Campus Life at USFQ

This post is probably a "part 1" to many posts regarding this campus.

• Eventually I will need to take pictures, because this place is nuts. As my friend Sara described it, it literally resembles a country club. The school is about 20 years old and its a private school so everything is relatively new and super pretty. Palm trees and such everywhere.
• The buildings don't make much sense. They're all kinda interconnected and some of them (i.e. "Newton"!!!) don't have theyre own door. Basically you have to enter through another building and look at the signs on each door to see where one building stops and another one starts. Very confusing.
• The students here are RICH! Most of them at least. I feel like I'm in an episode of "The Hills" with everyone walking around with theyre Ray Ban glasses and $1000 phones (yes, one thousand dollar cell phones). They're usually super dressed up and aren't always the nicest people. So far I haven't made any Ecuadorian friends here, but one of my friends made a good point: oftentimes we international students walk around in big groups and speak English with each other, so from the Ecuadorian perspective we probably dont look too welcoming. With that in mind, I try to speak spanish more to international students, even if it is sooooo much easier to say something in english.
• Despite my lack of ecuadorian friends, I met this one girl at the bookstore. She ended up being in my political science and shes super nice! When she realized that i was at the bookstore completely lost, she asked me what I was looking for and helped me look around for it. When we couldnt find it, she asked around for me. Shes really one of the nicest people that ive met here, but i still dont know her name! Everytime she seems me she comes and talks to me though, so perhaps we'll end up being friends.
• Teachers are kind of disorganized here. For example, the last day of signing up for classes I signed up for a class called "Introduction to Ecuadorian Culture." There was one more space left online, so i registered for the class. I got to the class only for the teacher to tell me that although there was space left online, she decided last minute that she wanted a smaller class. so if she couldnt open up another section of the course, I'd be kicked out of the class. LUCKLY she was able to open up another section of the class because if not, I would have been kicked out of the class for a stupid reason, being left with only 12 hours because it was the last day or registration. VERY BAD!

But overall, I've adjusted to the school fairly well. I no longer get lost, which is nice. Also, I FINALLY registered my computer with the school so i can use the wireless (as im doing now)

Adios!

Otavalo...

...was incredible! I don't even know where to begin. The best part of it (for me) was the SHOPPING!! I bought sooooo many hand made ecuadorian clothes, jewelry, purses, etc for ridiculously cheap. I will post a few pictures on facebook sometime this week...After the big market experience we got to visit a few families. The one of the families showed us how they weave scarves. To make one particular scarf takes about two hours, and they sell these scarves for 5 bucks each, meaning that they work (on an average) for $2.50 an hour, every single day. Another family that we visited made instruments, which were also sold for relatively cheap.

Asides from the shopping and the visiting, we hiked around a lake, amidst a 3 million year old volcano (super chévere) visited a waterfall, and just basically went exploring. We were only away for 2 days, but it felt like at least a week. Its definitely a spot that I need to visit again and bring friends.

Experiences like these are quite humbling in that:

1. I experienced and viewed some of the most beautiful scenes of nature that I've ever seen in my life. Coming from Chicago and seeing so much nature was something completely new for me. I literally felt as if I were a part of God's painting, with every mountain, lake, and volcano placed perfectly where it should be. Going back to the concrete jungle (chicago) will be a huge culture shock.
2. Going to the market and purchasing so many beautiful handmade items, then watching people as they work so hard to make these items so i can go back to the States and look fly makes me super appreciative about everything I have going on in my life. Oftentimes I find myself complaining about silly things like how much I'm tired of school but when I see these people work so hard for so little money to make things that make me look fly, I'm super appreciative of what I have. Wearing my new purchases will remind me of the constant luxury I have of simply being able to come to this country to buy and wear these things to look nice, study, and go back to the States, instead of spending the rest of my life working so hard to make these things. I really have it quite easy with no reason to complain or whine. And I thank God for that.

Hasta luego

Just when I thought I was pretty much all settled...

What a week!

Coming into Ecuador, I was totally confident in all of my classes. I pretty much ignored almost every thing that U of I explained to us about switching classes because I figured that I would love all of mine. Wrong.

