Becoming "Orientated"

Hola a todos from the land of 9,000 ft!

This is the first moment since arriving where I have had sufficient time and energy to attempt a blog post! I feel like HECUA is using this orientation week to see just how much we can take as a group and individually. All of the activities and meetings planned are a necessary part of the process, and sometimes very entertaining, but these days are full and leave me dog-tired at the end of each day.

To recapture my firsts moments of this semester abroad, I will start by saying that all went well on Wednesday (my day of travel). We experienced minor delays in Miami due to a paperwork issue--? I seem to be jinxed as far as delays on American Airlines goes. I traveled with five other people from the program and we all arrived in one piece. My best and favorite story of the day is the fact that I surprisingly ran into my friend Jim from PA, who was waiting for his flight to Nicaragua. Jim is a friend from my summers at Children's Haven International. I knew that he was leaving the country around the same time as me; we had even agreed to be pen-pals for the semester, but to run into him face to face completely out of the blue was so so awesome. We even took a picture in the middle of the airport (a little self-photography if you will...) just to prove this meeting to those who know the both of us :-)

Back to Quito-

I arrived after sunset on Wednesday evening, so I didn't get to see too much of the city that night. Members of my host family: Ximena (host mom), Leon (host dad), and Beth (daughter-in-law) were there to greet me at the airport, and after clearing it with me, we waited around for the next flight in from Miami-- their oldest son (Beth's husband, Santiago) was arriving from a summer working in New York. We sat at a little airport café and chatted a little bit, as I forced my ears and mind to readjust to the Spanish all around me. Thankfully- my language from the summer has come back quickly, and I can already see that my attitude towards really learning and comprehending is already different. In the past few days I have learned that every member of my family speaks English- fluently. As little as a few weeks ago, this fact would have caused me to become very flustered around them while speaking Spanish. My bilingual friends should be able to attest to that. It's so awesome to really feel like I have a hold on this language, and I'm so excited to see where I can go with it this semester.

Before I left, many friends warned me that I was going to fall in love with Ecuador. One thing I can say right now, is that I am in love with how absolutely beautiful this country is. I have yet to take a decent photo of the view outside of my bedroom- but hopefully this photo from our trip to La Pasochoa (a wildlife reserve and hiking area) can give you some idea.


I am completely enraptured by the mountains, being a small-town girl from MN- living in the Andes is pretty darn sweet. The altitude has taken some getting used to. When coming from class we go by bus and then I, along with some others, walk about a 1/2 mile uphill, and then up about 50-70 steps (I'll count them tomorrow). My room is located on the 6th floor of my house (this house redefines the term 'split-level'), so after all of this everyday I am out of breath and muttering about how I better be in such good shape by December! I guess we'll see right? It does get easier every day, and without all that effort, I would never get to see those beautiful views.

Well I will need to call it a night... Tomorrow we are biking around Old Town Quito, gotta get some sleep!

Chau

Eliza