

Next day we hopped back on Fernando (the bus) and headed to a town near the coast called San Lorenzo. Walked down a boardwalk and got stopped to take photos with people merely because we were white and everyone in the town is black. The park was Cayapas Mataje Manglares. Took a boat ride through the estuaries. Ate some ceviche (cold soup with shrimp that isn't cooked but somehow lemons and other things cook the shrimp) and then went for a little hike through the mangroves that are there. The biggest, tallest mangroves in the world. But the thing was, the river was too high and not everyone had rubber boots so we had to get a little canoe. This man set fire to the brush near the river edge that burned for like 2 hours. It was crazy. Not cool at all but no one really stopped him. But the mangroves were pretty cool and worth the hike.

Slept in this little village that was so poor and unproductive. It was kind of sad, actually. Lots of children just running around in tattered clothes without any supervision, bound to just work in the town and have lots of babies and try to survive.

Stopped in Otavalo on the ride home and ate at my favorite restaurant- pesto chicken, potatoes and salad.

Last night I wasn't doing well so Jessie came over and we watched time traveler's wife and ate junk food and talked about life. So nice.

Overall a fair weekend.

La Casa de Rafa

I went to lunch at this really awesome restaurant called La Casa de Rafa which was in Tumbaco, a town about an hour away, just past Cumbaya where my school is. We went way into the mountains/country to this random awesome house where the restaurant was. It has a normal restaurant with brunch and lunch and maybe dinner? The house itself was really cool. But we decided to take it to the next level- eat in a cave. In complete darkness. To get the complete sensory experience. With waiters who were blind. And it was awesome.

It was definitely hard to eat in the dark. I had to feel around the table to find my fork, knife, plate. Find my glass, guide my face to it, take a drink, make sure nothing was beneath it and put it down. Had to use my hands to eat even though I ordered meat with rice and a weird cauliflower sou-flee.

I have so much respect for blind people now. Not that I didn't before, but they have such a hard life. I think I realized before that I'd rather be deaf than blind. You could at least get around and read and know what family and friends look like, but not hear music and voices and waves crashing and birds singing.

But anyway, living like a blind person for 2 hours was a great experience.

Otavalo

This weekend I went to Otavalo which is a town in the north where the indigenous community makes and sells SO MANY different types of items. I mean, everything.
Llamas
Half ton sized pigs
Live rabbits, dogs, and kittens in bags
Chickens
Purses
Hammocks
Clothes
Scarves
Alpaca anything you can imagine
Trinkets
Tribal masks
Hats
EVERYTHING
... so I spent a lot of money on souvenirs. But that's okay. My family and friends will enjoy the stuff hopefully.

Banos

Oh my starry eyed surprise. I'm so great at keeping up with everything. I guess that's a good thing, means I'm busy. But not entirely.

Hmm last weekend I went to Banos which has so much to do! Got there at night, I thought I would have thrown up on the bus ride there but score! I didn't. The next day we got up and ready and went mountain biking. By mountain biking it meant biking through the mountains on the back country-ish roads. It was beautiful scenery. We took forever to bike about 10 miles because everyone kept stopping to look at the waterfalls, take this little thing over to one of them and to take lots of photos. We then continued and got to this bridge where people were jumping off. They had harnesses and all, and the ropes looked pretty secure. Wasn't as high as I thought it would be but Michael, Ben, Jeff and I jumped off. It was definitely a thrilling experience. The first part was the most terrifying when I was actually flying unconnected to anything, or so it felt. But it wasn't as crazily terrifying as I thought. Then we continued on our bikes to a huge waterfall, it's name had something to do with being the devil's waterfall. We climbed down to it, looked around, then climbed up right next to it through these tunnels and could go behind it. So cool. So wet, though. Then we rode back in the back of a truck to the hotel, my butt hurt so much from the bike riding and I was so tired so napped. We ate some delicious pizza, and by delicious it was like the best thing I've ever eaten. Went on a chiva that night which is basically this open bus that took us up a mountain in the fog to this weird little place with lots of other chivas so we could drink this weird cinnamon drink and then head back down the mountain to go out at an irish bar called the Leprechaun.

The next day some people wanted to hike, some wanted to go home. But me, Valerie, Meaghan and Jeff decided to go to the hot springs, what Banos is famous for. Big mistake, strange use of $2 but a cultural experience. We walked around trying to find the pools near a waterfall, found them, the guy told us they were really full and we might have to wait but we were dumb and went in anyway. Walked in. Looked around. Saw that the water was brown. Lukewarm-warm, like body temperature. Absolutely packed so there would be no room for us. Therefore, we made a group consensus to turn around and head home. Best decision. Who knew what diseases we could have gotten if we had gone in.