Today (friday) is the last day to switch classes here and I´ve been in and out of different classes all week!! I switched around ALL of my classes except french (cuz its super easy and i love it) and advanced spanish conversation (because i wanted to drop to intermediate conversation but it conflicted with french, and theres noooo way im giving up that class so i guess ill just have to step my conversation game up.)

My New Classes:

• Temas de Latinoamerica or ¨Latin American Themes¨ ( a political science class which a bunch of international students are in. I plan to use this as an area study for my major)
• Cultura Ecuadoriana (a Spanish conversation class that focuses on Ecuadorian Culture. I also plan to use this as an area study for my major. I was almost kicked out of this class because even though i was able to sign up for it online, the professor decided that she wanted a smaller class and since i was the last one to sign up, she initially told me that i couldn´t come back. luckly she opened up an earlier section and i get to stay in the one i chose, yay!!)
• Norte y Sur: Procesos de Colonialismo or ¨North and South: Processes in Colonialism¨ (which i also plan to use as an area study as it juxtaposes colonialism in Latin America and in the US)

Taking classes in Spanish is no joke. For anyone reading this who is planning to study abroad and will take classes in the language, I would suggest:

1. Start reading books, novels, and newspapers in the language. Everyday. Listening to conversation isnt so hard and speaking isnt too bad either but the vocabulary used in written language is something one needs to get used to.
2. BUY AN ELECTRONIC DICTIONARY! I have one and its probably the smartest decision I´ve made in awhile. I bought an electronic spanish english dictionary on ebay for about 30 bux and it was totally worth it! Not only is it a spanish english dictionary but its also a regular english dictionary (because sometimes I look up words in Spanish only to realize that I dont know them in English lol), a conjugator, a phrase book, and it has grammar games too. its a great investment.

So basically, my week was hectic because I kept switching around my classes. Not to sound like a slacker but I came to Ecuador to explore and have fun, not to sit in my room every weekend and do homework like I do at U of I. So I hope that my new classes are less time consuming.

This weekend my group is going to Otavalo (click it!!) and I´m so excited!! Basically its an indigenous town with a huge market, and I plan on buying lots!!

So in terms of adjusting, I´m still in the process. The altitude is still a bit difficult in the mornings and as I´m walking around for awhile, but I think its getting better. I haven´t gotten sick or robbed and I pray to God that it stays this way!!

In terms of life outside of school, today I start my volunteer project. I will be teaching a beginners english class to students in my village every monday, wednesday, and friday. Ive met alot of the kids already and their really sweet but super wild, so Im sure Ill have lots of stories to tell. I also signed up to be a conversation partner with an indigenous student at my university, meaning that they will help me with my spanish and i will help them with their english. i cant wait to use this experience to learn more about the culture and things to do in ecuador besides going clubbing (which i still havent done yet, because no matter what country i go to i dont think itll really be my thing. but ill be sure to check it out soon.)

Long story short, I´m still doing well. Safe and sound and trying to get adjusted and organized still. With my classes all settled my next goal will to create a relatively strict weekly schedule and budget. One I have everything in order, Ill be completely relaxed.

A couple weeks ago I posted my goals for the next two weeks. They were:

• learn my way around lumbisí and be able to go shopping there. (ACCOMPLISHED)
  
• feel comfortable on the bus (ACCOMPLISHED)
  
• learn my way around this crazy universidad (ACCOMPLISHED)
  
• keep God at the center of this trip! (ACCOMPLISHED, so far)

So for the next couple weeks:

• Spend a day/night in Quito with new friends.
• Create a weekly schedule and budget.
• do at least one unplanned thing per week (as I am a huge schedule FREAK and am very bad at being spontaneous!)
  
• Bring my laptop to school so i can set up wireless so i can finally start skyping!
• continue to keep God at the center of this trip.

