I Love Ecuador Already.

¡Hola a todos! 

For the academic year of 2014-2015, I will be studying abroad at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. I chose to study in Ecuador because of USFQ’s renowned reputation as one of the premier research institutions of the world. Research from USFQ has been published numerous times in National Geographic, Nature, and other reputable research journals. Ecuador is the most biodiverse country on the planet with four distinct ecosystems. I will be living with a host family and continuing to work toward my degrees in Psychology and Latin American studies. My goals are to broaden my worldview, to become bilingual, and to explore the four ecosystems Ecuador has to offer: the Andes mountains, La Costa (some of the most beautiful beaches in the world according to various sources), the Amazon Jungle, and the Galapagos Islands.

Here is a video of the sustainable tourism movement, All You Need Is Ecuador. It’s only three minutes long and shows a lot of the activities I hope to do while I’m here.

I arrived safely in Ecuador on Thursday the 21st. The three-layover journey was tedious; however, I got to eat some great Cajun food in the Houston airport and met some wonderful people on the plane ride to Quito. I sat next to two of my new friends, Geo and Jesy- they are both from Quito. Geo is an industrial engineer for GE in Houston and Jesy is an interior design student in Quito. (DISCLAIMER... I apologize if this post is a bit choppy. I have been speaking in only Spanish for the past five days and it feels pretty awkward to type in this foreign language of English. I have found that Spanish flows much more easily and the sentences are structured with more purpose, as opposed to English which is so sporadic. Perhaps this is why they say English is one of the hardest languages to learn... no sé.) Anyway, I had a long talk on the flight with Jesy and Geo about Ecuador and what to expect. Their genuine friendliness from the "get go" was uncommon in people I've met for the first time. See, wasn't that an awkward sentence? 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ecuador thus far. My host family is beyond amazing and my school has far exceeded my expectations. 

Here is a picture of the Carrillo-Galvez family I'll be living with until May. The guy in the blue shirt is their last foreign exchange student who was surprisingly from Asheville! I've never met him. They've had many over the past ten years... son profesionales!

Our house is at the base of Mount Pichincha in the urban sector of Quito called Concepcion. Here is a picture of Pichincha: 

The house has three floors and I have the third floor to myself. ¡Me gusta mucho! 

This is the view outside my bedroom window:

 This is a picture of my bedroom. It is perfect! 

Here are some pictures of the floor I live on:

Let me tell you a bit about my host family...

Pachingo, mi padre, is a doctor. He retired a few years ago, but was unsatisfied with the retired life so he went back to practicing medicine. He is so friendly- he has taken me under his wing as if I were his own son. On my second day in Quito, Pachingo and I drove around town sightseeing. We ate delicious Cuban sandwiches in a small restaurant near the Historic Center of Quito. We also ventured to the top of a mountain with a view of Cumbayá, the town that USFQ is in. We talked about life and snacked on some crunchy, salty fried beans while drinking cervezas. The beer of Ecuador is good; however, the variety is nowhere near that of Asheville's. Ecuador has primarily two types of beer- Pilsener and Club. Pilsener is almost identical to Miller Lite and Club tastes like somewhat of a cross between a Budweiser and a Heineken. Club has more flavor and body. The beers here are cheap. You can buy a 22 oz bottle of either Pilsener or Club for less than a dollar! I spent my summer working with two 6 and 10 year old kids for an awesome family, the Bakers. I’m happy to say I won’t be spending much of my money on alcohol while I'm here! Pachingo loves teaching me lessons about Ecuador. Each night after dinner, we talk for an hour or so on a different topic. One topic which resonated with me quite heavily was a discussion about the differences between environmental conservation priorities between the US and Ecuadorian government. Although there are preserves and national parks in Ecuador, the US’s demonstrated care for the preservation of it's natural beauty is evidently unparalleled. I am incredibly grateful for Pachingo's consistent words of wisdom and his help with my acclimation to Ecuador. 

Maria Sol, mi madre, is what we gringos call a “stay-at-home-mom”. She is also very friendly and has been a huge help with my Spanish. Maria Sol doesn't speak any English, so I am constantly pushed to test my speaking skills with her. About my Spanish...these past few days have taught me that my Spanish is much better than I thought! I came to Ecuador very down own myself about my Spanish speaking abilities (telling people I spoke like a 6 year old) and regretted not pushing myself harder in the first two years of Spanish at ECU. I always thought there was a fault in the foreign language education system in the States because the basic courses require hardly any speaking. Although this may be true, my two years at ECU and my classes at Carolina Day School in high school equipped me with the skills necessary to be at least competent in conversations. I seldom have problems understanding what people are saying, yet often have problems coming up with sentences on the spot. I am not too worried about this because I see my Spanish improving daily and I am sure that this won't be an issue after another week or so. 

Here is a picture of Maria Sol and I...