Violencia Domestica

Today in Gender and Society we talked about domestic violence/gender violence/violence against women. Lots of names, none of them are completely accurate. For some reason this topic was pretty interesting and captivating to me, even though I didn't voice my opinion in class. I didn't realize how prevalent it is. 500 women died in Spain between 1999 and 2004 because of it, but many more didn't die but still were abused. It's not just physical, can be verbal as well. We then read a story by a girl who had genital mutilation surgery as a child and how it affected her. I'm more thankful that I don't live in an area where that is culturally accepted. It makes me feel bad for all the people who have this happen to them, though.

It also makes me think that many people are not treated how they should be. Everyone is different, yes. But so many people don't have legs or arms or are psychologically affected by all of this.

Just something to think about :)

Esmeraldas

This weekend I went to my friend Brian's host family's resort north of Esmeraldas. It was very nice and secluded. We had 12 students who went and it was a fun group. We spent most of the time just relaxing, riding the waves, sea kayaking, found a donkey or horse skull and tried to break the teeth out for souvenirs, etc. The difference between high tide and low tide was crazy. Normally it's a few feet or like 20 feet, no this was about 300 at least. Crazy! We also had a bonfire that took a bottle of gasoline and a bunch of effort to start, but once it started it lasted for a long time.

I got my first F written on an exam. I don't remember the last time that happened. So that's a feat. Luckily the teacher is letting me retake the exam Monday so I'll have to study. It's just so hard to be motivated to study here, especially after getting a grade like that.

I just got an email saying that the state of emergency has been extended for 60 more days only in Quito, not the rest of the country. It's rated Critical in the warning scale. Good thing I live in Quito... Just have to be extra careful, especially after dark it says. But nothing seems different from before the whole Coup thing happened. I'll still be careful- don't want to get robbed or kidnapped!

I'm in a really weird mood lately and I can't shake it. I feel like I'm just tired, which I probably am, but it seems more than that. Hopefully it will pass soon.

keep truckin' life keeps goin. dont forget to fasten your seatbelt.

Strange week.

Well, after the whole Coup thing happened, everything pretty much went back to normal. The next day I didn't have school but I was so glad about that because I had a history test I hadn't really studied for.

Friday my host uncle called me and asked if I wanted to go to the cloud forest with him and Valerie. We said yes, went there and stayed at my dream house. Literally this house was adorable. So many little details that just made it homey and awesome. Like the sink had painted flowers in it, it had an old bathtub for the shower, lots of antiques and little cool trinkets, hammocks, wraparound porch, great view, in the middle of nowhere. Perfect. We went to the town of Nanegalito to try to find fritado (fried pork, I think) but they were out. So we went to a discoteca, meaning a little hut in the middle of nowhere off the side of the road with a bar, colored lights, a DJ, the whole works. Stayed there for a while and we probably looked kind of sketchy- an old guy with two younger girls next to him? Haha. Oh well. Still was fun. Next day we woke up, had a great breakfast on the porch and then went to the Teleferico. Now, the teleferico is basically a ski lift going up the mountain and they're pretty common in Ecuador. This one, however, was made out of plastic lawn chairs and old seatbelts. Had some metal parts, too, but it was definitely not the most legit thing in the world. Had some good views and climbed a tower without being completely scared (getting over my fear a bit!) and then walked around the fish pond to look at the pretty flowers. We then went back to the house for some lunch and then went across the street to have these two kids, Natalie and David show us around the property. There were a bunch of cabanas that were awesome- some had 3 story bunk beds! Then we went to go bowling. In the forest. Near a river. On a wooden bowling alley. So legit! So fun! Then we left and came back to Quito.

Sunday I was home alone because someone died in the family. I love being home alone here. So much. But I was pretty productive and found internet in my room again! Score.

Monday I took the worst exam in a while. But the thing was, it wasn't fair at all. It was over material that we didn't focus on, didn't really explain in class and wasn't covered in the reading she gave us. Instead, it was obscure events that I had to research on Wikipedia the night before. NOT COOL. I still don't know the outcome of this. We shall see.

The rest of the week I've been pretty lazy but I haven't had much homework since my classes all had exams recently. So I've been watching movies, going out on Tuesday to quiz night at an irish bar called Finn Mccools- my friend's favorite bar. Never knew I knew so much about Canada or inventors. But I do. It was really fun.

I feel like everyone else is busy which makes me feel even more like a bum. Oh well. I'll get busy sometime.

This weekend I'm going to my friend Brian's host family's resort on the beach near Esmeraldas but it's near a reserve of some kind so that should be fun. Nice and relaxing since I need more relaxation. But I like most everyone going. Should be great.

