IES Orientation Day

Weather: sunny in the morning, in the afternoon there were thunderstorms and downpours. Around 60 degrees today.

Today I met everyone in my program that used IES as the primary program to go abroad. My day started at 8am with fresh fruit and pan prepared by Ines. Around 8:15 Penelope drove me to the USFQ campus entrance, pointing out the bus stops I need to use once more because she knows that I am a bit apprehensive about the bus system here.

Yesterday on our way to get our nails done, there was a man in the middle of street juggling with fire. She explained to me that Ecuador has experienced an increase in migrants for the first time in many years. They are all coming in from Venezuela without papers and expecting work. She went on to say that she is unemployed but she tries to help them out when she can. She said they are not like Ecuadorians in that when she tried to give one man 20 cents (that's all she had) he threw it back at her. I'm pointing this story out because on my way to campus this morning I noticed a lot more homeless people and I was able to relate the reason why there were so many back to Penelope's story.

Waiting out front of the campus entrance for one of our advisors, I introduced myself to a couple of students. Right off the bat, everyone was so nice. To be honest, it was great being around fellow students that spoke English. We actually didn't step foot onto the USFQ campus, instead we took a bus into the heart of Quito to the IES Abroad headquarters for Orientation. On the bus, I talked with a fellow student Megan who was having the same overwhelming experience I had the day before. Knowing this was a normalization for me, we are all in the same boat right now and just trying to get acclimated to new surroundings.

Once we arrived at the headquarters we dove into orientation. They discussed everything from courses to safety and security. They brought in a guest speaker and he covered sexual violence. One thing that shocked me was that every 3 days, 1 femicide is committed. We use different terminology in the states but essentially in Ecuador every 3 days, 1 female is killed by a male just because she is a female. This was a tough introduction to Ecuador, not gonna lie about that. It made me realize that I need to be extremely hesitant about local guys; not just because of femicide but because of drug trafficking. Colombia and Peru border Ecuador so naturally Ecuador has become a hub for drug traffickers.

On a more upbeat note, around 12pm we all went out to a fancy restaurant in Quito, that had a breathtaking view (see pics on next page). Lunch here is a huge 3 course meal while dinner is usually much lighter. Our lunch in Quito kicked off with a squash soup that had potatoes and cheese in it. For the main course the vegetarian option was pasta with fresh tomato sauce with freshly squeezed pineapple juice. The dessert was a chocolate mousse that had coffee in it topped with a raspberry drizzle. The entire meal was to die for, I've become blown away by how fresh everything is here. So far (knock on wood), I haven't had too bad of stomach issues. No traveler's diarrhea so fingers crossed it stays that way! I've been vigilant about not drinking the tap water.

After lunch we all headed back to IES headquarters and had more

orientation talks. It felt like we were getting the same talks several times over but I honestly didn't mind it. We met our advisor that would be our support system 24/7 if something were to go wrong. She is a vegetarian and advised those that were vegetarian the cooks in restaurants there equate being vegetarian to rice and beans and nothing more. While we are in the islands we are responsible for providing ourselves lunches. She mentioned we could go to the market and get some produce that's imported from the mainland to make our own salads so I may do that when Im there a couple days a week just for variety. She also said that when we use the bathroom (like Quito) we cannot put the toilet paper in the toilet. However, differing from Quito, the wastewater from the toilets goes straight into the ocean in the islands. She pointed out that it's not where we swim though....I was shocked to hear this because I would have thought the National Park Service would have stepped in to make a change here. Easier said than done though as money is tight here as it is a third world country.

At the end of the day we all socialized and eventually took a bus back to USFQ where Ines was waiting to pick me up. She doesn't drive so she showed me how to take the bus back to the house. I feel confident in my ability to at least make it back from campus and that's a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. I actually figured out that another student Connor and I are going to be using the same bus stop. I live off of De Las Magnolias and that's the road he lives on so that was also comforting. I quickly came to the realization that my main stressor was navigating the bus system so once I do it all by myself I will feel like I conquered the world.

After the orientation I just hung around and had Kraft mac and cheese with Angie (my host sister). Ines sat with us, but had yogurt instead she is not a fan of mac and cheese. I'm assuming this is because of how processed it is. Angie was able to translate a bit for me if I didn't understand something Ines was saying and then she helped me formulate a response. I've only been here a full 2 days and I feel like I'm already comprehending more as time goes by. This morning I was thinking that my host family doesn't like me much because I suck at Spanish. After tonights dinner, I no longer think that, and I hope my Spanish will continue to improve making it easier to communicate with Ines.