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Published: August 29th 2009
So it has been a week since I've been here and so much has happened, so many emotions have been felt. The first couple of days were kind of surreal because I couldn't believe that I was actually here. I still have days where I wake up and I can't believe that I am actually in another country. I finally got to talk to my mom which was a huge relief and made me feel a hundred times more comfortable. Now I call her so much that she says it feels like I never left.
We had orientation Monday and I met a lot of new people, but it was super long. There was this one lady who kept talking and talking and everytime you thought it was over, she started talking again. I had to catch the bus home after. The bus part was fine. They told us to be careful on the bus because pick-pocketers target "gringos". Well, I look pretty much like every body else so I don't think I'll have a problem. Anyway, finding my house was a whole different story. I get off the bus and I'm walking in the direction of my house.
I had this visual picture in my head of what everything looked like so I know I walking in the right direction. I didn't realize that I had to turn on another street to get to my street. I was lost for about 20 to 30 min before finally figured it out. I even tried asking someone but my street is a side street so the man didn't know where it was. I definitly won't be forgetting where Ilive anymore. First hurdle was crossed.
Tuesday - my birthday. I woke up and my host sster Ana gave my orange roses. They are or were gorgeous cause now they are dying. That's okay cause there are a million flower shops in this city (I'm not kidding). There was this welcome party for international students and I didn't know if I wanted to go or not but my host sister was insistant that I go cause it was my birthday. I went and I had a blast. It was definitly the best birthday I have had.
Wednesday was the first day of school and it was extremely overwhelming. I was so nerous and I was afraid to talk to anyone
for fear that they would say something that I wouldn't understand. My first class had nothing but exchange students in it and I felt a lot more comfortable. My second class got cancelled so I spent Wednesday speaking a lot of English and not enough Spanish. That's not very productive.
Thurday was a lot better. I started speaking more Spanish (even though I still haven't talked to very many ecuadorians). I spoke Spanish in class. That's a start I guess.
Friday. I have class at 11 on Fridays and I got to campus at 8:30. I am not weird. My host mom works for the university and asked if I wanted a ride. It would take me almost and hour on the bus so I said yeah. I ended up seeing my friend and we did a little exploring. We found this cute little shopping center and a bakery. Bakerys here are like flower shops - there are a million of them. And the stuff is super cheap. I brought three different pastries for $1.60. Me and my friend decided to go to movies later. What an adventure. First of all, the time here is written military style
so it is on a 24 hour schedule. Trying to figure out excatly when the movie started was weird. We get in the taxi and give him the address and he ends up getting lost and dropping us off this restaurant that was supposedly a movie theater. We walk in a it looks really high class and only four movies that we have never heard of are playing. We chose the one that was in English. It was called "Battle in Seattle". It was actually really good so it turned out to be a good night.
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