National Emergency

Okay, so the story goes:

On September the 3rd, Rafael Correa (President of Ecuador) signed a decree voiding all the old norms and laws that regulated the military and police decorations and honors that were granted to the troops and officers when they were promoted from one rank to a higher one.
Yesterday some police forces and some military troops announced a demonstration for today, Thursday September the 30th. It is now taking place in Quito and some other major cities in the country. It is supposed to be a peaceful act and so far no clashes have been reported between the protesters and the law enforcement members that did not participate on the march. However, some police and military headquarters had been overtaken by the troops in a few cities and the Quito and Guayaquil airports are shut down.
As you know, USFQ campuses are not in Quito itself. The main one is located 10 miles outside of Quito in a small town (Cumbaya) Things are totally normal in the area, and we have no report of any unusual activity whatsoever. We think it is safer for the students to remain inside of our campus, as it is an enclosed one. As a private institution there is no risk of demonstrations or protests happening inside. As for the Galapagos campus, things also remain calm in the islands.
I insist, at the time being the best course of action is to keep our students inside of the campus. Classes are normal and our activities have not been altered.
If students are at home in Quito, we are asking them not to go to out to the streets, as we always do when situations like this arise.


Now I'm safely at home, but still kind of freaked. I haven't exactly been in a state of national emergency in a while- well maybe with terrorism and all that happened with 9/11 and all. Hopefully all will be fine. Still is intense with the police on strike to not hold anyone back, but luckily the military is still fighting. It seems like a state of mass chaos instead of emergency.

Tiputini Biodiversity Station

Oh. My. Gosh. The jungle is amazing. Completely different from what I expected but it was great.

Started off the trip bright and early, flew to a town called Coca, took a boat on the Napo river to the Rep Sol station, took a bus where we couldn't take photos because 10 years ago some Colombians took pictures of their operations and they got in trouble. Then we took another 2 hour boat ride on the Tiputini river to the research station. Buried deep in the rainforest is this station where they do research on the large amount of biodiversity that's there. Some say it's the most biodiversity in the whole world. Amazing. Sometimes it felt like a normal forest with some palm trees but other times you could tell it was the rainforest. So hot. So humid. Constantly sweating. I don't know how the researchers stay there for years at a time. There were 2 researchers- Rob and Jackie and they hadn't left the station for 3 months and next week are coming to Quito for a week to retain their sanity.

Most of the trip was walking around the jungle with our awesome guide Jose. He was an indigenous person- Quechua when he was younger but then learned Spanish and is now a guide. He was so cool and seemed to enjoy our eclectic group. We started off breaking fruit off a tree and using the insides of it as war paint. We walked around the trails and saw so much wildlife. Trees that had these natural shield looking things to probably give more support. We saw lots of spiders, frogs, lizards, tons of ants, toads, some saw a peccary (rodent), cayman, lots of birds, macaws, capybera, tapir, river dolphins, king fishers, lots of butterflieslots of pretty flowers, and so much more. It really is a diverse area. Has a little bit of everything. We climbed the canopy tower and did the canopy walk which provided a great view above the trees. So frightening to be 50 meters (150 feet) above the ground but it was worth it for the views.

One time Jose took a little stalk out of the middle of the leaves which he told us was an undeveloped leaf. Told us to take a little piece and chew on it for 2 minutes to get a surprise. The surprise- all of our tongues turned a pretty dark blue color. Awesome, thanks Jose. He also said if you eat enough of it, your pee turns blue. I don't think that happened to anyone, though.

Another time he asked if anyone was tired. We at first said no, but he said he had something to wake us up. So we all stuck out our arms and he stuck us with this leaf that hat little spines on it which was supposed to help us have more energy. But really, it just gave us all itchy, painful bumps on our arms that are still here. Thanks, Jose.

So many aspects of the trip were incredibly interesting and captivating. We learned about the oil drilling that could potentially happen in the area but people are fighting it because of all the biodiversity that they don't want to lose. Apparently there's a lot underground but it would demolish all of the plant and animal species as they would build roads, facilities, drilling areas, houses, etc in those areas. There's a lot about this in the news right now. I want to learn more and need to for a class.

Me and my friend Brian (well mostly him) talked to a worker at the oil company who used to live as an indigenous person until he was 12 when he moved to Quito to learn English and get an education. He had such a great point of view and probably didn't know how much he interested us.

Obviously the biodiversity was interesting. The fact that I was in the Amazon rainforest was enough to woo me. We went swimming in the Tiputini river which is a tributary to the Amazon. Amazing.

I have more to say but have to go do homework :( I'm sure this will be like every other thing that impacts my life in a profound way that I don't understand until after I get back to normal. It was a very cleansing experience since we sweat and drank so much water to clean every impurity out of us.

