One two three four

Hola a todos y todas :)

My last entry was not as in-touch with my life as some of you might have liked. That sounded super vain, but I know that many of you choose to read this to find out what the heck I'm doing in South America. For this reason, I will give you a school-related update. :)

I am taking four classes, just like I would at Elmhurst. I scheduled it so they would be only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. International students can't take classes that end after 6 because most of us have at least a 20 minute commute by bus (an hour in my case) with some walking as well and it isn't exactly the safest thing for us to be doing after dark.

Class #1: Introduction to Ecuadorian Culture

My earliest class at 8:30-9:55 is getting off to a slow start. We met the first day of classes with Cristina, but she has had some health issues preventing her from teaching our class consistently. Thus, class had been cancelled until today with our new professor. She had us chatting with each other and going over local Ecuadorian vocabulary. I really like that. It's neat, also, to see how much slang comes from Quechua. This class doesn't seem really challenging yet, so we'll see how the course evolves!

Class #2: Intermediate Conversation

I think I am going to really enjoy this course. It meets right after Culture, so I think it will be a nice pick-me-up. My professor is really dynamic and engaging. Today is the first day it met, so we're just getting started. Tuesdays are individual presentations. Guess who volunteered to go first? This kid. I figured I should get it out of the way now so I don't need to worry about it when I have volunteer hours to fill (see class #4). I have to choose an article, find 12-15 new vocabulary words, making a vocab sheet for the class with the definitions/synonyms, present the article to the class and use those vocab words, then create 3 open ended questions to spur class discussion. Thursdays are pair presentations following a very similar format. We also got a HUGE packet of what our professor described as vocab that English speakers almost always struggle with when learning Spanish. I look forward to mastering that list.

Class #3: History and Theory of Photography

Well, I had started in a drawing class. After a series of unfortunate events (teehee), I decided to drop that course. I am currently pleased with that decision. I signed up for this class because I believe it will still fulfill my Fine Arts general education requirement at Elmhurst. (It better!) I missed the first two classes but I am confident that I will still be successful. And it requires no artistic skill, thank goodness.

Class #4: Anthropology 316

This course has a really long title and I don't remember it. It's the course only IPSL students can take. There are 5 students who are doing their service placement in the Galapagos Islands and two of us in Quito. We meet sporadically to discuss readings about community development, volunteerism and such things. With this course, I'll be placed in a service agency in Quito where I will complete 200 hours of work with it. I'm nervous and excited. If I understand correctly, we'll be finding out our sites in a couple weeks after we do some visits. I'm pretty open to anything but I'd really like to not teach English to little children. *insert rant about education faults* :P

So those are my classes! Other things I have since done at school include:

-asked where the photo books are in the library

-found the photo books

-checked out a book from the library

-ate in the cafeteria (mushrooms, what?)

-gotten money from the ATM

-gotten my (free!) planner from the information desk

-used the computer labs

-napped near the lagoon

-gone to the bathroom (finding it was a challenge in itself!)

All in all, I'd say I am a pretty successful person. My next challenge will be using the copy center. That will happen on Monday or Tuesday.

Peace to you all.