Sbarro...a cultural experience

before I blog about my day...i forgot to add an important DISLIKE to my last post...

• I VERY MUCH DISLIKE the altitude here! i thought it wouldn't be a problem but little did i know that "Ecuador is home to some of the highest volcanoes and mountain peaks in the world. Quito, Ecuador's capital, is nestled in a long narrow valley between the lush hilly base of the Volcano Pichincha to the west and the precipitous canyon of the river Machángara to the east, and sits at 9,500 feet, (3,000m). Someone flying to Quito from New York City, for example, experiences an elevation change of nearly two miles in a little more than 6 hours." (http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/) And let me tell you-especially after my first aerobic class-its a BIG problem....along with me being extremely out of shape on top of it lol but day by day little by little the collinas (hills) are getting a little easier and when i say hills think like the steep hills in san fransico-yea its not pretty

so those are my likes and dislikes however im sure i will add more as my time here progresses. As for now.....

After an amazing and yet exahausting weekend;Friday a group of people from my program went out to eat at-don't judge me-at Chili's where i dogged down some cajun alfredo pasta lol I had a weak moment ok??! lol, and then Saturday our program took us on a tour of churches and museums and monuments of Historic Quito The sights were breathtaking! and one day wasn't nearly enough so i cant wait to go back sometime, and then sunday is when salome and edwin's family comes over for a big lunch and then me an sophie went to go see avitar in quito in spanish-but the spanish version was sold out so we settled for spanish subtitles but since we had two hours to kill since we had to wait for the next movie we decided to go to the mall and meet up with aaron and rafa (2 of my good friends i met through sophie who are also studying here for a whole year) let me say I will not be shopping at that mall anytime soon-$$$$$$$$ and then I have another confession-and it is all aaron's fault btw-when deciding where we wanted to quick eat for dinner before the movie-we decided the food court would be fast-little did i know that it was all american food-and mind you I just had chili's!!!-but Aaron convinced me that Sbarro was a necessary cultural experience of Ecuador hahaha so needless to say I ate a big tasty cheese pizza lol But I do admit Leni's (our maid/cook) makes way better meals!!!! anyways thats what I've been doing

Last night I had my first meltdown (i made it a week lol) I was just frustrated with my classes and not knowing whats going on and missing home a little bit and overwhelmed with this whole adjusting to a completely different language, culture and schedule and life in general. but honestly i got to remember i cant learn an entire language in a week-i'd like to but i can't. : ) but thanks to everyone from back home-my awesome friends, supporting and loving family and of course my amazing boyfriend I realize I just need to take a breather, relax and enjoy it. I found a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson and it says:

"People are always getting ready to live but never living."

This is kinda like my predicament with this trip. I spent all semester planning, and preparing, and packing and panicking and priding myself over this grand trip-this trip of a life time. the trip my boyfriend put simply, "Something that only comes along once."

And now I am here......and quite frankly all that is running through my head is...now what??? lol

I'm not going to lie its overwhelming. I know, and I am not too proud to say that I hardly ever have my crap together. I'd lose my head sometimes if it wasn't connected lol so trying to settle in and get my life together IN SPANISH and in a foreign country isn't the easiest thing I have ever done to say the least. But you know what, I'm excited. After I catch up on my sleep (I blame the altitude again) and get situated and get used to my new schedule I think I'm never going to have a boring moment-and I'm sooo excited. Since I like lists...lol here are some lists which I mapped out with two of my great friends here-molly and sarah-for lunch at "Fusione"-I think the name was which was an ecuadorian cuizine (complete with what else other then chicken rice and some unknown vegtable that wasn't so good lol) (oh-and fruit juice of course)

To do:

1. get my censo (kina like an ecuadorian license)


2. get a dumb phone which I still dont have (thank god for wireless)


3. and finalize my class schedule (i've made a lot of changes bc they weren't what I had expected) I definitely need to get out of "vacation mode" and back into "school mode" which is kinda hard to do since I am in a beautiful exotic country where its sunny all the time. I wish i could take the study out of study abroad lol BUT..i can't lol so here are my classes (my new and improved schedule):

• Photography for communication (digital photography)


• Inro to Ecuadorian Culture


• International Organizations (my only class in ENGLISH!!!!)


• Aerobics : ) -love it!


• Tejido-which is WEAVING haha


• and the Events and Protocol -I'm hoping this class works out-I'll tell you more about it later if it does.

Things I want to accomplish while in Ecuador:

• Go mountain biking (hopefully with my dad who booked his plane ticket to come see meeee!!!!! he's coming April 1st for a week when we have spring break here!!!!!)


• Learn how to Salsa-or at least try


• Have a "convo" partner-a club at USFQ where a native spanish speaker is paired up with an exchange student and he/she would help me with spanish and I would help him/her with english


• I'm looking to somewhere in my free time do a little volunteering hours at a medical clinic here in Cumbaya


• make an american meal for my family (any suggestions???????)


• buy an ecuadorian cookbook and learn to cook an ecuadorian meal-or maybe I should just watch leni?


• play tennis


• get a topseller book in spanish-and read it


• Be more healthy-its definitely easier here (aka drink more water, better meals, run, etc)


• Keep up with my blog


• see Ecuador-the oriente (rainforest, the beach, the andes, and the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!)


• Do something that I'd be scared of doing


• make an ecuadorian friend(s)


• take pics


• oh...and LEARN SPANISH def my #1

But as I said before maybe I should stop planning and start doing : )