The past week

Not much exciting has happened in the last week. I think I'm finally over my illness which is a relief. But I've had to catch up on all of the school I missed. I was late to my Spanish class yesterday and the teacher is a big stickler on attendance and she said "Ohh, Michelle you were gone a lot last week. And you were tardy today. One more time missing my class and then F. Fail." Just about made me freak out. I don't want to fail a class because of attendance. But I talked to her and as long as I bring something to show I was at the doctor I can get the two attendances waived for her. But she's crazy.

I have 3 exams next week. One is a take home essay, one is over 6 full pages of verbs that have the slightest bit of difference in their meaning, and one is over the conquistadors and independence of Latin American history. Joy. Good thing I'll have a lot of time to study this weekend... in the RAINFOREST!!!!!! I'm so incredibly excited. We're going to the Tiputini Biodiversity Research Station, near Yasuni National Park. It's the most biodiverse area in the whole world. I hear amazing things about it.

I think it's funny how people in Latin America eat rice so much, but also how people in Asia eat it so much. It's not like the Asians colonized here, but somehow both cultures love to eat rice. Just a small observation.

Probably won't update until after Tiputini, but will hopefully have AMAZING things to say about that place. So excited. Bring it on, rainforest.

I was lacking in the update department this week so I guess I'll just have 3 today.

One thing I realized this week which is really interesting to me is the fact that a large amount of people here probably can't read or write. Such a strange concept since most of the people I interact with are able to. The busses here are different colors to let people know the routes and then there are men who yell out the front where the bus is going in case people can't read the signs on the front. Some of them have stripes and stuff too to distinguish them. It's just such a foreign concept because everyone I know is able to read by the age of 5. Just a different way of living since I'm in a third world country.

Bull fighting

Yesterday I went with my host uncle to a festival where there was flamenco dancing and bull fighting! I almost didn't go as I felt so sick from this week, but I realized I would have been home alone all day if I didn't so it was good I went. He's a crazy guy but was so fun to talk to. I learned a lot about Ecuador and culture from him so it was so interesting.

The bull fighting was an interesting experience. They raise specific breeds of cows just for it, the females are for smaller events like this one and the males are for bigger celebrations like the independence day (December 6) celebration. They start off releasing the bulls into the ring, then they trick them by having lots of guys wave their pink capes at them. Then one guy is the main fighter so he takes a red cape and tries to get the bull to make circles around him, to which the crowd says "Ole." If he's doing a good job, music starts to play. If not, no music. I felt like I was in Spain. I'm glad they didn't kill these ones after fighting them. They're females so they're raised to produce more potential bulls.

Then I went with Fabian to a family member's hacienda which was up a mountain a ways and they had cows and dogs. It was beautiful. I think my favorite part was still driving through the little, broken down towns. I love them and have since going to Guatemala. I think they're so beautiful and cute even though the houses are falling apart and they're not what the majority of people would call beautiful.

Atacames

This weekend was really fun. We went to Atacames, a beach in the northern coast of Ecuador. It was beautiful and so nice to be at the beach again. I missed large bodies of water. The bus ride there was nice but I felt motion sick the whole way. We started out in the mountains which were absolutely beautiful and majestic. Love the Andes. Slept most of the way to try to deter the sickness and then we got to Atacames around 11pm. We found our hotel, in which we were the only guests but I guess we had 17 people and 3 cabanas to stay in. We got ready and went out to the beach. Ran straight for the water to stick our toes in the ocean. Wouldn't be the last time we did this that night. We did what college kids do at bars and eventually, but probably not the best idea, went swimming in the ocean around 1am. Liberating. Then we just went to bed around 3.

The next day everyone woke up by 8 which was a terrible idea but we couldn't sleep anymore. I would have slept longer but I heard the word "panaderia" and wanted food immediately. We eventually ate at the hotel a breakfast of eggs, ham and bread. Delish. We later headed for the beach and swam, although the water didn't feel as warm as it did the night before. We went to explore some cool rocks and caves that had a ton of little crabs and critters to observe. Haha later we buried Jeff and Thomas in mud, making them mud men. We eventually covered Jeff's face and everything in mud, and that sand does not come off when you try to wash it off. Then we went into town to try to find food, ate at this seafood restaurant which was pretty good. Everyone was getting tired so we went down the beach a bit, saw a few other gringos, and I took a nap. Others made a sand castle which eventually was washed away in an epic manner by the tide. We swam a lot; the waves were fantastic and perfect for riding. Some of them pulled me into the shore, like up on the sand. So fun! After that, we went back to the hotel, showered, rested, and headed out for another night. Ate shish kabobs of meat for dinner. That night I had lots of good conversations with Ben, Jeff, and others about life so that was fun. It was just a good, fun night.

