Good-bye Ecuador

Well the time went by faster than I had thought. I now only have 5 days left till I am back at home. I cannot believe my Exchange has just about ended.

I have been really up and down lately with my emotions. Sometimes I am so excited to go home. I find myself wishing time would go faster, so that I can be home and be with all my family and friends. However, I also find myself getting really sad because I don't want to leave the new life I have made for myself. Yet, I know that this part of my life has ended and I am ready to move on.

It has really started to set in that I ham going home. Last Friday I had my going away party. It was a lot of fun. I invited everyone I have become friends with here, and a friend from the exchange program as well. We all partied and I got to say good-bye to all my friends here. I had them all sign a big Ecuadorian flag so that I can hang it up in my room when I get home.

Saturday I spent my day at home with Matthew. It was nice and really just relaxing. We hung out and didn't do anything. At night we watched the Celtics kick butt, then we went out to the Pipas with Ana Maria, Valeria, and Ma Vane. It was a lot of fun. Plus I enjoyed that I got the chance to see my friends more.

Sunday we went to Vilcabamba. We swam in the pool all day and Just enjoyed our time. At the end of the day I was bummed out. I had to say good-bye to my farm house and also to all my family there. I found myself close to tears as I gave them each a big hug. Sarita gave me the biggest hug and almost wouldn't let go. It was really touching. Later we went home and hung out with Ana Maria again. I love her so much. She is such a beautiful person, inside and out.

Monday Matthew went home. It was good, I was getting really agitated with him. However, that always happens with people who aren't family. During the day I went walking and just had a nice day. The rest of the week so far I have just had school. Boring.

Friday is my last day of school here in Ecuador. "Sigh". We are going to have a picnic in class. Friday night I will go out with the girls for one last hoorah. Saturday is family day and I will be spending the day with the family and watching movies. Sunday is Lily and Diego's 23rd wedding Aniversary. So for my last day here they will be deciding what we do here. Sunday night I will go in bus to Guayaquil. Then stay over night in Guayaquil for my last night in Ecuador before I am back to good old Plymouth, MA.

I am sad to leave because I have done so much here, and learned so much, but it is time to go home.

Oh and I almost forgot. My friend Jose Roberto is going with me to Boston. I am really excited that he will go with me so I will have something to do at home while my friends are all in school. Plus it will give me more Spanish practice. Yay! I won't go home alone <3

Well the story doesn't end here. Just a new chapter begins. I have learned so much and become a much better person. Thank you Ecuador. Thank you Loja.

To All my friends here in Ecuador. You are the most amazing people. You will always have a place in my heart. No matter what.

Until Next time Ecuador.. Hasta la Vista. Los quiero demasiado.

May Flowers?

Well like I have been saying, time just keeps flying by. Last time I wrote I had 30 something days left. Well now I'm down to 19. Can you believe that. Less than 3 weeks. Now that time is getting closer I am really getting upset. I thought I was so excited to go home. To just get out of this place. But in reality this place has become home. I have made so many friends and done so much here that it is really starting to hit me that in less than 3 weeks it will all be over.
I am filled with mixed emotions. I am happy to go home, play sports, eat friendlys, and see the family. However, I am going to miss the parties, my host parents, my new friends, my life. I know that each day I get more upset that I have to go home. Here I have built a life, it's a lot easier to build a new one, than it is to go back to an old one and see everything has changed. I have seen so much just change on facebook and it scares me. I feel like I will crawl into my shell and never come out. Yet, I look forward to the challenge, and look forward to the next chapter in my life. You must take it all in stride.
I have a friend here whios name is Jose Roberto. He lives in Maryland, but is from Loja. He came back yesterday to visit. He is planning on leaving with me June 1st and staying in Boston with me for a while. Hopefully, his cousin Juan will come with us too. It would be so much fun and I would love for them to meet my family and everything too.
So even though the time is flying I haven't really been doing all that much. I have done a lot of last minute shopping. Picking up gifts and what not. Trying to see how I will pack everything. It will be tough, but it will get done. I also have been just hanging around in class and what not. Same old story. Yet, I only have 10 days left of classes!!! wooohoo.
I met this guy back in February, but am just now starting to hang out with him. He is such a sweetheart and I am really enjoying spending time with him. It is nice to still at this point in my trip, be meeting some incredible people. Luckily hes awesome and I get to spend my last few weeks with him.
Finally, last week we had our English play. It was awesome. It was Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, but a very dirty Version. Everyone really had a great time. I was so proud of how well everyone did. Plus, I got plenty of pictures!!! Always important. Take lots of pictures in life.

