Weather: Sunny, about 55 degrees today. Rain later in the night.

Today I didn't need to report to campus until 1pm, so in the morning I did laundry with Ines. She hung the clothes out to dry while I left for campus. I'm hoping the clothes will be dry by tomorrow but we shall see. The laundry room is outside and it's covered by a plastic roof, but right now it's raining out so I'm thinking that all the moisture in the air will prevent them from drying.

We had lunch today with incoming USFQ Freshmen. I talked with a student named Bryan and a girl named Myle. Both were so nice and knew English pretty well. Myle told me different ways that would help improve my Spanish. One of those ways being Duolingo. I have the app downloaded it so I'm really gonna try and use it more here. I have been so busy I don't think spending time on Rosetta Stone is feasible. Plus, I already have a really good basis of Spanish, it's just about enhancing those skills. After we talked in English for a bit I tried talking to Myle in Spanish for a couple minutes...the conversation went okay. The problem that I run into is that I can comprehend what people are saying to me (most of the time) but when it comes to forming a response I feel limited with my word choice. I need to really work on expanding my vocabulary and Duolingo will be able to help with that! Hopefully, I'll see Myle and Bryan around campus before we head off to the islands, I thought it was great to converse with local students and not just be in this American student bubble while we are on an international campus. These students attending USFQ all seem to be amazing students, Myle wants to become a Dentist and Bryan is studying to be a lawyer.

After lunch, I went to Spanish and we had a quiz. I barely studied for it and for the most part I think it went well, except I blanked on 3 adjectives. the good thing is neither the credit nor grade transfers back to UMaine since I already got 4 credits for Beginner Spanish last year. Tomorrow we have our exam, and then the class will be over. I can't believe how fast time is going. It feels like I have been here forever but also like five seconds at the same time. Tomorrow marks my one week point of living in Quito. It's crazy to think I only have 3 weeks left in Quito and one of them will be spent in the Amazon!

After class and a little bit of rest at my homestay, I attended a dance class with my friend Amber. The class takes place every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights at 7pm. The class is held in the park that is right up the street from Amber and I's houses. The dance class is held at what we would consider a covered basketball court and then the instructor dances on what would be concrete bleachers so everyone can see her. Each class is $1 and it's a great workout plus once again it's the cultural immersion I wanted. Amber and I were the only gringitas (white people) there so naturally we stood in the back corner and had an awesome time. The more time I spend here, the safer it feels. Obviously, I continue to take precautions like having my backpack in front of me on the bus, and if I go somewhere I try and use the buddy system. I guess what I mean by "safe" is that I realize that not everyone is out to get you. The people at the dance class tonight were actually pretty welcoming whereas, some Ecuadorians I encounter clearly don't want to talk with me because I'm a gringa. Whenever I walk to the bus and a local is walking towards me on the sidewalk naturally, they stare because I am out of place. I've just started saying "hola" to them just to show that I am a nice person and I am not a stuck up rich white person. My orientation from IES made it sound like this place is scary. The more time I spend here I realize that it's like America in that we have really bad people but we also have good people too. They made it sound like everyone on the bus was going to pickpocket you, I've realized this is not the case. Yes, caution is key but constantly thinking that people are out to get you just because you are a foreigner is no way to be either. I feel like that just voids out any chance you may have to get to know the local culture.

On a side note, Ines fell earlier and has been sore so we all had dinner in her room tonight. I was sitting on Ines's bed with Penelope while Ines sat in a chair and watched TV. I had my pajama shorts on and Penelope looked at my legs and said "Do you have socks on? OMG you are so white!!!" I immediately started laughing. She literally thought I had knee high socks on or something because of how white my legs are. She apologized later on but I said that it wasn't necessary and I definitely need to be exposed to more sun! She suggested I take a "sun bath" with her on Sunday, so maybe I will do that and get a good base tan going.