Next day we got up and found out Jeff had had a little mishap while sleeping. He got up in the middle of the night to get water/go to the bathroom and his bed collapsed! He was on the top bunk and it just pivoted wrong and he fell. Got an epic mark on his foot from something, so that was funny. Luckily he was mostly okay. Ate another delicious breakfast and then went out to explore the rocks again. They were absolutely fantastic. Lots of caves and rocks to explore. Me, Ricardo, Thomas, Jeff and Jessie swam out to this island which I later learned had lots of sharks swimming around. The island had lots of sharp rocks and shells before it so it was a bit of a challenge to get to, but we did eventually. Then the tide came in so we had to get back to the hotel, shower, pack, and head for the bus station. Ate at this nasty place that had zero sanitation so that was nice. Slept on the bus ride home but didn't get motion sick- score!

I got really sick after this trip. Like I've been sick for a week now with an intestinal infection. I went to the doctor Tuesday to get everything checked out and they did a poop sample and I have amoebas, parasites and bacteria that are causing problems in me. Didn't go to school for 3 days and probably shouldn't have the other days this week. It was bad, and it's really hard to be sick in another country with another family taking care of you. I was craving my mom's chicken noodle soup all week. I think I'm starting to get better so that's good!

There are so many random jobs that people have here that don't exist in the States, or at least aren't as prevalent. A lot of houses have maids that either come once or twice a week or live with the family during the week, like mine. I can see already the lack of police here. I mean, I see the policemen a lot but they never seem to do much. There are always guards outside people's houses and buildings who do no more than open doors. Lately near my house, these guys direct traffic at the intersections where there are already functioning lights. They blow their really annoying whistles a lot. Oh well.

They're really weird about feet here. Feet are apparently the dirtiest thing ever. Cannot leave the ground. Good thing I can never handle when my feet touch the ground when I'm sitting down...

The pollution is really bad here. Like I'll be walking down the street and a huge cloud of black smoke comes at my face. I also just ate something that makes me never want to eat again. This is pleasant.

BEACH TOMORROW!!! Should be quite the adventure. We'll see how it goes.

Basilica

As to be expected, I haven't been super great at updating this lately.

Sunday was really fun. Me, Ben and Jeff went downtown to the Basilica for mass and then we climbed up the towers. It was terrifying. We climbed up these little stairs, then spiral staircases, ladders, and across the wooden bridge of death. I was more than a little scared at times but it was so worth it for all of the views of the city we got to see. Check out my facebook pictures for the views.

Other than that I've just been trying to do homework, which is really difficult since everything is in Spanish. I keep trying to tell myself to just use Spanish during the days but that's also difficult. My internet in my room doesn't work so I've been either using it at school (where I am now) or I awkwardly sit with my computer at the kitchen table and go on the computer.

Okay well I should probably be heading home now. I'm going to the beach this weekend so need to finish lots of homework before I head out! I hope it's fun. We're going to Atacames which should be great.

Nono

Yesterday Ben and I walked around Cumbaya, which is the town where my university is, about a 20 minute bus ride away from Quito. It was nice to be in a small town again, I missed the "country" and the small town atmosphere. Then we came home, rested and then went out again. We rode the bus to the mall to meet a few other people. So it was Ben, Jeff and I about to board the bus. We saw it was pretty full but Ben got on anyway. He squished himself on there so there was no room for Jeff and I. Probably the funniest moment of the day, watching Ben leave while completely smashed into the bus. The next bus came, also very crowded. Jeff and I got on and didn't even need to use the bars or railings because there were so many other people around that we just stood there, not moving. Talk about lack of personal space. So funny. We eventually got to the mall, found everyone, and then they all went out but I was tired so came home.

This morning I woke up at good ol' 6am and went to go to a hacienda in a town called Nono, about an hour's bus ride away. Rode the windy mountain roads that reminded me a lot of riding around in Guatemala, only I was in a bus which made me car sick instead of standing in the back of a pick-up truck. We got to this small town and walked in a pasture to this house. The view from there was spectacular, rolling hills and mountains everywhere with cows, horses, pigs, etc. Let's just say we were provided with some beverages and games where the winners/losers had to drink said beverages in amount. Everyone had to drink them. But it was fun, nonetheless. We played "traditional Ecuadorian games" aka sack race, wheel barrow race, spin around on a pole and try to run, climbing stuff- although 2 members of each team had to climb this pole that was covered in lard so it was slippery and had to try to make it as high as possible. It was really entertaining. Then lunch, then we just hung out amongst the clouds. Like the clouds began coming down and then just stayed for the rest of the time we were there. So cool but then it also got freezing! I think I got sunburnt today. Dang equator sun.

The ride home was very windy and mountainous and I still feel a bit dizzy and car sick after it. I shall go rest and go to bed early tonight after this long day of fun.

