Ecuador!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't updated yet, my computer wouldn't connect to the wireless network in the hostel that I'm staying at, and I finally got it to connect tonight. As you may have already guessed I arrived safely in Ecuador, and I've already had a few adventures during my short time here!

Some highlights from the past 3 days:

1. Flying to Ecuador - I was on a flight from Miami to Ecuador with about 20 other SIT students, some from my program and some from another one that is also based in Quito. Those of us coming from Boston had a 4 hour layover in Miami, so we sat near the gate for our flight to Quito and slowly started collecting other students, who would come over and tentatively ask us if we were with SIT or if we were going to Ecuador. It was really fun to meet people and get to know them a little bit before actually coming.

2. Drop Off - On Monday we had orientation meetings for most of the day, but on the schedule at 11:30 it said "Drop Off" with a smiley face. Basically our program directors waited outside the hostel and told us where to walk, what bus to get on, and how long to stay on it. They wanted us to go alone, but we were allowed to go in pairs. I went with another girl named Samantha, and we had a really good time walking around, learning the bus system, and seeing the city. What I thought was going to be really scary turned out to be a lot of fun, and I feel much more comfortable in Quito as a result of it.

3. Salsa Class! - On Tuesday night after we had sat through meeting after meeting we went to a salsa class at the Experimento, which is where we have our classes during the semester. It was a lot of fun to learn the steps with everyone else, and the teachers we had were really funny and very informative!

4. Trip to Yanacocha - Today we left our hostel at 8 am to go on a trip to Yanacocha, which is a nature preserve in the Bosque Andino, or Andean forest. We broke up into the groups that we will be taking Spanish classes with and walked around with our teachers learning the names for different plants and parts of the forest. The best part of the trip was when we got to the hummingbird gardens, which are basically areas where there are 4 or 5 hummingbird feeders in the trees. There were so many different hummingbirds and it was really cool to watch them fly around and feed.

We'll be staying in the hostel for 2 more days, and on Saturday we leave for our first weeklong excursion to the Intag cloud forest. I have a lot of reading I need to do before we leave, but I'll try and update before Saturday!

Caroline