Last week we had the once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the famous Galapagos Islands! The fact that this trip was included in the program was one of the most attractive features of the Semester in the Andes for me, and it completely lived up to my expectations. Here’s a rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly of my trip. I’ll start with the good. I was able to get past most of my apprehension about animals!…
Tuesday of this week was my 20th birthday. Last year was the first year that I didn’t see my family on my birthday, but my boyfriend came and visited me at my university, so I was still with someone close to me. This year was the first time I celebrated a birthday without anyone I’ve known more than a month. I thought I may feel a bit homesick on my birthday, but I was surprised that even though I haven’t…
Life here in Cuenca is quite different than my life in the United States. I’ve been here in Cuenca for about two weeks and Ecuador for about three weeks, and while there are undoubtedly some major adjustments, I’d say the transition into a different culture has been going smoothly. There are actually a few differences that I really like about life here. One is the eating schedule. In the US dinner is the main meal of the day, where it…
When I told people that I was going to be studying abroad in Ecuador, I received greatly varied reactions. Some people were thrilled and told me that they had been to Ecuador or had a family member who had been and absolutely loved it. Many others, however, seemingly knew nothing about Ecuador and asked how I chose it, considering that it isn’t a common place to study abroad. In all honesty, I gave different people different answers to this question.…
Believe it or not (and it’s probably a lot easier for y’all to believe), the end of my trip abroad is quickly approaching! There is so much that I’m going to miss, and it feels like we are leaving just as I’ve come to see Cuenca as a home. HOWEVER, before I finish up with the program and the blog, I’d like to give everyone some of the best tips, tricks and pointers that I’ve learned since coming to study…
“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” – C. Wright Mills Here’s a beautiful landscape in Saraguro to catch your attention! As my trip in Ecuador is beginning to wind down, I really want to impart some of the knowledge that I’ve picked up through my journey. Some of the most important knowledge I’ve gained concerns the creation of the Ecuadorian culture and reality. If you haven’t seen it,…
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot This past week has been another filled with lifelong memories and special Ecuadorian traditions. If y’all wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk about the Easter celebrations and some funny encounters I’ve had with Cuencanos. So back in Tennessee, my Easter is usually celebrated with a couple of church services,…
This past week has had quite its share of activities, but they’ve had a much slower pace and have ended up with much more host family bonding: a welcome respite from my group’s fast-paced (but gorgeous and infinitely memorable) vacation in the Galapagos. My week of homey Ecuadorian activities began with a trip to my host father’s work at a family-owned hacienda thirty minutes outside of the city. It was a beautiful trip into the mountains and I got to…
Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois was the original partner and collaborator of CEDEI. The concept of CEDEI began over twenty-five years ago when two of the Augustana professors, Tom Brown and Steve Wille, began to travel with students to Cuenca. These experiences were the seeds that grew into CEDEI, an institution of education and bridge-building that has worked with students from around the world for decades. This interview with Dr. Araceli Masterson, Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the…
“There is no reality except in action.” – Jean-Paul Sartre One of the most important attributes in my decision-making, and one of the reasons I was able to study abroad in the beautiful city of Cuenca, Ecuador, is pretty simple. I am adamant about taking advantage of every opportunity that I can. From tasting the odd, Cuencan specialty of Cuy (Guinea Pig, which is delicious), to studying abroad in the heart of Latin America, I have rarely let opportunities pass…