Today was our first official day of spanish classes, which meant getting up at 7, eating breakfast at 7:30, and trying to hail a cab to take us to the Experimento. We all made it there (although some of us overpaid for the cab ride) and split up into our different spanish classes. I'm in a class with five other students, and we spent the morning introducing ourselves to our teacher and reviewing some basic grammar. After that we had a 30 minute break where we ate bagels (amazing), borrowed books for our FIP projects (not so amazing), and got cell phones (super amazing)! The phones we got have all been used by previous students, so everyone had old contacts and text messages that were really funny to read.
After that we had more spanish classes, then went out to eat lunch and buy school supplies. Ecuadorians seem to have something against solid colors, because every single notebook has some sort of cartoon, design, or picture on it. So far my notebooks include: one with butterflies on the cover, one with two ladybugs that says "BZLLLLL!!!!", one with a cat that has hearts coming out of its tail that says "cat", and one with spiderman crouched in an attack pose. Please, try not to be too jealous.
Tomorrow we leave at 8 am for the Intag Cloud Forest, where we'll spend a week learning field methods in ornithology, entomology, and botany. We also spend three days in a rural homestay, which should be really interesting and (hopefully) fun! Our host mothers are all part of a women's artesania cooperative, and they make all sorts of crafts that we're going to have a chance to buy (read: everyone can expect things from here as Christmas presents.) I still have a lot of reading/packing to do, but I'm really excited to be done with orientation and starting some real adventures! We get back on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we get picked up by our homestay families, and I'll try to update before/soon after that!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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
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
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Adios Estados Unidos!
Well I leave tomorrow for Ecuador, which is both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. All my bags are packed and I'm ready to get started with my adventures! I leave tomorrow morning at 7:45, and connect in Miami. I'll be flying from Miami to Quito with a lot of other people on my program, so it will be nice to meet some people before it actually begins!
If anyone is brave enough to send me mail, my address will be:
Caroline Barr
c/o Ana de Alvear
Experimento de Convivencia Internacional
Hernando de La Cruz N31-37 y Mariana de Jesús
Quito, Ecuador
I hope to hear from everyone in the form of comments or emails (my email address is cbarr@bates.edu in case you were wondering) and I'll keep you updated on everything I'm up to!
Until next time,
Caroline
If anyone is brave enough to send me mail, my address will be:
Caroline Barr
c/o Ana de Alvear
Experimento de Convivencia Internacional
Hernando de La Cruz N31-37 y Mariana de Jesús
Quito, Ecuador
I hope to hear from everyone in the form of comments or emails (my email address is cbarr@bates.edu in case you were wondering) and I'll keep you updated on everything I'm up to!
Until next time,
Caroline
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