Midterms (And Some Fun) – Journals from Abroad

¡Hola desde Quito!

Wow! I will definitely say that these past few weeks have been a lot of work with very limited enjoyment. When committing to studying abroad, I knew that exam season would probably be the worst part of the experience. However, now that I have gotten past all of my mid-term assignments, I can say that I feel pretty content with my progress in each of my classes!

This midterm season, I had three presentations and an exam, which wouldn’t have been too challenging if they were all in English. Even though the Spanish aspect of the midterms made me continuously stressed for two solid weeks, I now feel a lot prouder of my abilities, both academically and inter-relationally. One aspect that I did find enjoyable was the broad range of topics that my presentations covered: the history/evolution of Ecuador once becoming an independent republic, the impact of mystification and reproduction in art, and (my personal favorite) Taylor Swift. For five whole minutes, I got to show off my inner-swiftie conjointly with my Spanish speaking abilities, which I haven’t had an opportunity to do so until now! In regard to my one exam on Baroque art, I think it went really well considering that there was a large percentage of lecture content present; my Spanish comprehension skills really worked in my favor here!

Pictured is me sitting on the grass and writing in a notebook. As I am doing this, a green apple is falling from a tree and appears to hit my head. This was a photographic class project for my Language and Cinema class. — A photographic project for my Language and Cinema class

Pictured is a small wooden building with many windows. This building, which is the on-campus meditation center, is surrounded by trees and a pond. — The on-campus meditation center

Pictured is me smiling and pointing at a slide show presentation that I made. On this slide is every one of Taylor Swift's albums covers in a timeline of their release dates — Me and my Taylor Swift presentation

Pictured are a group of international students (including myself) in our Ecuadorian culture class. On the professor's desk are two cakes, as we celebrated her birthday. — We love celebrating Profe Karla’s birthday!

Between study sessions and practicing presentations, I was able to find some enjoyment in exploring Ecuador! For one day, my friend Leena and I took a very impromptu trip to Papallacta to enjoy some hot springs. I absolutely love rural Ecuador; there are so many hills and trees, which give off so much tranquility! It definitely resembles a bit of Southern Oregon, but with a lot more greenery; I felt very at home on this trip! Overall, it was nice to just slow down the fast-paced student lifestyle and catch up with a good friend.

Pictured here is a walkway surrounded by many trees! These trees are also making an archway, which my friend Leena is walking under. This is at the Papallacta hot springs — Entry way of the Papallacta hot springs

Pictured are the Papallacta hot springs, which resemble in-ground pools. In these pools are a large group of people enjoying themselves and the water. Surrounding this pools are mountains, trees, and other greenery. — Hot springs of Papallacta

Pictures is a nature scene. Close up is wild grass, which barely hides a blue lake that exists behind it. In the background are tall rock mountains and a sky full of clouds and light. — Lake-scene in rural Ecuador

Pictured is another lake that is present in rural Ecuador. This is a far-away picture, which shows the small green hills leading to the lake itself, which is surrounded by nearby rock mountains. — I (safely) jumped a guard-rail to take this photo

Besides Papallacta, I also had the chance to visit La Carolina’s botanical garden, which was so cool! In general, when most people enter La Carolina, they forget (at least a little bit) that they’re surrounded by city-life. However, when entering the garden itself, all thoughts regarding the “outside” world become nonexistent and the focus is directed towards what is visually present.

Since Ecuador has a large variety of orchid species, they were scattered throughout the entire garden, which was nice to experience. There was also a section of the garden dedicated to the senses, which grouped together herbs and other potently smelling plants. For the first time, I smelled pure lemongrass, which has now become my new favorite smell!

After this excursion, Oliver, Blue, and I sat near a lagoon in La Carolina, where we ended up buying pies from a few Ecuadorian Scouts (which are very similar to the U.S. Boy/Girl Scouts). From them, I ended up getting an apple pie, which had some abnormally great crust!

Pictured is a webbed pink flower that is hanging from above vines. The flow is surrounded by small branches and tree leaves with the sun peaking through the branch gaps. — Just one (of many) plants in the Botanical Garden

Pictured is a pond surrounded by neatly-lined rocks and green shrubbery. On the pond itself are gleams from the sun. — A beautiful pond in the Botanical Garden

Pictured is a white Ecuadorian flower. The whole flower is round, but is made up of smaller white flowers with pointed petals. On top of the flower is a bee who wants to pollenate. — Another Ecuadorian flower (with a bee)

Pictured are some local ducks resting near a rain puddle. These ducks a very huge and have different colorings; I duck is white and brown, another is mostly white with smaller red details, and the third is dark brown with a little black. — These are the biggest ducks I’ve ever seen!

For the past few weeks, I’ve also been trying to put extra effort towards improving my Spanish comprehension skills. With this goal in mind, I have so far watched three-of-the-four Shrek movies with Spanish sound/subtitles. A lot of the international students agree that Shrek in Spanish is a lot better than Shrek in English. I, however, can’t really add anything to this argument, as I (fun fact) had never actually watched Shrek until a few weeks ago, and therefore have never seen the English version. I will say though, that Spanish Shrek is really funny, and I 100 percent recommend it!

Pictured is a scene from Shrek. In this scene, Shrek looks very angry while Donkey is supporting his friend. On the screen are Spanish subtitles, which translate to: Your swamp? Yes, my swamp! — Yes, this is Shrek’s swamp!

¡Chao!

Cassie Klagge