Yesterday, Ben, Jeff, Meaghan and I went to try to climb to the top of the Basilica downtown but we got there too late. I hear you climb up this spiral staircase with no railing and then can see really far from the top. We'll have to go another time. Then we went to a cafe to get out of the rain and it was very gringo-friendly. Our waiter was a gem. Hot chocolate and mozzarella cheese cubes hit the spot- still don't know why they gave us cheese. I've been trying to get my Censo, like the Ecuadorian ID card, everyday for the past few days but they either take too long or are closed or something ridiculous. I now know how difficult is to enter a country, can't imagine doing it without these clear instructions from the University and if you didn't know the language. The whole process is annoying but I guess is necessary to not have too many illegal people come in. I hear Ecuador lets almost anyone into the country, though. That's both good and bad and is what I discussed in my conversations class yesterday.

I got my schedule (finally) figured out today. What a stressful process!
Areas Protegidas (talking about protected areas in Ecuador/the world)
Gender and Society
History of Latin America
Intermediate Spanish Conversation

I'm finally getting homework so I should probably go work on that. I feel like I need to do extra since everything is in Spanish and is kind of confusing.

Comment on my blog so I know people read it! I guess it's good for me to also be able to remember everything that happens this semester, but comments are appreciated :)

Today is a journaling kind of day

Today has been a very introspective and introverted kind of day. I realized that my life and all of its events have culminated to prepare for this trip. I went to camp for 10 years to learn how to interact with people I knew, strangers, and people I could almost call family. I also learned lots of skills- orienteering, trust, love, patience, respect acceptance for differences, an adventurous and curious spirit, and so many more. I also spent lots of time away from home and had no problem with it most of the time. So camp was a big help. Going away to college also helped me to be able to live with lots of different people with something crazy happening everyday. I have lots of people to go on adventures with and lots of friends from my 2 years at MSU. I also learned how to pack for just about anything from these two places. From weekend trips to packing everything I would need for 4 months, I know how to and am so thankful now that I brought lots of warm clothes because I know I get cold and also that I brought lots of cash because it's hard to get here. I learned family values from, well, my wonderful family and know they support me in everything I do. And as much as it weirds me out to say it, Spanish classes from high school have helped me SO much to teach me so much vocabulary, history, and grammar that I use everyday here. I guess Senora Bilski teaching us stuff which at the time seemed useless, like when would I need to know the word for spoon, but now that's so helpful! It's kind of weird since my life has kind of led up to these 4 months, like what happens next? Finish up college and find a new dream? I guess only time will tell what this new book of life has in store for me.

exploration of the city

Yesterday I went with Ben, Meaghan, Valerie and Rachel to the Old Town, I always forget it's Spanish name. It was beautiful. Old architecture and TONS of churches. I guess it's the same style as some places in Spain. I want to go back during the day so we can go inside the churches and explore more. It got dark and rainy so we came home early. We went to this restaurant called Gus's which I can't go to because it makes me sick. But they give you a plastic glove if you order chicken so you don't get your hands greasy! So crafty.

Today the 5 of us met up with Jeff and went to La Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the Earth aka the equator! It was kind of difficult getting there. Cab to bus station, find a bus, then find how to see the monument. But it was really cool. Apparently it's not the EXACT equator but is only like 300 meters away. It was built in the 1700s by a French guy and was only 300 meters off, pretty good for those days. The place is its own "city" with lots of shops, restaurants (some sell Cui which is guinea pig, a traditional Ecuadorian dish I am not quite ready to try yet) and this huge monument with a line for the equator. There's also a miniature model of old town Quito which is super cool. Musty smelling but awesome. The lights turned out so you could see how the city looks at night.

Then we went to Jeff's house and his host dad Gonzales took us in his car (7 of us packed into a 5 passenger truck... cozy) and took us on a driving tour of Old Town and pointed out all of the cool sights. We went to a park that overlooked the whole city and it was beautiful. Oh, and we got kind of lost on the way to Jeff's house and ended up passing it on the bus and had to back track quite a ways. AKA we explored the city, used some basic knowledge of direction and eventually got back. So that was fun.

Now I'm quite tired from constantly walking around. I have no idea how the people here daily trudge up and down those mountains but it's tough. Starting to get used to it, though.

I never know what tomorrow brings in this city. We shall see!

It's 7:30am and I'm wide awake. Probably because I went to bed super early last night but oh well.

Yesterday I went to my Spanish conversation class and the professor seems cool and it's going to be a lot of chatting, changed some around but still need to know if they'll transfer to MSU (Come on, Lyman Briggs, get on that!) and walked around everywhere. Met some girls from Kalamazoo College who are doing the same program Rob did 10 years ago. We walked around outside of campus to go find ice cream, couldn't find the right place so after walking about quarter mile extra down a huge hill, decided to trudge back up and go to another place. Ecuadorian ice cream is weird. Maybe I'm just used to mass amounts of sugar. Then we went to Valentina's house and had to walk up 2 mountains in her neighborhood. Watched Miss Congeniality (it took me until I went to Ecuador to watch that movie... pretty good). Then walked my friend Valerie home so by the time I got back, I was exhausted.