Plans for the next 3 weeks: Friday Russian Ballet, Despedida, Vilca.

I should be writing soon.

May here we come...

It's been a while since I have written. Though I haven't had very much time to write. I have been so so so busy with everything here. Time continues to fly by. It's almost scary. As of now I have just 35 days left. Can you believe it? A month and 4 days.

Right now I am sitting here in my room. Tired from the long month of April. The last time I wrote I was headed off to the Galapagos. Well I knew it would be wonderful, however, I never knew it would be so breathtaking. I literally don't have words to explain it. I saw things I never knew existed and did things I never thought possible. I swam with seals, sharks, and fishes. They go so close to you it's amazing. We walked 3 miles in pure heat to Tortuga Bay, which is deffenitaly one fo the most beautiful beaches ever. The 3 mile walk was well worth the sweat and pain. We ate delicous sea food, walked up volcanoes, and and into the tunnels of love. I spent the most amazing 5 days with a wonderful group of people. I took so many pictures and just really enjoyed myself. For anyone who has the time and money, deffenitally go there. It's well worth it.

When I got home from Galapagos I went back to school for a day and then went back to Guayaquil to pick up my parents! I was so excited to see them. Friday night I stayed at my friend Matthew's house. He is homosexual so we decided to go to a Gay Club. It was absolutely incredible. Like the best night of my life. It was nice to see a group of people so comfortable with each other and having a great time. My friend Matthew got to hang out with boys and really enjoy himself since none of the Ecuadorians he lives with or goes to school with know he's gay. Plus I had fun because all the guys that work there are straight so they wanted to dance with me. What could be better? It was awesome.

Saturday I hung out with Matthew and a few other Exchange friends until it was time for my parents to arrive. Their flight arrived on time and it was so awesome to get to hang out with them. We waited at the bus station for a few hours until it was time to leave to Loja. We arrived in Loja at around 8AM on Sunday. My parents were shocked by the beauty of the mountains. It was so incredible. My host parents picked us up at the terminal and gave them a quick tour. We arrived at the house, showered, and headed off to Vilcabamba. Diego was a great tour guide stopping at points so My dad could take plenty of pictures. We spent the entire day swimming, eating wonderful food, horseback-riding, and getting aquainted. When the day finally came to an end we went back to Loja. At night Noshy and Rigo invited us to their house to eat. They had a huge salad and pasta with a whole bunch of salads. Boy was I full after that. We chatted for a while and then headed off to bed.

Monday we went to visit my school. I got dressed in my uniform and we went off to Liceo de Loja. My parents met my class, my math teacher, my physics teacher, and my social studies teacher. Luckily for us, they had a civics play going on and they got to see our school sing the national anthem and also the school anthem. After school, my counselor Steve invited us to breakfast at his place. We had some sweet Ecuadorian bread and eggs. Steve and Patricia (his wife) told us all about Ecuador and a few other things. It went so well and it was such a wonderful time. After breakfast we went to the house so I could get ready to take some senior pictures. We drove up to Vilcabamba again and took some shots around our farm. It started to rain so we headed back to Loja. Later at night we went to Diego's brother's house and had a wonderful taco dinner there. My parent's said the food was the best ever. For desert it was Pineapple Cream. Oh so scrumptious. I was in heaven.

