Today was the first day of class. It's a pretty early class (8:30 - 11:30am MWF, 9:00 - 12:00pm TuTh) but the teacher is going to break it up a bit. The class is called Tropical Ecology, and is taught by Andrea Encalada. She seems like a cool person and I hope everything goes smoothly - it's going to be intense taking an entire course in just 3 weeks. A lot of the topics we are going to talk about are things that I just learned this spring in Ecology at MSU, so hopefully that will be me ahead of the game. After class got out some of us just hung out on the lawn until it was time for lunch - we can go to lunch from 12 - 1:30pm, but of course we were all hungry right at 12. I saw Vatsal and the KZoo kids at lunch too and talked to him for a bit. Unfortunately I never ran into Mallory...
USFQ Campus
When we finished lunch, most of us headed back out to the lawn to lay on the grass by the lagoon. (Yes, there is a lagoon with a waterfall on campus. And lots of flowers and palm trees). The Politics and Marine groups headed back to class around 1:30, and our bus back to the hotel picked us up at 2pm. I tried to do some of my reading, but I fell asleep. At 4pm, Lianne, Lindsey, and I went to the mall to do some errands. I got a water bottle (after looking 123123 places) and Lindsey and I both got cell phones. I also picked up some Nestle Chocolate milk cartons for 63 cents apiece since milk is a rare comodity here.
Back at the hotel it was time for dinner, and then lots of homework (mainly reading). Hopefully the homework won't start to pile up too quickly!!!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Today I woke up not feeling so well. I forced down some bread at breakfast and went to school feeling sick, more than likely due to the bumpy bus ride. Class was more interesting today I thought, and it was over material I learned in ecology this past spring. Unfortunatly, by the end of class my body was aching so badly I felt like I had 10 broken bones. The tylenol I took helped for a while, but I had no appetite for lunch so I just ate some rice. After lunch, I headed to the library and pumped out my paper on the waved albatross.
Then I headed out to the lawn to do my enourmous amount of reading. It was nice and sunny, and I found a seat at a table in the shade. It took me an hour and a half, but I completed Reading #1, which was probably the most irrelevant article ever. By that time I was aching again so I popped some Aleve (yes, I am a drug addict). The photography students got out of class and joined me by the pond, some taking pictures, others just relaxing. Finally it was time for the bus ride home. After 8 hours on campus I was ready to go. Of course traffic was awful so it took us more than 40 minutes to get back. Around 6:30 we went down to dinner and I finally ate something, although now I am regretting it...
My reading is all done, as is my paper (somehow I am ahead of a lot of my class; I didn't procrastinate for once!), so we are planning on going salsa dancing tonight. Hopefully that will make me feel better, though I plan on regretting it tomorrow when I am tired. Oh well, after class tomorrow I can come home and nap because it's the weekend! Happy salsa dancing from Quito!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Last night was amazing! We went to a club with Annie, one of the Ecuadorian girls in the GAIAS program. It played tons of music for dancing and was just amazing. The club, Seseribo, has been open for 25 years, and most clubs in Quito last for about 6 months! When we left for the club it was really foggy, and when the taxi dropped us off we weren't really sure where we were going. Some people had just pulled up out front and one of the guys spoke english and asked where we were going. I told him "Seseribo", and low and behold they were going their too. So we all went in together. It's a pretty sweet set-up and plays GREAT salsa music. I know my sister Jenn would be completely jealous :). They also have the best mojito's around according to Annie, so I got a couple, and they really were amazing. All the time people were dancing and getting sweaty and just having a ball. Jon, who is a swing dancer back home, picked up the salsa really well and was tons of fun to dance with. Then the guy who helped us find the place asked me to dance. Turns out he is from the states, California to be exact, and has been living here for just over 2 months. He was a good dancer and showed me some moves even though I kinda stunk. Basically, it was just a good time, and everyone was really friendly and it didn't really matter if you stunk because people were just focused on their own dancing. I cannot wait to go out again!
Being out late meant I was really tired for class today, but it was totally worth it. As interesting as class was, most of the students were getting droopy-eyed because of our late night dancing. Not to mention my teacher has issues when it comes to time perception, because the movie that we were supposed to watch we didn't even start until class was supposed to be over. Those of us that could stay did, and what she thought was a 30 minute video turned out to be 60...so an hour after class ended we were finally done. Then it was lunch and a short talk about our field trips coming up to Tiputini and Riobamba. Back at the hotel I took a nap, then went to the mall to check out my phone status and get some stuff for the amazon. Tonight will be spent relaxing inside so my haggeling skills are at their best for tomorrow when we go to Otavalo. Buenas Noches mis amigos!
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