My host mom had two friends over just to chat. They talked SO FAST! It was interesting what they were talking about- pets, kids, grandkids, cleaning, and a few other topics. I was happy that I could follow along for the most part. At one point they were talking about a conejo which is a pet, and I thought it was a snake but it's a rabbit. But then again, makes me more confident that I know lots of vocab to know what rabbit is in Spanish.

Went to bed at 10, woke up at 7, probably will go back to bed. Today I have class and then need to get my Censo ( Still have no idea what that is, I think the ID card?) and then me and some others are going to explore Old Town Quito which I hear is beautiful. Hopefully will have some good photo opportunities since I haven't taken many yet. I'm just nervous to take my camera out with the chance it makes me look wealthy and then I get mugged. Could happen.

I've only been here for about 5 days and can already notice lots of differences in the culture and way things are here. Obviously the language is different, but it's surprising how many people know English and can use it because they studied or went somewhere in the US for some time. Some of the differences may be seen since I haven't spent much time in cities. Pollution is pretty bad, trucks emit black smoke from their tailpipes all the time. There's trash everywhere, even some weird bones or I think they're bones on the little walkway I go on daily. On crowded intersections, people try to sell whatever they can for a little bit of money. Fire dancers, candy sellers, cell phone case sellers, jugglers, window washers, etc. Not supposed to give them money because they could use it for drugs or something. Who knows. Everyday, I walk by this flower shop with all sorts of beautiful flowers. You can get 25 roses for a dollar. It's just on the side of the road, someone pulls up and buys them and is on their way. I have no idea if they sell very much, but they should. Most of the people who sell little items just look sad. Not sure if they are, but if they're selling 3 candy bars a day to make 30 cents, probably are a bit. They bring their kids along and have them sell things too. People here hardly ever smile. I guess they do when talking to others, and it's probably the same in the States.

I know I've seen more cultural differences but can't think of them right now. Sure I will throughout the semester. But hey to any of my Guatemala family who reads this- I keep seeing people standing in the back of pick-ups riding around! So jealous of them since that's the best way to travel!

Chao chao bacalao.

Start of School

Today was my first day of school. It wasn't as nerve-racking as it normally is which was strange considering my present location. I got to my 9 o'clock class at like 8:55 and only one other girl, Stephanie, was there so luckily I wasn't alone but the professor and the other students didn't show up! We were confused and talked to the international aides and they didn't know what happened, but I later learned the professor's family member died so hopefully all is well.

I met some new people today that seem very nice to hang out with. Hopefully to travel with too at some point. I just hung out at school for a long time, seems to be what everyone does there. I need to get my classes sorted out but hopefully I will sooner or later.

I'm starting to not be so tired but still need to sleep and drink lots o'water!
Besos!

Orientation

Today was orientation. Left at like 7am to walk about 5 blocks (my family said it was 2... no) to the bus stop. It's really easy to get to and from campus on the busses that wind up and down the mountains. My motion sickness loves it so I'll have to wear my sea bands or something on the bus rides.

We went to school today, and the campus is absolutely beautiful. We listened to a bunch of talks and one of them said the campus is like living in Laguna Beach surrounded by the rest of the world. I'll have to take photos of it. But it's weird that it's so small- completely different from MSU!

There were lots of talks today. First about emotional aspects of studying abroad, health concerns meaning we're going to get explosive diarrhea at some point (sorry for being so graphic. it happens) and we had one on culture, history of ecuador (they've had 8 presidents since 1996 so it's pretty stable here...) acclimation, and the longest one was on crime. He's the US Embassy Ambassador (I think) or does something with special services here. He's been all around the world and was basically there to tell us all the facts straight up and to kind of scare us half to death. He started talking about pickpocketing, then went to robbery, then armed robbery, then sexual assault, kidnapping, and told us areas to avoid. Gave us tips to not carry many valuables on us, to only ride in very well marked taxis or to call a taxi from a company because a lot of theft happens in taxis. Oh, and Ecuador is in the critical state of security. Sorry Mom and Dad, but I'll use my best judgment and always travel with someone.

I was able to ride the bus home with Valenta and Ben which was good. Maria del Carmen, who is my advisor here, met with the 3 of us to talk about things and to eat pizza. Delicious and it was good to get to know the "team" of advisors there and they're all extremely nice.

I might be on the verge of getting sick. Not quite sure if I will but it's a possibility. Hoping for the best but I know it will happen eventually.

