Sunday, May 6

From EcuadorWiki

Today is the day. Ecuador; it´s finally here. The trip we had been telling all of our friends and family about for months was actually about to happen.

We all arrived at the Detroit Metro Airport at or before 4:00 AM. Some of us were well rested, some were without any sleep at all, and some were possibly still asleep. Either way, I can gaurantee we were all equally anxious and excited to begin the journey that lay ahead of us.

My roommate Emily arrived with the biggest pink suitcase I had ever seen, others still wearing their pajamas groggily lugged in more suitcases and carry-ons, and I couldn´t stop chatting with Kathryn and Brent. I tend to talk a lot when I get nervous. I had no idea what to expect on this trip; I had never even been out of the country before besides Canada! I told myself I would find out soon enough.

After a long wait in line everyone successfully checked their baggage and toted their carry-ons through security into our concourse where we awaited our first plane. Emily and I sat next to each other, repeating how we couldn´t believe that this trip was finally happening. I surveyed my surroundings. Getting there is half the fun right? So I took it all in just like I planned when we arrived in Ecuador. Many of my fellow students were eating breakfast subs from Quiznos, others held extra large cups of starbucks, and TJ and Laura were rocking out and singing out loud to a song on TJ´s Ipod.

After about an hour of waiting, we boarded our first plane destined for Miami. It was ironic that everyone had been talking about how excited they were because about 98% of us fell asleep withing ten minutes of being in the air. I read my book a little bit but I was so tired I couldn´t concentrate, so I gave up and went to sleep as well.

We were all excited when we landed in Miami but if we could have forseen the layover that lay ahead of us we may have reconsidered our enthusiasm. We all spent six hours in the Miami Airport eating, wandering around, listening to our Ipods, calling our families, and sleeping in random areas on the floor. Emily and I wandered a little further than we should have apparently, because to get back to Concourse C where we needed to be we had to go back through security (how fun that was!). But we were glad to board our plane to Ecuador and endear another long flight. This one would be four hours. On this second flight it was the same story. Most of us fell asleep or read books. We also had a TV and some students enjoyed watching Two and a Half Men and Mrs. I slept for the majority of the flight but when I wasn´t sleeping it was because I was contemplating what Ecuador and my host family would be like. Is the altitude going to bother me? What daily things do they do different from us? Am I going to completely draw a blank when it comes to speaking Spanish to my host family? Probably. Communicating with my host family was what I was most worried about.

After a long four hours we finally landed in Quito. This was it; we were finally meeting our host families. We all exited the plane and went through customs, which wasn´t as bad as we all anticipated. But first Dr. Seals rounded our group up one last time for some advice: just roll with the punches, this isn´t the US and don´t think of it as the US. Good advice.

Emily´s and my host family dad was waiting for us with a sign with our names on it. Everyone found their family and were whisked off to what would be their new homes for the next three weeks. Our host dad´s name was David. He greeted us each with a kiss on the cheek, and I remembered to say ¨mucho gusto¨ which was the best thing I could come up with on the plane. He was surprisingly easy to understand and nice too. Emily and I made small talk as we drove to the house; where we lived, what we were studying, etc. Quito was so beautiful! And it was beautiful because it was so much different than home. A huge city with lights glimmering everywhere, all the way up the mountains in the distance. Cars zoomed around everywhere and various stores decorated the sides of the roads, boasting appealing adds in Spanish. David talked about the city as we drove.

When we arrived to our host families home I was even more nervous than before. What will our host mom think of me? Am I going to meet the three kids tonight? We were greeted at the door by Bruno, the family´s dog which happened to be a two pound yorkie. Jacqueline, our host mother, showed Emily and me to our room. It was really nice, we even had our own bathroom! All the accomodies of home, and certainly better than living in Gelston. Jacqueline took us upstairs to meet the kids and David showed us around the house. Communicating with them in Spanish wasn´t as hard as I thought it would be, but of course it helps when your roommate has had about four years of Spanish too.

Our host mom made us tea and gave us some bread to eat, and we sat at the table and made small talk for a while. She told us the rules of the house and what not to do in Quito like go out at night alone. After that, we had had about enough excitement for the day so we decided to hit the sack. Emily and I layed in bed talking, the conversation mostly consisted of ¨I can´t believe we´re actually here¨ and ¨I wonder what class will be like tomorrow¨. I was a lot less nervous now and more excited. Our host family was wonderful and I was a lot more comfortable here than I thought. We fell asleep fairly early, exhausted from a long and eventful day and anticipating what was in store for us tomorrow.