I am alive. Severely overwhelmed, completely outside of my comfort zone, but alive none the less.
I guess the beginning is a good place to start, and the beginning for us, is Miami. After my last post, I met the other three American students going to Ecuador, Hannah from Alaska, Madison from the San Francisco area, and Gavin from Washington. I'm happy to say that we all hit it off right away, and had a blast together at both orientations. We had a short orientation in Miami, before heading off to Quito, where we were picked up at the airport along with Sacha, who is the only AFSer from France and who we adopted into our little band. Then we drove to a retreat/camp place where we met all of the other AFSers in Ecuador, and had a day long orientation. We talked about safety, cultural norms, the visa registration process that we have to go through now that were in-country, and how to deal with earthquakes and active volcanoes. The most natural disaster type thing that ever happens in Denver is snowstorms, and the occasional tornado warning, so hearing about tremors and ash fall was a big change.
The sense of time and punctuality here is very different. At all AFS USA orientations, there was always a schedule to be followed with specific times for everything. Here, they told us the general things to be covered, we didn't cover them in any specific order, and the only things with generally set times were meals, but even those it was okay to be late to. I hate being late to things, so all of that was quite an adjustment for me. Hooray for cultural differences!
Then Sunday morning everyone left to their respective host communities, which meant a five hour bus ride for me and the eleven other AFSers going to Guaranda. Five hours is nothing to me (we routinely drive anywhere from 7 to 19 hours to visit family in the US), but to my Belgian friend Bram, five hours was an eternity. Apparently in Belgium you can drive a couple of hours and be out of the country!
When we got to Guaranda, we were picked up by our host families, with a couple of exceptions, including me. Turns out my host sister is starting her first year of university in Quito this week, so she and my host parents were in Quito getting her set up. So instead of being picked up by them, my host mother's sister, Maria, and my host grandparents picked me up, along with my host cousins, Alejandro and Orlando. They took me to my house and we watched some movies. I was incredibly excited to figure out that I can watched dubbed movies in Spanish and understand them, for the most part! I unpacked and everyone stayed at my house with me for the night. Then today I met a ton of other people and relatives, because in Guaranda, everyone knows everyone. I've tried to remember all of the names and connections, but once I started meeting the friends of my host cousins I gave up and just smiled and kissed lots of cheeks. My host father arrived from Quito this evening and picked me up, we talked as he drove me around the city a little and then came home, where I finally got connected to the internet. I like my host father a lot so far, and I cant wait to meet my host mom later this week!
So here I am, writing to all of you, checking in with my parents to tell them about everything, and generally unwinding after a long day. There is so much to take in and thus far all of the years I've spent speaking Spanish in snippets are being put to the test. I'm trying to just go with whatever happens and not break into tears when things almost seem like too much.
Adjusting is hard, but its also exciting. For so long I've wanted exactly this, and now that its happening I've had a few moments of panic, but for the most part I can't believe that it's actually real. But I'm alive, and I'm pretty sure I can do this, so I think I'm ready for tomorrow, and the rest after that. Deep breaths are key, and I'm becoming very good at them.
I promise to post pictures soon, it's just that posting pictures requires taking some, which I haven't done yet. It's nice to write, but it's also nice to hear from people, so if you think of anything to say, please comment!
Hasta luego,
Elisa
Monday, August 25, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Waterworks
I was talking to my aunt, a former AFSer to Belgium, the other week about exchange and she gave me this piece of advice: let yourself feel whatever you feel, because it just gets too exhausting to hold feelings in. I have not put that to better use than in the last three days. I've been happy and frustrated, confused and completely at peace, but mostly sad. Its hard to say goodbye, over and over again, to all of the people you know and have it all lead up to the biggest blow of them all: saying goodbye to my family.
I absolutely love the Humans of New York project. One of the questions that he asks people is what was the saddest moment they can remember. I know what I would say. Hugging my family and boyfriend just outside of security, bawling my eyes out, and then having to walk away into a huge adventure that at that moment seemed like the most terrifying thing I could possibly be doing. But I did it, I got on the plane.