I think the thing I dislike most is that I never know what's going on. I just drift when people tell me things. I'm learning I'm a visual learner and all this auditory information being thrown at me, especially in very fast Spanish, is really overwhelming. I need things written down. Like when people tell me directions, both here and in the States, I need to see them written down or see a map to understand. But when someone says okay, go up this street and turn left and go a ways to the car dealership and turn right and thats where the bus stop is (ps thats how i get to the bus stop) I don't understand. But now I understand since I've been there.

I have no idea what I'm doing tonight. I have class at 9 tomorrow so I'll have to leave by like 8:20 I think. I just don't want to go out at night yet. I should've done something during the day with people but maybe I'll read or something. Once school starts I should have more to do and I'll meet people so that will be better.

Cultural immersion at the finest.

First Few Days

Wow, is there ever so much to say so far. Let's start from the very beginning of the trip.

I started off talking on the baby plane from Grand Rapids to Chicago to a 59 year old man named David who was so excited for me to go on my journey and he was off to Paris in a few days. Talked about health and it was just good from the beginning.

Then I got to the airport, found Ben (he's the guy from Michigan State in my program and I traveled down with) and we flew to Miami, spent some time there and said some goodbyes. Then I was about to cry and freak out as we were in line to board the plane; I wanted to turn around immediately and go home. But I didn't. On the flight from Miami to Quito, we sat next to an Ecuadorian woman living in New York named Liz who was traveling home for a few weeks. We talked to her in Spanish, trying to say what we could and were asking her all sorts of questions about customs, food, etc. She kept assuring us that our Spanish was strong, that we knew enough to get by and would quickly learn more. That was very helpful and made me feel a bit better, but I was still leaving everything I knew for 4 months. Our flight was delayed by like an hour because of thunderstorms and I could see really amazing lightning from the plane. Also saw one of the Caribbean islands, not sure which one.

As we were landing at around midnight, all of the lights around the city were on and it was beautiful. I tried to find my bags, go through customs as fast as I could and was greeted by my sister Macarena and my father Willie.

My host family has 4 people in it. Margarita(Mom), Willie (Dad), and sisters Ana Karina (20 years old) and Macarena (15). They live in a penthouse apartment that overlooks the whole city. Yesterday morning, I woke up and looked out my window and thought the view was cool of a little park, a school, and random buildings with both Spanish and English signs. Then I went out to the living room/dining room for breakfast and looked out that window. You can see a huge soccer field, lots of buildings, houses, apartments, gorgeous mountains, and just the city of Quito as a whole. Everything is so colorful; I don't know if any building is plain gray. They're all red, blue, yellow and many other combinations. So it's nice to eat breakfast here with that view!

Yesterday was a very busy day. I woke up, got ready, and then went with my host dad to get something that my sister forgot at a friend's house. I don't know why we went but we did and it was nice to drive around the city and see everything. Then we went to mass, 15 minutes late mind you but it wasn't a big deal. They were really happy that I'm Catholic. It's nice that everything in a Catholic mass is the same, I just don't know the songs or responses to anything. I'll learn them eventually. Then we went out to lunch with some of their friends at a Chinese restaurant and luckily there was a man there who was from the US (had the most FANTASTIC mustache by the way) but I was able to ask him questions in English so he could answer. Mostly involving what was in the food, like if there was MSG. But that's lucky I asked because on of the main things they use to make soup has mass amounts of MSG and I just don't want headaches all of the time. My one food allergy. Great.

During lunch, I could barely stay awake. After traveling from 7am-2am the day before, altitude and the constant bombardment of Spanish, my brain and body were fried. So I napped and then we went over to one of my host mom's sister's house for the night. The lady's daughter was leaving for Holland today to go to Hope College for a year! I told her to definitely go to Lake Michigan as often as possible and she seems like she'll like it there. Also last night there were 3 other girls who are exchange students, two live really close to me and are my host mom's sisters and the other lives at the house we went to. All were very nice and I'm sure I'll be spending time with them a lot.

One thing that I'm surprisingly okay with is the greetings. Kiss on the cheek to EVERY SINGLE PERSON wherever you go in a social setting.

Okay, now I'm going to the bank to do something involving my passport and registering me in the country. I have lots more to say but have 4 months to do so. Hope all is well and I'll update soon!

Chao!

Just went to some random place, don't really know what just happened, with a copy of my passport and $10 and went to a bank with my host mom's sisters and Whitney and Valerie (Two of the girls I met last night) and then we got KFC which was delicious! I just started to get SO tired because of the altitude. So I'm gonna take a nap now!

I have lots of cultural differences I've seen but will talk about those later.

Chao

I leave tomorrow. Filled with lots of emotions of excitement and nerves. Lots of people have been asking me for my address so here it is:

If you want my address, let me know! I'll give it to you!

This is what I've dreamed about for years. Now it's coming true. Time for some adventures.

Testing out the Blog

I leave in 25 days for my Ecuadorian adventure. Dreams come true.