TravelBio

By late March our group had reached the end of the program and it was time for us to pack up and head home. I sensed that most of the students had a good time and were glad that they gone on the trip. Even though they had had fun, some were ready to get back to their lives at OSU, while others (myself included) wished that we could stay for longer. Even if we wanted to stick around we didn’t have much time though, since the week after classes ended in Ecuador spring quarter started back up in Columbus. I was scheduled to fly from Quito to Panama City, then to Washington DC. After meeting my mom and aunt in DC I would drive back to Columbus in time for the start of the new quarter. My flight left at some ungodly hour in the morning, so I was all packed up and ready to go before daybreak. I said my goodbyes to my host mom and two brothers, and then was off to the airport by cab. As far as I remember everything went as planned on the flight – since nothing comes to min

As I mentioned previously, each weekday that we were in Quito we had classes at a Spanish language school called the Andean Studies Program. So I guess the actual school work deserves some coverage... At Ohio State, elementary language classes are arranged numerically, from 101 to 104. After 104 the classification jumps to the 200 level. OSU is still on the quarter system (for one more year – they will make the switch in fall 2012; glad I'm gone for that mess!), so each class is 10 weeks long. In Ecuador we got academic credit for three classes – in my case 102, 103, and 104. I had taken Spanish 101 back at OSU during spring quarter of my freshman year, which was the minimum requirement to be eligible for the study abroad. We used the same textbooks as the students back in Columbus, but since we covered three classes worth of material in 10 weeks it was at a much faster pace. Granted we were in class longer each day, but there was little time to review material

In addition to the excursions included in the price of the program, there were several others that we had the option of paying extra for. One was to a beach along the northern coast of Ecuador, and a second was a week-long trip to the Galapagos Islands. Since I had just broken the bank on Semester at Sea, I decided to skip those two, especially the Galapagos trip – even though it would have been an amazing experience, the cost was around $1200. The Galapagos Islands would have been an amazing trip, but the alternative options were also fun and a fraction of the cost The day trip to Cotopaxi was also optional, but didn’t cost much so I signed up for it. It turned out that a few other students also decided to opt out of a trip or two, so luckily I wouldn’t be the only one not going along on the optional excursions. During the trip to the beach I stayed in Quito and hung out with one of my best friends from the program, Ryan, who also had decided not to go. With Rya

I almost forgot to mention one of the best group excursions – the trip to the Amazon. We took a bus into the jungle in eastern Ecuador, to an area called Amazonas. The region constitutes a large part of the country geographically, but contains only 5% or so of the Ecuadorian population. We stayed at a large, scenic hotel located next to a river in the middle of the jungle. To reach it we had to leave the bus and canoe across the river. I was skeptical at first, thinking it would be some run-down, decrepit place, but it turned out to be probably the nicest hotel I stayed at in Ecuador. Regions of Ecuador, with the green representing the lowland tropical jungle, or Amazonia Casa del Suizo pool, part of our awesome hotel View from our hotel balcony We had to take a canoe to the hotel - there were no bridges over the river! We were at the hotel for three nights, and during the day did lots of hiking, canoeing, and rafting. We also visited a nature preser

During the course of the 10 week program we had several weekends free to do as we wished, but many were already booked with group trips. Included in the cost of the program (which was Ohio State tuition plus a fee similar to the cost of room and board back on campus – not bad!) were several excursions, and we also had the option of paying extra for a few more trips. The weekend after arrival we had our first group excursion, a day trip to Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is a volcano in the Andes Mountains located about 20 miles south of Quito. Rising above 19,000 feet, it is the second highest summit in Ecuador. Although Cotopaxi is quite close to Quito (it can be seen from the city) the drive took us several hours, first on a major road and then on a series of dirt paths up the hillside.  We stopped partway up the mountain at around 14,000 ft / 4,300 meters, and then proceeded to ride back down on bikes. Yep, we rode down the mountain on bicycles – not the first thing that comes to