Big Bad Blog Update

It has been so long since my last post you all must be dieing for new information. Ok my population ecology class has been intense there is so much new information crammed into such a short period. It was hard to believe that mid-terms had arrived after only a week and a half of classes! The subject itself is dry with lots of statistics and case studies. However, I think the second half of this class will be far more exciting. On Friday, we all ship out to the Tiputini Bio-diversity center in the Amazon to do some exploring there. I will be sure to have my camera and extra batteries with me so I can take many pictures!

The Campus that we take classes at while we are in Quito is really beautiful although smaller then KSC; it has lots of art in each of the buildings and a very large tea garden out side complete with a coy pond and waterfall. It is almost more of a resort then a school. Another amazing thing about this school is that it features a culinary program. This means that our lunches are made by student studying to be gourmet chefs! So needless to say, the food is so good! None of you have to worry about me going hungry while I am here.

My classmates are all nice and came from all different backgrounds. Most of them come from the Midwest especially the University of Illinois. We all get along fairly well and so I hope that we will all be good friends after this program is done.

Days off here are very rare but when we do get them, we know how to enjoy. The first free weekend that I was here, I spent exploring the he park that is a block away from the hotel. It was a Saturday and so the place had a carnival atmosphere. One aspect of the culture here that I really enjoy is that people take the time to celebrate the weekend and enjoy it with friends and family. It is like a holiday at the en of every week. Like in the US Sundays are for ‘futbol’ however its not about sitting around in sweats and watching fat guys pummel each other. The soccer fields are filled with people playing with friends and family all in their favorite team’s jersey. It’s a real spectacle to watch. I have not yet had the courage to join a game ever though I was invited several times. Hopefully I will play before I leave. I want to get some more information about the professional teams…I think its time I leaned about another new sport.

Last weekend we where picked up from the hotel and shipped off to a very large out door market. On the way there, we passed thought the mountains and the view out the bus window was breath taking! The market was exciting, so many colorful things and people. I restrained myself from buying everything in sight because I knew that I would have to lug it aground with me for the next 3 months. I would like to go back there when I come back from Galapagos.

I am getting anxious to get out of this loud dirty city and enjoy the quite of the islands. Quito has a very interesting charm. It seems as though just as I am getting used to life in the city, we ship out to the next stage of our adventure. I am ready for the calm of the islands.

I hear tat NH is having a cold snap, you must know that I am thinking about you guys each time I put on sunscreen before heading off to class. Speaking of class, I have to catch the bus, hope all is well and I will update again when I get back from the Amazon.

~Chrysann

P.S: pictures are hard to load here, but I will update the photo bucket hopefully tonight

New Photobucket account!

The internet here is pretty slow, so uploading pictures is a real trick! Follow this link to see the pics of the city tour! I will add more pics as i take them.

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb94/TicklishTiger/Quito/

also, stay tuned to read about my crazy weekend of dancing and a paddle boat from hell

disorentation

I know that it has been a couple days since my last post. Things here have been so busy and I feel like I have been in a constant daze! Slowly I am getting to know my way around the city and find the things that I need. Aka the tooth bush that is sitting on my desk at home.

I got the news of the New Hampshire primaries Wednesday morning at breakfast. It was on the T.V. her in Quito. It was neat to see our little state make international headlines. I was surprised at how big this event was. I and most of the other people in the program where disappointed that Hillary snuck out a victory over Obama, but we are still holding out hope!

We started classes yesterday, the first module that I have is Population Ecology. It is an interesting subject but the book is really dry and the professor speaks broken English so it is a bit of a challenge to understand what is going on. I think that it will get easier as time goes by but right now its pretty crazy.

My Spanglish is getting better I can now muddle and flail my way though most introductory conversations. I can ask for directions and almost understand what they are saying when they give them to me! Last night I was even able to order a pizza and have it delivered. I will not come home fluent but already I have recovered so much of what I learned in high school.