My siblings are also wonderful. Their names are Nicolas, Belén, and Camila and they are 27, 28, and 30, respectively. Nicolas is a production assistant for a television company that does segments such as tourism in Ecuador and promotions for other companies (kind of like the video you watched at the top of this post). I am happy to have him as my big brother for my year in Ecuador. Nicolas is a gifted guitarist and I have enjoyed playing music with him. He has a full band setup (drum set and all) and I am grateful to have a fellow musician in the house. 

 This is Nicolas' little music studio. ¡Que lindo!

Each Sunday, the city of Quito blocks off various streets for people to ride their bikes on. Nicolas and I started riding at about 10 AM and finished around 2 PM- we basically went ALL OVER Quito. This was a great experience and I will most definitely be doing this every Sunday. I attached my GoPro to the handlebars and recorded a good bit of the ride. I hope to have the video up in the next post to give you a glimpse of what Quito is like from the eyes of an insider. 

Belén is a veterinarian and she works at the local Zoo. She is very nice and has been very helpful in my acquisition of Spanish; however, she has been pretty sick for the majority of my time here so we haven't gotten to spend much time together. She has a herniated disc in her lower back, a problem I had throughout high school and my first two years of college. My pain wasn’t improved until I began performing Egoscue exercises. Pete Egoscue, a pain specialist in California, has a philosophy of regaining health through motion. He claims that all pain is due to dysfunctions in our bodies which result from a lack of movement. His book, The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion changed the way I see chronic pain. Chronic pain doesn’t need to be chronic and just about anyone can alleviate their pain and literally cure themselves through his motion exercises. Myself and thousands of others are testaments to the effectiveness of his method and if any of you have any chronic pain I strongly recommend that you read this book. Belén came home from the hospital today with the diagnosis that she needs back surgery. Back surgery is incredibly risky and is seldom effective; I gave her the book to help her with her decision. Sorry for the digression… My other sister, Camila, is also awesome. She is a lawyer for a private firm and works A LOT. I have definitely assigned Camila to the big sister role. She reminds me a lot of a girl I worked with in Colorado, Chelsea Jackson, in the sense that she is very big-sisterly and jokes with me a lot. Her English is probably the best out of the three siblings and she helps define new words for me in conversations. ¡Me gustan mis hermanos mucho!

We also have 8 PETS! Jodi, a Saint Bernard, is muy loco. He is actually one of the craziest dogs I've ever met, but I love chasing/running from him. He is very friendly and a lot of fun to mess with. Maxi, is a MASSIVE yellow lab. He's one of the most kind hearted dogs in the world, but has a crazy streak to him too. Probably from growing up with Jodi. We have 4 cats: Nachito, Izidoro, something else, and something else (I forgot their names because I've never seen them). We also have two turtles. 

Here is a picture of Jodi attacking me in one of his favorite spots. You can imagine the adrenaline created by having to dodge and duck Jodi's attacks...

The food here is absolutely delicious. The family’s maid, Rita, is one of the best cooks I have ever known. She cooks something new and interesting to me each day and I am incredibly grateful to have domestic help in the house. I have never had a maid, as most kids in the US, so I was SHOCKED when I walked upstairs after orientation today and my room was SPOTLESS!!! ¡Que lindo! Pachingo is also a great cook. Yesterday he made these steak tenderloins with rice, tomatoes and some sauce he created. Fue muy delicioso. Tonight, Pachingo surprised me. As I was typing this up, he said "Vas a comer! Ven aqui!" Which directly translates to "You're going to eat! Come here!" A growing boy such as myself can only love to hear that sentence. He cooked a dish which is special to Ecuador called verde something (I forgot the name) with fried chicken- it was great! Here is a picture...

  and here is a picture of a typical breakfast:

(fresh papaya, mandarins, bananas, blackberries, a croissant, and cheese)

That reminds me...today was orientation at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. USFQ has been ranked the top university in Ecuador multiple times and today I was shown why. The classes and experiences USFQ offers are equal to that of ECU's or any other university in the States for that matter. I learned about safety and security in Quito as well as various aspects of the school and campus life. It was similar to my orientation at ECU, but I valued it a little bit more because I am so enamored by this experience. I was also introduced to my "Ecuabuddie", Ana. Ana is a 22 year old graphic design major and she is one of the nicest people I've ever met. It was a lot of fun to bounce back and forth between English and Spanish in our conversation. My goal of becoming bilingual was definitely validated! Tomorrow, I am going on a tour of the city with the school and I start classes on Wednesday. 

My courses this semester will be:

Process Philosophy 

Seminar on the Psychology of Religion

Introduction to Ecuadorian Culture 

Intermediate Spanish Conversation 

Introduction to International Relations 

Kundalini Yoga 

Weight Training 

If you've made it this far, I am very grateful. I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, but it was necessary because this is my first one and I had a LOT to say. I promise my subsequent posts won't be anywhere near this long. 

 ¡Saludos y muchas gracias amigos!