I had been joking with my parents that whoever sat next to me on the plane had better be a little sympathetic, because I knew I would be crying a lot. What I didn't expect was to sit next to a woman who had hosted an AFS student when she was in high school. I got to sit next to someone who completely understood what I was feeling at the moment, and I was so grateful for that.
I've been saying goodbye to so many people that I was really getting tired of it. It was draining. A very small part of me was looking forward to getting on the plane, because that would mean that I was done with goodbyes. It didn't feel like a relief at first, but after I stopped blubbering and calmed down a bit, I realized that I was starting to really look forward to everything ahead of me again. I'm going to ECUADOR! How crazy is that?! I'm going to miss everyone terribly, but I'm also happy to not have to dread saying goodbye anymore. That's behind me, and I'm glad for it.
I'm writing this from my hotel room in Miami, where I'm waiting to meet the three other students who will be flying to Quito with me. We have a short orientation and fly out tomorrow afternoon. Another realization I had was that now that I'm done with goodbyes, I'm doing a complete 180. Now I get to introduce myself to everyone. That, in itself, is a little daunting, but so far, I'm enjoying it.
Now I get to put my friend-making skills to the test. I'm a little nervous, but it helps to know that the rest of the AFSers are in the same boat, or on the same plane (just to be accurate).
Hasta luego,
Elisa
I absolutely love the Humans of New York project. One of the questions that he asks people is what was the saddest moment they can remember. I know what I would say. Hugging my family and boyfriend just outside of security, bawling my eyes out, and then having to walk away into a huge adventure that at that moment seemed like the most terrifying thing I could possibly be doing. But I did it, I got on the plane.
I had been joking with my parents that whoever sat next to me on the plane had better be a little sympathetic, because I knew I would be crying a lot. What I didn't expect was to sit next to a woman who had hosted an AFS student when she was in high school. I got to sit next to someone who completely understood what I was feeling at the moment, and I was so grateful for that.
I've been saying goodbye to so many people that I was really getting tired of it. It was draining. A very small part of me was looking forward to getting on the plane, because that would mean that I was done with goodbyes. It didn't feel like a relief at first, but after I stopped blubbering and calmed down a bit, I realized that I was starting to really look forward to everything ahead of me again. I'm going to ECUADOR! How crazy is that?! I'm going to miss everyone terribly, but I'm also happy to not have to dread saying goodbye anymore. That's behind me, and I'm glad for it.
I'm writing this from my hotel room in Miami, where I'm waiting to meet the three other students who will be flying to Quito with me. We have a short orientation and fly out tomorrow afternoon. Another realization I had was that now that I'm done with goodbyes, I'm doing a complete 180. Now I get to introduce myself to everyone. That, in itself, is a little daunting, but so far, I'm enjoying it.
Now I get to put my friend-making skills to the test. I'm a little nervous, but it helps to know that the rest of the AFSers are in the same boat, or on the same plane (just to be accurate).
Hasta luego,
Elisa
Friday, August 15, 2014
The Visa: As If Everything Else Wasn't Hard Enough
After sending in my visa application 3 separate times, calling the Ecuadorian consulate in Phoenix countless times (because they never answer their phones), waiting weeks to hear back from them, many, many stressed out conversations with the AFS staff, a hastily rescheduled in-person appointment, and a 24 hour trip to Phoenix, I have a visa. I guess Life decided that I wasn't stressed out enough by everything else.
After having been to various orientations and lots of potlucks with AFS, I've heard my fair share of exchange student horror stories and things that have gone wrong. There are things that I know will be hard, and I know I'll be able to deal with them when they come up, but I've never heard of anyone having the visa process be a nightmare. That was unexpected.
We sent in my visa application, for the first time, about six weeks ago, figuring that gave us plenty of time. Then we didn't hear back from the consulate for a week, until we got an email saying that the documents we sent weren't attached in the correct order. So we sent it again, and a third time after that, only to hear that there were other documents that they needed, or that there was actually a different order for the documents. I was getting pretty panicky when it was already August, and I still didn't even have an appointment with the consulate, much less any sort of documentation to get me to Ecuador. Then finally, just before all hell was going to break loose, my dad got through to the consulate, only for them to tell us that they had us scheduled for an appointment in a couple of days. I guess it never crossed their minds to let us know, so that we could show up. My dad got them to give us an appointment the following week, so that we'd have time to buy plane tickets and arrange everything. And so it came to pass that this last Monday night, I got on a plane to Phoenix with my dad, and showed up to the Ecuadorian consulate the next morning.