Adios!!

la negra mala

the other day we went to historic quito and came across a restaurant with the name "la negra mala" which roughly translates to "the bad black girl". things like that are completely politically correct here. one of the students in my group talked about how she met an afroecuadorian who couldnt get into a couple (very few, but still) of the clubs in quito because they dont let black people in. as much as we talk about racism in the united states its soooo much more prominent in other places.

how do i feel about it? it basically just makes me shake my head and pray for the people who think that these things are okay. one of the reasons why i wanted to come here was to be a cultural ambassador for my race, to prove to ecuadorians who may harness negative ideas about black people that were not so bad lol. many of us are pretty smart and are are actually pretty successful. by getting more involved in the community i hope to break some of these stereotypes. im quite excited to see what happens.

as for everything else, i think im adjusting quite well! i know exactly where all my classes are and my spanish has been good enough to discuss societal issues in the united states with my host mother, as well as hold pretty intelligent conversations with people in lumbisi. i feel very comfortable taking the bus to and from school and going shopping in lumbisi. great success!! thank you to all of you who have kept me in your prayers! i know that ive only been here a week but it seriously feels like a lifetime. so far im loving every second of it.

number of pictures that ive taken so far: 1. sorry guys lol. but luckly im facebook friends with alot of my group so ill just steal their pictures lol. hasta luego!

FIRST FEW DAYS IN ECUADOR

right now im at the university. i just finished my first couple classes and im kinda scared to go home because i havent taken the bus by myself yet so im prolonging it as much as possible lol.

quick tidbits about my ecua life so far:

• flying into ecuador was great. almost half of the people on the plane were international students so it was super fun. i met a girl who was estadounidense (a person from the united states, as ecuador is in south america so they are americans too) but she spoke fluent spanish so she helped me out a bit at the airport when we thought our luggage was lost (it wasnt. it was just all over the place. oh ecuador)
• my host family is great! my siblings are super cute and i love watching cartoons with them (especially bob esponga, or spongebob in english lol)
• living in lumbisí is also awesome. everyone in the community is super friendly and i live down the street from the bus stop
• my spanish sucks right now and im getting confused with things that i definitely know, but i think its just nerves, because when i talk with ppl my age or younger im usually fine. yet when i talk to my host mom, i cant ever find the words to say.
  
• taking classes in spanish is nuts but i love it (so far). unlike other spanish incidences when people just tend to switch to english because im estadounidense, my professors just speak spanish so im really forced to get better.
• its alot of fun being an international student. the ppl on my trip are pretty cool. i haven got to know them very well but ive gotten to know alot of other international students so im pretty geeked. i finally know how the koreans at u of i feel. theyre always speaking korean with each other and low key it was kinda annoying to me because they seemed unapproachable but i find myself speaking mostly english with the other international students here out of ease. im trying to break this habit but sometimes it just feels good to speak whats familiar.
  
• there are more black ppl in ecuador then i thought! i stopped counting after i saw 10 the first day lol. being black in ecuador is interesting because i thought id stand out alot but honestly, i dont think people realize that im estadounidense until i open my mouth and attempt to speak spanish, then they stare. for the most part if im walking around lumbisí i think they just assume im a black ecuadorian, because they look at me and greet me like they do everyone else.
• the altitude here is...interesting. its not as bad as i imagined but i definitely dropped my capoeira class because i get tired from walking, let alone doing martial arts! oh well. at least my days end early on monday and wednesday. i plan on using this new time for volunteering in the community!!!
• this campus is wild!!! since its only 20 years old its sooooo pretty. its significantly smaller than u of i but its more confusing because all of the buildings are kinda connected. i had a class in one building that you could only access through another building; it didnt have its own entrance.
• ive taken zero pictures so far. sorry guys. ill try to get on it.
  

the next posts wont be so vague, im just in a hurry. but overall ecuador is great! its definitely a challenge, and i admit, i didnt really know what i was getting myself into. i signed up for everything and thought about it logistically but definitely not emotionally. i never thought id say this, but im homesick! i definitely miss my friends and family but all of that is expected, i guess.

goals for the next two weeks:

• learn my way around lumbisí and be able to go shopping there.
• feel comfortable on the bus
• learn my way around this crazy universidad
• keep God at the center of this trip!

hasta luego!