Tropical adventure!

So it's been a little over a week that I've been here -- crazy! It feels like I've been here for a month or so b/c we have done so much! This past weekend we went to Mindo, a "rural parish" about 2 hours outside of Quito where the weather was very tropical and there were so many things to do! It is known for its ecotourism, as there is SO much natural beauty -- trees, waterfalls, butterflies, mountains, rivers, you name it. It was nice to be in such warm weather and to feel the sun, but the bugs were brutal! Even though I wore long pants & shirts for most of the time, the bugs still attacked my body. I have several battle wounds from the weekend, but we had so much fun! We went to the butterfly museum, went tubing on a crazy river, went ziplining went on many hikes, explored the waterfalls, ate delicious food, and slept in gorgeous cabins in the middle of a jungle-like environment. Here are some highlights from the trip:

This is the river that we had to cross every time we left our cabins!

This is where we ate all of our meals -- muy bonito!

These are my friends Casey and Maggie -- we were excited about our beautiful cabin!

We went to a maripasario (butterfly farm) -- I found a friend!

Then we went tubing on this crazy river -- it was pretty scary but fun!

Then we went zip-lining and this is our battle wounds (we hit our heads on the cable) - ouch!

Then we went on a strenuous hike up a mountain to check out some waterfalls!

Swimming in the waterfalls!

Although the weather was tropical and wonderful, the bugs definitely got me! OUCH!

So I was pretty excited about my community service project that I was originally assigned: I was going to work at a school outside of Quito that is exclusively for indigenous children, teaching music and chorus. However, apparently this school already has enough volunteers/interns so my program is trying to find me another assignment. I hope my second assignment will be as exciting as the first. I'm looking forward to serving my community here.

As for classes, I'm pretty sure I will be taking the following:

(1) Curso principal -- this is the main course that is required for each student in our program. We will be learning about Ecuador and the indigenous populations here and things like that.

(2) Populism and Neo-Populism in Latin America -- this is the intense class that I will be taking at a graduate school here, and it meets for 6 hours each week! It's going to be a challenge, but hopefully it will be interesting and enlightening.

(3) Social Psych -- I'm taking this at a local undergrad university here, b/c I'm obviously interested in it :) I'm looking forward to meeting local students and seeing how university life is different here in Ecuador!

(4) Kichwa - this is the indigenous language of Ecuador (not to be confused with Quechua in Peru) -- I'm excited to learn about the language & culture. I've already learned several words in Kichwa that Ecuadorians use on a daily basis!

I think I'm experiencing some kind of culture shock, because I don't feel like myself. I have not been feeling emotions like I usually do. I don't know what to do, but I'm trying to find myself here. It's hard but I know that this takes time.

The whole language thing is tough too. I understand a lot more than I can actually say, and I often find myself not being able to express myself. I'm really hoping that my Spanish will improve tremendously -- it would feel so much better to just be able to verbalize who I am without having to think so much!

I also just discovered that it costs $2 to buy stamps to send one postcard/letter to the U.S.! That's crazy! I was thinking that I would be able to send postcards for really cheap. So I guess that means that my American friends and family should not be expecting too much mail from me -- sorry!

Well, I'm off! I hope everyone is doing well! Love from Ecuador :)

First post in Ecuador!

HOLA! So it's my third day in Quito, Ecuador but so much has already happened! It would be impossible to include everything here but I'll just give you the highlights :) So I live in this really cute apartment with my host mom, Sonia, and her 20-year old son, Juan (or Juanito, hermanito, etc.). It is small but super precious with antique furniture. I have my own room & bathroom -- definitely a great thing! Here are some pics:

               

The view outside of my bedroom window is AMAZING! I'll let these pictures speak for themselves (and yes, that is a volcano, right outside of my window):

        

So yeah, I still can't get over how amazing the view is from my own bedroom. It's also cool too that the view outside of the kitchen is SO different -- Quito looks like a big city, kind of like New York, with all of the cars whizzing by, the lights, and the buildings. It's amazing how beautiful Quito is -- who knew? And it's also equally amazing how different it looks depending on which parts of the city you're in. There are three parts (el norte, el sur, y el centro) and each part has a distinct character, but it's beautiful everywhere! The wildlife & the natural beauty just blow my mind. 

Okay so I don't even know what to talk about next, because there is so much! I guess I'll start with the basics. My program is through Duke University, and it's called Duke in the Andes (Duke en América Andina). This semester there are 9 people in the program, including me: 8 girls & 1 guy. We have an awesome director named Juan who is fantastic and there are 2 staff members who work with him who are also amazing (Wilma and Jimena). Duke has an office right in Quito, which is where we have been having our orientation. We will be taking 4 classes at 2 universities -- la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana is the undergraduate college where we will be taking 3 of our classes. It's about a 30-40 minute bus ride from my house. Speaking of buses, it only costs $0.25 to ride the bus for as long as you want -- I know, CRAZY! Everything is so cheap here, gotta love it :) But yeah, so I'm trying to learn how to navigate myself around -- it shouldn't be too hard, but it's a little intimidating at first. There are a lot of taxis so if I get lost on the bus, I can always take a taxi. They are cheap too -- the average ride is about $2-3! I'm definitely not in NYC anymore haha! We will also be taking 1 class at FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales), which is for graduate students -- that class will probably be really intense but it's supposed to be a good experience. The program also has a community service component, where each student is required to do 15 hours of service per week at whatever organization. I'm excited to figure out what my assignment will be! 

I have so many more things to say but I think that this post is long enough. I also want to go to sleep -- speaking & thinking in Spanish for the most of the day can be quite exhausting. ¡Buenas noches!