san antonio and drop-off

I´ve spent the last four days in San Antonio, a small town about 40 minutes north of Quito, at Rancho Alegre, which is a hostal that my directors of SIT, Leonore and Faba, have been coming to for years. The place was really cool. We stayed in rooms of three people and although the beds were ROCK HARD, like literally rock hard, I slept very well. We left Monday morning and drove there and then had lots and lots of scary, fun, and boring orientation sessions. The scariest was the one on male/female stereotypes and how to stay safe walking around and at parties. Some of the stories we heard were INTENSE. I know the leaders are just trying to prepare us, but they made it seem like going out would be more scary and more dangerous than just staying at home. Geez. I guess they guys constantly hit on women and drunk men are allowed to do anything they want...this shall be interesting. I guess that´s how some people see it in the states too though. Anyways, after that orientation session the girls decided the three boys are going to be our american pimps so that we do not get harassed or anything haha. We also watched an Ecuadorian film on drugs and crime in Ecuador. I guess if you get caught with drugs here you are put in jail for like THREE weeks. It´s intense. So those orientation sessions were super fun.
I did like being outside of Quito during orientation. Although it didn´t really feel like we were in Ecuador, it was nice just to be with the group, who I LOVE by the way. Everyone gets along really well and nobody is forming cliques too badly.
Today we did a ¨drop-off¨where groups of three people were assigned a town they had to go to, check out the town, and then find their way back to the Hotel Alston (where we are staying in Quito), without the help of our directors. It wasn´t too bad, especially because my group got it really easy. We had to go to Calacali, which was 25 minutes away on a direct bus. Other people had to go to quito and then go back to their towns and then come back to Quito. My town was small, but much cleaner and prettier and less dangerous than San Antonio. I swear San Antonio felt like it was constantly under construction... very odd. I have to run because we are talking to a bunch of Ecuadorian people our age to ask them questions. I have a lot too!! chao!

WE MADE IT

Jenny and I officially made it to Hotel Alston, the hotel we are stayed in last night and are staying in with our group tonight. HALLELUJIAH! It was definitely a long trip. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and stood in a super long line to check my bags. Apparently, though, I didn´t have to stand in that line becuase I was already checked in, but the guy outside said I was supposed to. Anyways, I made it to the plane, had a great flight to Atlanta (during which I mostly slept). I talked to a 60 ish year old guy from Georgia who wanted very badly to talk politics because on the plane we had TV´s and CNN announced that Biden is going to the Obama´s VP. Anyways, this guy really wanted to talk politics, so I tried to work my way out of the situation. It was interesting. Once I got to Atlanta, Jenny was waiting for me at the gate (which was SO nice of her. It´s very nice to be met with a friendly face yay). We both bought a rediculously expensive Starbucks... our last for the next four months.. so sad! Then we walked around aimlessly for awhile through the duty free store and sat around until we boarded our flight. We waited on the plane for about two hours (during which I definitely slept again haha) until they fixed the door and then took off. We got through immigration and customs fairly fast, and caught a taxi to Hotel Alston. and then we passed out. and by the way, Quito is TWO HOURS ahead of Seattle time (it took us about 20 minutes to figure that out haha). Anywho, this morning we´ve been walking around a bit, checking out the streets around our hotel. We are definitely in America-land of Quito and there are funny sayings, names of restaurants (such as Hot Dogs and Hot Karoake) , and bad American music playing everywhere. Ít´s great!! so funny. anyways, we have to get back to the hotel to meet the group. Talk soon... love, ME

Pre-Departure

I'm getting ready to go to Ecuador for 173 days (about 16 weeks), and although I still have a weak until my departure, the nerves and excitement are setting in. I've had some crazy, amazing and 'challenging' experiences during other travels to say the least, so I'm getting ready for anything and everything that can come about. I know studying abroad is supposed to be a challenge, so when I look back, I try to look positively upon the interesting home-stays... and its true, I now laugh at the crazy host-moms I had. 

I keep saying I'm going to start packing, but most likely this Thursday night will come upon me, and then I'll be FORCED to pack, and I won't finish until late Friday night when Mom and Dad are yelling at me to get some sleep before my 6AM flight. ha ha. That's how it always seems to go at least... I'm such a procrastinator. 

I'm going to try to keep a blog while I'm abroad. I know I will love it in the future if I have something to look back upon, and this way I can tell everyone at home all my stories. I probably won't update it too often (sorry, I'm just being honest..) but, I'll do my best to include "necessary information". Post back soon.

~Maddie