Making the most of my semester

I’m having a great time in Ecuador so far. I’ve gone out dancing in sketchy clubs, seen a fantastic Ecuadorian movie and understood almost all of it, videotaped band rehearsal for my host dad and brother, and tried to explain the debt ceiling crisis, my disillusionment with Obama, the situation on the US-Mexico border, why neoliberal economic policies and Latin American dictators in the 70s were connected and the events of 9/11 in Spanish to various host parents and siblings. Quito isn’t what many people would picture as a city in the Third World—there are malls with legitimate North American and European brands, plenty of people driving nice cars, and a refreshing lack of stray dogs. Athens, Greece looked more like a developing country to me than Quito does. My host family here is very cosmopolitan. My parents and 17 year old brother are all fluent in English. They’ve been to Miami several times. My dad and brother are in a rock band, complete with a gorgeous set of professional equipment—electronic keyboards, a drum set, a sound board, electric guitar, bass, amp and microphone.

I’ve also been thinking about withdrawing from my study abroad program. Because as much fun as I’ve been having, I feel a little too comfortable here. My classes are with the other students in the program—all gringos—and while I love everyone in the group (and I mean that seriously; we have an amazing group of people), I never come to class terrified that I won’t know what to say or won’t understand something. I have two hours of Spanish class a day, and I speak a bit with my host family, but overall, I’m not practicing as much as I’d like. While the ecology and science stuff we’re learning in class is really interesting, I’m not sure that’s the best use of my remaining two and a half months here in Ecuador.

My alternative vision for the rest of the semester involves returning to the Intag cloud forest area that the group visited on an excursion. The community of Junin has been the center of an anti-mining struggle, and there are a ton of projects that the people there need help with. The anti-mining activist group DECOIN is working on developing their ecotourism program to provide the community with an alternative source of income. They have an adult high school where I could teach English and computer skills. There’s also a newspaper in another town in Intag that I could spend time working on. So I’m thinking of heading back out there after the group goes on our Amazon trip in a week and staying until the end of the semester (except for the Galapagos Islands trip—not trying to miss that), which would give me about two months in one place.

In Intag, I would be miserable for at least a few days. I would be scared, unable to communicate with people sometimes. I would be so incredibly sick of the food after two months of plain white rice and yucca with fried eggs that I would probably swear off starches for good. I would get to shower once (maybe twice a week). I would be covered in black fly bites. I would probably get sick. But I also know that I would learn a lot more about the kinds of things I care about. I would make legitimate connections with Ecuadorians. I might even be able to help the community in a meaningful way, and at the very least, I would understand what they’re going through much better.

All things being equal, I would go to Intag in a heartbeat. As things stand right now, I’m waiting to hear back from Whitman about policies with withdrawing from programs. I have to consider cost, my grades (study abroad grades don’t factor into GPA, but I’d still rather not have 3Fs on my transcript) and the other people in the program, who I would miss tons if I head off into the wilds of rural Ecuador.

Sylvia, one of the program academic directors, was talking to the group yesterday about our independent study projects. For the last month of the program, everyone spend a month by themselves working on a project to benefit a local community (projects are chosen based on the intersection of student interest and community requests) and writing a report in Spanish about it. She told us that we would get about 70 requests for projects, and that many of them would appeal to us. She said that we would never know our opportunity cost for choosing the project we did—we would never know if we would have been happier doing something else, so it wasn’t worth worrying about. That advice seemed very applicable to my situation. If I stay here in Quito and finish the program, I will get to go back to Intag for a month for my project. I’ll have a really fun semester, go out dancing a lot, see more movies in Spanish, get to know the other students on the program really well, and keep learning guitar under the direction of my host brother (I'm up to two chords, and it takes me about 30 seconds to switch between them). My Spanish will improve, perhaps not as much as I’d like, but a decent amount. If I go to Intag, I’ll get to do something I think is really important, get to know a group of Ecuadorians much better, learn about actual activism, practice my teaching skills and improve my Spanish a lot. Either way, I’ll have a great experience, and while I know which one I’d rather pick, I’m not going to worry too much about it. I’ll decide sometime this week, as soon as I hear back from Whitman and talk to my parents. And I’m so excited for whatever lies ahead.