Many of the other people in this program have been going out every night I don’t know how they do it! I am so exhausted from all of this new stuff that I pour myself into bed around midnight each night. I have gone out once with then, and had a good time, but I left before “drunk thirty”. Typically I have been hanging out with Anna, Hanns, Caite and Mulette in our room at night. We play cards and laugh a lot, they are a good group and I feel a little less home sick when I am around them.

It is Caities birthday on Friday and so all of us are going to go out for drinks to celebrate and celebrate surviving our first week here! I finally have the weekend free do some exploring of Quito on my own and to relax a little bit.

I guess that is all the new in my corner of the world, How are you guys doing?

Orentation day

I went out with the other students for some “fine ales” last night. It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to get to know people. I made friends with a guy named Hans from Norway, who will be studding with us. We left the party early because of the early start in the morning and a lack of sleep from the morning before. I am slowly leaning my way around the city and how to use the public transportation system. It is recommended that you take a taxi after dark to get anywhere. I am a little worried about the crime here, it seems to be a real problem. However, the locals that we have met so far have been really nice and welcoming so It is defiantly a minority that are causing trouble for the rest of the population.

Wakeup this morning (Monday) was at 7:15am so that we could have time to get breakfast and be on the bus by 8:15 to go to the school for orientation. The campus that we are taking the classes in was farther away then I had originally thought, we will be taking a bus each morning and afternoon. It is an amazing place with a tiles court yard with a fountain in the middle. Also there is a beautiful tea garden in the back of the school for the students to relax in. We met two of our professors who gave us overviews of their programs and a bit more insight to life on the islands. The first speaker was the co-founder of the GAIAS program and the other was the founder of the research station in the Amazon that we will be staying at.

We came home at about two this afternoon and had the rest of the afternoon free. This was good because it was the first time I have really had a chance to relax and take in the surroundings. Culture shock is something that we where warned about in orientation, and now I am beginning to understand what they mean. While we are walking around the city, my mind kept wondering to things from home. It was hard to stay focused. In time I will fully adjust to things here, I need to make sure there is always some time for my self each day.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world and I hope to hear from you soon!

~Chrysann

Citiy Tour

*no pics right now...they will be comeing soon..*

Sorry that last post was so sparse. I was to existed from traveling I just wanted to let the world know that I made it safely and then go to bed! Despite it being a long and very busy day everything went smoothly. Both flights where on time and i met a large part of my classmates in the Huston airport. before boarding the plane, we all just stood in a big circle and got to know each other. It was really neat. Most of the people here are from the US and in the mid west, there is one girl from Maine and one from Boston. There are only 3 people on the trip with us, lucky for them!

Today, despite the late night, we got up early to attend the city tour. I took tons of pictures, some of which I will post here and the rest i will post on a Photo bucket account that I will link to. First stop was the trip was the site of a dormant volcano. It was a huge depression in the ground that people where farming in. My description is not doing it justice. The site is surrounded by steep sides that are covered in vegetation. Because we are so high up the clouds drift in and out of the creator making it look just incredible!

After that we piled back onto the bus and headed to the GPS accurate equator line. We had a guided tour of the area that emphasized the culture of the indigenous people. We saw the types of huts tthat they lived in and leaned a bit about their belif system. It was really interesting. As part of this tour we got to do some interesting experiments with the center line of the earth. For one of them the tour guide poured water into basin with a drain in the bottom on the equatorial line. The water went straight down no spinning what so ever. Then, she moved the basin just a few feet to the north and re pored the water and it spun counter clockwise and clock wise in the south! I did not expect such a change over a short distance. Also, it is easier to balance an egg on its end on the equator.

After lunch we went to some of the historic sites in Quito and got to do a bit of shopping. So far everyone here seems really nice and has a good sense of adventure. I am living with two girls Hanna and Anna and we are getting along great. Ok we are all going out soon so I thing I will wrap up here. Sorry this post is so disorganized…I’m a bit scatterbrained tonight

I made it!

Im in Quito...to tired for a real post. Will write more after i can sleep.