Tuesday we went to Cisol, the school I helped at a few weeks ago. As soon as I got there the kids ran up to us and swarmed my dad and mom giving them big hugs. My therapist and Dr. Riskalla donated toothbrushes to the school. It was so generous of them. Plus it helps the kids a lot. After spending time at the school we went to Borris' house. He is my art teacher at school. He used to be a street kid at Cisol, but used his art to better himself. His house is incredible and so beautiful. He will definitaly be famous someday. For lunch we went back to the house. Lily and Diego had Gunieapig prepared for my parents. They both ate it and surprisingly enjoyed it. I must say I am proud of them. Afterwards we went around the city of Loja to see some churches. At 5:30 we went to the theater to see Daniel play the piano in a concert. It was nice. After his concert my mom and I went and got our nails done. That was fun to do together. After my family, my host family, the host president (diego's brother nelson), diego's brother Viche (and his wife), and Noshy (and Rigo). It was so good. I love pizza night.

Wednesday we traveled again in bus to Cuenca. However, not only did we leave Loja, but so didn't Lily and Diego (along with Viche and Cesy). They left to Switzerland. They were so excited. So now they are gone for 3 weeks. The bus ride to Cuenca was short and very pretty. My dad had a great time taking pictures. We stayed at the Hotel Oro Verde. We ate Ceviche and then went out to the city. We saw some incredible churches made of marble. Later we had a nice snack at a French bakery. I love banana and carmel crapes. My vanilla Cappacino wasn't bad either. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and just decided to hang out.

Thursday morning we were on a bus once again. This time headed to Quito. The trip was a bit longer but my parents really loved the mountain scenary. We arrived around 6 but it wasn't to bad. We took a taxi to the Marriott. It was so beautiful. Everything was just perfect. We took our luggage up to the room and then luckily our TV had CVS so we could watch Survivor. Then after my boyfriend JT got voted off we went to dinner (thanks to my lovely grandmother and aunts). We had such wonderful steak. It was so good. I don't think I've ever had better. From there we went up to the Executive Lounge and had some nice deserts. Then off to bed again.

Friday was another eventful day. We woke up and over looked the volcano from breakfast. It was beautiful. After breakfast we went to the Artisan Market where we bought gifts and did some shopping. My parents got me a great hat and leather wallet. With the money my Aunt gave me I got a beautiful Ecuadorian purse. I was so happy. After that we brought our gifts back to the hotel and went out again. This time we went to the town center. We took a horse ride around the place and then decided to grab some pizza for lunch. After lunch we went to the Gondalla. It takes you to the highest point of the city. At exactly 15,000 feet. It was so beautiful. Yet, a bit cold, but still just so shocking. When we finished we went back to the hotel and had a nice dinner.

Saturday was our last day. We got up early to take more senior pictures over looking the city. It was a little cloudy which made perfect pictures. After breakfast we went to buy bus tickets to Guayaquil and then we took a taxi to the Middle of the World. We saw a huge Volcano crator which is still active but hasn't eruppted in many years. People acutally live in the Volcano. Crazy. Later we went to the real middle of the world. We stood across the line of the two hemispheres and had a really awesome time. We also learned that it is true about the whole water spinning in opposite directions thing. For lunch we went to TGIFridays. I missed Fridays. I had an awesome sandwhich and enjoyed eating with Mom and Dad. We were so stuffed from lunch so we went back to the hotel and swam for awile. Boy was that relaxing. At 930 we left to Guayaquil. We arrived at 530 am and from there went to the airport. I waited with them and finally it was time to say goodbye. I was so bummed out. I waited at the terminal for 3 hours and finally got on a bus to Loja. I got home at 10pm. Then I recieved an email from my mom saying the flight got cancelled. I was so bummed. HAd she called me I could have stayed there with them. I already miss them. But I am so excited they got to come here and spend such a nice week with me. I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents. I am a bit sad, but I know I will see them again in a month.

Well that's all for now. I am tired and have so much work to do. Atleast now I am looking forward to the beach, my family, and my friends. Ah I can't wait.