Mis Primeras Dias en Ecuador

Bueno....

I am pretty sure that more things have happened and I have gone through more changes in the past 72 hours than in my whole vida. : ) Sorry I haven't been doing a very good job keeping up with the blog but I have been so busy settling in with my new familia afitriona (host family), learning how to get around Quito, setting up my classes, and simply figuring out how to have a simple conversation! lol my head hurts sometimes-my "family" says its the altitude but i'm pretty sure it just hurts from thinking all the time to speak and understand spanish-and i mean ALL THE TIME i get tripped up saying the simplist things such as "I'm going to go to bed." and nothing is better than saying something to someone and they look at you like you have lobsters coming out of your ears : ) but it is only my first 3 days-and I have already picked up on a ton. That is the best thing I can probably say right now is that I now truly believe that at the end of this semester, when I return home in May, I will know Spanish. There is no way that I won't be able to-I am completely immersed in the language and the cultura ecuatoriana-and so far I have loved it!!!!

My experience didn't start off so hot right away-i actually was petrified when I got off the plane in Quito and went through customs, got my luggage-and then through the door were tons of people lined up holding up signs with names on them...I had no idea where to even look and I finally realized what I had gotten myself into (for awhile it kinda felt like i was just leavin for a vacation lol) but it hit me-like a ton of bricks
and then to make things better-the guy holding my sign was a guy the same age as me the sign was scribbled "lauren winters illinois" I had know idea who this guy was...and then as i stumbled over with my 3 bags of luggage I was quickly reminded of the ecuadorian culture of kissing (when you say hello or goodbye you ALWAYS give a kiss on the right cheek) and then the stranger proceeded to talk very fluent and fast spanish-and i was dumbstruck
all I could get out of his words was "your host family isn't here."
WHAT???!!?
and then after repeating himself mas despacio (slower) many times I understood that my family was just returning from a trip in the galapagos and that I was going to have to stay with another host family who was already hosting an exchange student just for the night. And he was Maria's son (maria is the director/coordinator of our program)....so I had a slight panic attack when I got in the car and there were huge mountains all around and he was speaking nothing but spanish to me and I quite frankly had no clue where I was headed....definitely NOT in kansas anymore

after about a 1/2 an hour drive-the roads here are like roller coasters-(the whole city is built on top of the mountains) i arrived in the suburb of cumbaya and was greeted by a very nice couple (probably in their 50s) They invited me in and I sat and talked to them with their current exchange student from the states-i dont know how i did it but i did a pretty good job of pulling spanish out of my a** : )

there is so much more to say i don't even know where to start but to sum up what happened with my host family is that for some rare and odd reason that I dont know- my family that I was assigned to live with didn't show up. It was Monday and they still coudn't reach them And instead of assigning me to another host family-I get to stay and live with Salome and Edwin and the other exchange student, Sophie! and I couldn't be more lucky! I get the best of both worlds because I get to live with a couple (who are unbelievably caring and nice) whose kids are all grown up and moved out of the house which allows me to get more practice speaking spanish with them. And also I still get to be in a house with kids (sometimes) because Salome and Edwin are grandparents and have the most adorable ninitos (grandchildren) even on top of that Sophie, my "sister," is studying abroad in ecuador for a whole year and has already been here for 5 months and her spanish is amazing!!! so she helps me out a lot with my spanish and showing me the ropes.....not to mention....

• i get to live in my own guest house-it is literally 2 feet away from the main house and is complete with 2 rooms, 2 beds, and a bathroom with a shower-its nice to have my own privacy at the end of the day


• their house is in a walking distance from USFQ (the university)


• they have puppy dogs : ) they are two golden retrievers and their names are Frodo and Martina lol


• and i am extremely spoiled because they have a maid that comes every weekday (my mom told me not to get used to it lol)

so needless to say I am very happy-and safe (I live in a gated community-and cumbaya is very safe compared to the city) I have a lot more to say about my experiences thus far but I have to got to bed because classes start tomorrow! : / my classes are

• introduction to ecuadorian culture


• intro. to international relations


• Photography


• cullinary techniques I (lol)


• crisis communication


• and aerobics hahahahaha

I am very excited becuase if these classes work out (meaning if I don't change anything) then I won't have classes on Friday! i would love to have a day off to catch up on my sleep because I am quickly realizing Ecuador has way way too many things to do and see and there isn't enough time in the day to do it.