The whole reason that they ask you to show up in person for your visa is so that they can conduct and interview. I was nervous about that, because I can speak pretty good Spanish, but I don't do very well on the spot. Turns out I didn't need to be worried, the consul asked me all of three questions, and then spent fifteen of twenty minutes talking about Ecuador and all of the great things you can do there. It was good information, but it seemed to me that we had gone to great lengths to get there in person for a relatively unimportant interview. But here's the thing: when you run out of options, you can't be picky. At all.
So now I have a visa. It's in my passport, all official and everything. I'm happy about that, despite the fiasco it was to get it, because it means I can get on the plane to Ecuador. That's the really important part, that I can get on the plane, because that's the first big step on my gran adventure.
Hasta Luego,
Elisa
After having been to various orientations and lots of potlucks with AFS, I've heard my fair share of exchange student horror stories and things that have gone wrong. There are things that I know will be hard, and I know I'll be able to deal with them when they come up, but I've never heard of anyone having the visa process be a nightmare. That was unexpected.
We sent in my visa application, for the first time, about six weeks ago, figuring that gave us plenty of time. Then we didn't hear back from the consulate for a week, until we got an email saying that the documents we sent weren't attached in the correct order. So we sent it again, and a third time after that, only to hear that there were other documents that they needed, or that there was actually a different order for the documents. I was getting pretty panicky when it was already August, and I still didn't even have an appointment with the consulate, much less any sort of documentation to get me to Ecuador. Then finally, just before all hell was going to break loose, my dad got through to the consulate, only for them to tell us that they had us scheduled for an appointment in a couple of days. I guess it never crossed their minds to let us know, so that we could show up. My dad got them to give us an appointment the following week, so that we'd have time to buy plane tickets and arrange everything. And so it came to pass that this last Monday night, I got on a plane to Phoenix with my dad, and showed up to the Ecuadorian consulate the next morning.
The whole reason that they ask you to show up in person for your visa is so that they can conduct and interview. I was nervous about that, because I can speak pretty good Spanish, but I don't do very well on the spot. Turns out I didn't need to be worried, the consul asked me all of three questions, and then spent fifteen of twenty minutes talking about Ecuador and all of the great things you can do there. It was good information, but it seemed to me that we had gone to great lengths to get there in person for a relatively unimportant interview. But here's the thing: when you run out of options, you can't be picky. At all.
So now I have a visa. It's in my passport, all official and everything. I'm happy about that, despite the fiasco it was to get it, because it means I can get on the plane to Ecuador. That's the really important part, that I can get on the plane, because that's the first big step on my gran adventure.
Hasta Luego,
Elisa
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Life Packing 101
To be or not to be? That is not the question. At least, it's not my question. My question how to fit all of these clothes:
into one suitcase and one large back pack. Follow up question: Can it possibly weigh less than 50 lbs?
Both of these questions are really just details I have to figure out in order to answer the real question that every exchange student comes face to face with: how do you pack your whole life into a suitcase?
There are obvious things to pack like clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc., but the hard part is figuring out what else to take. Books? Pictures? Bags? Journals? What other miscellaneous things do I have that I want to take with me? What is important enough not to leave behind for ten months?
Packing is a lot like evolution. Survival of the fittest is a very real thing that my clothing now has to face, because space is valuable. I've already started going through all of the stuff I want to bring and tossing what I can do without. Sorry navy striped sweater, you've been voted off the island. Black dress, you're next. I guess the one thought that makes the decisions easier is that I'll be wearing a uniform to school. It'll be an adjustment, but another exchange student, who's blog I've been reading, made a good point: a uniform will be nice since it means I wont have to worry about my clothes being culturally appropriate. I'm hoping it'll be nice to not have that to worry about all the time.
People always recommend that you bring something to hang up on a wall, someplace to put pictures or other things to make a space feel like your own. I haven't been the kind to plaster pictures of me and my friends all over my walls, I prefer my world map with pins stuck in all of the places I've been to, but I think it would be good to bring something to hang some pictures in as a reminder of home.
