First day of school

August 23, 2010

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. –Robert Lewis Stevenson

Today was the first day of school. I met up with Yonseili in the AM so her host parents could take us, and off we went. When we arrived, Aidelita, Yonseili’s host mom, walked in with us. I seriously felt like I was a little girl. Walking in to the school wasn’t strange because we had already gone Friday to talk with Patty about our class schedule. What was strange was seeing that there were students who were obviously international. I can say for the first time that I am not from the country, that I am an international student.

The plan for today was to have orientation for all the new students, a tour of the city, and that was it. But little did we know that Yonseili, Christian Sarmiento (NMSU Student also majoring in HRTM), and I were going to have class that day. Anywho, I’ll get to that later. When the bell rang, and I mean literally a bell, we were welcomed by Patty and we were asked to introduce ourselves. There are students from the states Philadelphia, Virginia, Michigan, as well as from Germany, Israel, Norway, and England. We are all here for different periods of time and most are here to learn Spanish. After the introductions, all the new students took a group picture in front of the university and we walked to the nearest bus stop. The bus ride is 25 cents which the school paid for. Before getting on the bus the director warned us that we would be getting the Chinese Metro experience because buses get so full that you lose all of your personal space and it is necessary to push yourself through the crowd. I had no idea what he was talking about until I lost all my personal space and had to push myself through the crowd. I was literally up against I don’t know how many people. It became obvious then how easy it is for a thief to take someone else’s belongings. I made sure to hold on to my pockets.

We went to the old/colonial part of Quito, Ecuador. We got to visit several churches and see the President’s (Rafael Correa) house. I also saw how poverty sweeps over the city. I saw women charging tourists so that they can take a picture with their children who aren’t looking their best, to say the least.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: THE BUS RIDE! Yonseili and I could not stop laughing. We were super crammed in the bus, the Ecovia. Talk about full!

Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. 1 PETER 1:18 THE MESSAGE