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...

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 come...

I wanted to write a post about the city of Quito, partially to give you a better idea of how my trip went and also because the city is such an interesting place. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is situated in the Andes Mountains which run north-south through the center of the country. To the east of the Andes lies the rainforest, and to the west the coastal areas.   The Andes cut through the middle of Ecuador, separating the coastal and interior regions The city of Quito is in a fairly narrow valley, so as it has grown development has stretched primarily north and south, with the modern affluent areas to the north. The central part of Quito is home to many old colonial Spanish administrative buildings, churches, the presidential palace, and hundreds of small shops. The population of the city is around 1.5 million, and with the surrounding areas it is close to 2 million; a decent sized city, but with the shortage of flat land the population density is quite...

I arrived in Ecuador on a Saturday, and the following day our group was scheduled to go out to dinner for a meet and greet type event. The other students had already met at Ohio State during fall quarter, but only during a series of three info sessions. I of course had missed the meetings because of Semester at Sea. Sine I applied extra early I was able to attend the spring sessions (the program is held twice a year, during the summer and winter). I had a pretty good feel for how the program was structured and what to expect from classes, but it was odd being the only student who hadn’t met everyone else back at OSU. There were about 25 Ohio State students in total, plus our two graduate leaders. When I arrived at the restaurant it wasn’t hard to pick them out, off in their own little group section. There were the normal awkward moments that come with meeting a bunch of new people, but everyone seemed to be nice and interested to hear about my trip the previous quar...

After arriving in Quito I was greeted at the airport by the two program leaders, Sarah and Daniela. They were graduate students at Ohio State and would be looking after our group during the 10 week stay. Sarah and Daniela would prove to be great resources during our stay in Ecuador; they would sit in on classes, lead our group trips, and check in with us periodically to make sure everything was going smoothly with our host families. Although I had not met them until that point it was comforting to see two fellow OSU students waiting for me at the airport and to know they would be there to help if I needed anything. Quito is in north-central Ecuador, in the Andes mountains Ecuador is bordered by Peru to the south and east, Colombia to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west Mariscal Sucre Airport, Quito Sarah and Daniela led me outside to meet my host mother, a middle aged woman who pulled up in an old Chevy Bronco-esque truck to pick me up. After a brief i...

After flying out of Orlando I arrived back home in Columbus on December 15th, close to four months since I had last been home. It was great to see the rest of my family - my mom and sister Christine - and to spend the holidays with them. Extended family came to visit, and I enjoyed the down time for a few weeks. I did not have long though; I had to get ready for my next big trip - a 10 week study abroad in Ecuador! I had applied for the study abroad before going on Semester at Sea, and although I knew it would be hectic doing them back to back it sounded like an opportunity I couldn't miss out on. The program was in Quito, Ecuador for Ohio State's winter quarter (from early January to late March). While in Quito I would live with an Ecuadorian host family and attend Spanish language classes with other Ohio State students. It was an elementary language program, so I was only required to take one quarter of Spanish to qualify. Even though it was intended for beginn...