I leave in 13 days. I'm to the point where I've made a list of all of the people I want to see before I go, and I'm quickly realizing that I don't actually have that much time to see them all. A trip to Phoenix next Monday and Tuesday cuts down on my time, but I'm determined to make it happen. I don't want all of these visits to become goodbye sob fests, I don't like those kinds of goodbyes. I'll cry my eyes out once I'm in Ecuador, when I miss my people. For now, I just want to do the same things that I usually do with the people that I do them with. I want to sit in my room and talk to my best friend Olivia about Pretty Little Liars while we scroll through Facebook. I want to have a movie weekend with my friends Michelle and Rachel. I want normalcy, I want to enjoy it before I jump into the whirlwind.
I realized the other day that I've been focusing almost exclusively on missing my friends, and that I haven't been allowing myself to think about missing my family. I know how to be away from my friends, I don't see them everyday, I don't live with them. My family is a whole other story. I've traveled without my family before, but always short trips, and always with people that I'm close to. This exchange is entirely different, and I don't want to think about missing them because I know being homesick is going to suck. I don't doubt my ability to live in Ecuador, I know that I can do this, but I can't imagine what its going to be like to not see my mom, dad, and sister everyday for so long. I know that I'm avoiding it, but at this point I'm okay with that. I'll deal with homesickness when it hits me. I don't want to focus too much on the sad parts right now, I want to focus on being excited. It's a lot more fun :)
Hasta luego,
Elisa
into one suitcase and one large back pack. Follow up question: Can it possibly weigh less than 50 lbs?
Both of these questions are really just details I have to figure out in order to answer the real question that every exchange student comes face to face with: how do you pack your whole life into a suitcase?
There are obvious things to pack like clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc., but the hard part is figuring out what else to take. Books? Pictures? Bags? Journals? What other miscellaneous things do I have that I want to take with me? What is important enough not to leave behind for ten months?
Packing is a lot like evolution. Survival of the fittest is a very real thing that my clothing now has to face, because space is valuable. I've already started going through all of the stuff I want to bring and tossing what I can do without. Sorry navy striped sweater, you've been voted off the island. Black dress, you're next. I guess the one thought that makes the decisions easier is that I'll be wearing a uniform to school. It'll be an adjustment, but another exchange student, who's blog I've been reading, made a good point: a uniform will be nice since it means I wont have to worry about my clothes being culturally appropriate. I'm hoping it'll be nice to not have that to worry about all the time.
People always recommend that you bring something to hang up on a wall, someplace to put pictures or other things to make a space feel like your own. I haven't been the kind to plaster pictures of me and my friends all over my walls, I prefer my world map with pins stuck in all of the places I've been to, but I think it would be good to bring something to hang some pictures in as a reminder of home.
I leave in 13 days. I'm to the point where I've made a list of all of the people I want to see before I go, and I'm quickly realizing that I don't actually have that much time to see them all. A trip to Phoenix next Monday and Tuesday cuts down on my time, but I'm determined to make it happen. I don't want all of these visits to become goodbye sob fests, I don't like those kinds of goodbyes. I'll cry my eyes out once I'm in Ecuador, when I miss my people. For now, I just want to do the same things that I usually do with the people that I do them with. I want to sit in my room and talk to my best friend Olivia about Pretty Little Liars while we scroll through Facebook. I want to have a movie weekend with my friends Michelle and Rachel. I want normalcy, I want to enjoy it before I jump into the whirlwind.
I realized the other day that I've been focusing almost exclusively on missing my friends, and that I haven't been allowing myself to think about missing my family. I know how to be away from my friends, I don't see them everyday, I don't live with them. My family is a whole other story. I've traveled without my family before, but always short trips, and always with people that I'm close to. This exchange is entirely different, and I don't want to think about missing them because I know being homesick is going to suck. I don't doubt my ability to live in Ecuador, I know that I can do this, but I can't imagine what its going to be like to not see my mom, dad, and sister everyday for so long. I know that I'm avoiding it, but at this point I'm okay with that. I'll deal with homesickness when it hits me. I don't want to focus too much on the sad parts right now, I want to focus on being excited. It's a lot more fun :)
Hasta luego,
Elisa
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