SIT?

My flight to Quito, although a little delayed, went smoothly and I am now safely in Ecuador.

This morning we drove out to a small town called San Antonio, which has a population of about 23,000. We are staying in a small hotel and basically have the place to ourselves. While we are out here we are going through orientation, which includes everything from getting to know everyone in the group to health and safety.

Before I go any farther, though, you are probably all wondering who I am refering to when I say 'we'. I am down here in Ecaudor through an organization called SIT, the School of International Training, with 22 other American students. SIT has been running this program in Ecuador, which is technically known as 'Ecuador: Culture and Development', for 17 years. For the first month we will be taking an intensive Spanish course - and I really do mean intensive. Our Spanish classes will run from 8 AM to 1 PM every weekday. For the second month we will spend more of our class time learing about the culture, politics, etc. of Ecuador. Finally, for the thrid month we will conduct independent research assignments. While we take these classes we will experience two different homestays, one in Quito and one in a smaller town outside of Quito. We will also have a trip to a canopy rainforest, the coast and finally the Amazon. So, the whole idea is that we will attend class and go on trips as a group, but also experience Ecuador on our own through our homestays and the ISP.

Today we were sent out in groups with specific places around the city that we had to find and then learn about. My group was tasked with finding the 'sub centro comercial de salud' (the local clinic). We finally found it.... After the fourth time we asked for directions. Inside we got a small snapshot of the health infrastructure and the health problems of the surrounding area. Little did we know, all health care in Ecuador is completely free of charge. This has been a law for quite some time, but was not put into practice until the Rafeal Correa, the current president, came to power. Also, think Swine Flu is a big deal in the States? People are crazy about it down here and the government takes every case extremely seriously.


Also, as I find out interesting, funny, strange or other facts about things in Ecuador I'll just include them at the bottom of these posts.

Fact 1: According to Ecuadorian customs it is illegal for an individual to bring in more than three household appliances (toasters, etc.) without paying duty. I wonder if they have people going through the airport with more than 3 toasters often...

Fact 2: Although the Sacagawea $1 coin is mostly shunned in the United States, it is loved down here in Ecuador. Many of the locals much prefer dealing with coins rather than bills. As a result, you can find a ton of the coins in use down here, even though it seems extremely difficult to find them in the Sates.

Packing

For those of you who don't know, tomorrow I leave for my semester abroad in Ecuador and will be there through December 12. The program I am in is through SIT, the School of International Training, and focuses on culture and development in the country. For most of the time I'll be staying with a family in Quito while I take classes, but we will also have short trips to the coast and a canopy rainforest. On this blog I'll be posting stories, facts, pictures and other pieces of information from my adventures.

These last couple of days have been chaos. Not only have I had to pack the items I will need while I am in Ecuador, but we had to pack up all of our belongings from "the hole in the wall" (our endearing term for the apartment we are currently renting in Washington DC) since tomorrow is the last day we can call 'the hole in the wall' "home". So, we have been making frantic runs to storage and I have been cursing myself every time I realize the item I need is either in Dubai (my digital camera - Don't worry though, I'm borrowing my dad's), Richmond (camping gear that I forget to pick up on the three separate occasions I was down there) or even Florida (my day pack).

With a whole 9 hours to spare, though, things are calming down and I am finally starting to believe I am actually ready to go get on a plane headed to a continent I have never set foot on before. Tomorrow my semester and my adventure begin.