Challenges and Adventures

The language barrier has been my biggest challenge. There are many times when I try and say something and my host family, or people at the market, don’t understand what I am saying. I have had to use many other words and gestures in order for them to understand. I am always worried that I am going to misinterpret what they are saying and do something wrong. I have become better with understanding it since we have been here. I used to barely understand my host mom when she was talking to us, but now I am able to respond and even ask questions. Tonight at dinner, we were talking to Martha about the type of music she likes to listen to and what is popular in Ecuador. It was so funny because she kept talking about how much she loved George Michaels. I have noticed that I am becoming more confident with speaking to others in Spanish, but I am still far from perfect.

I have been listening very carefully and challenging myself to speak—even if I know what I’m going to say is probably wrong. It has really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it is good for me. I have been using gestures and asking my host family to repeat words or phrases that I don’t know—this way there is no miscommunication.

My first Spanish class went very well! I really like all of the people in my class and my teacher. Even though he only talks to us in Spanish, I feel like I can understand what he is saying. I really like learning in this environment. I am constantly surrounded by the language so it is easy to hear others and imitate what they are saying. I really enjoyed doing our song. We had a fill in the blank song and we had to try and listen to the song and fill in the blanks. It was much harder than I thought it would be. After we had the right words, we sang the song. I was very fun. I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot here at the Acedmia.


Although the clouds were out today, I had a great time at Pichincha. Once the clouds let up a little, the view was incredible. Even though the view was great, I think that I will remember David the most from this trip. He really made this experience incredible. Not only was he funny, but he has such a big heart. My favorite part was when he had us stand in silence. I can tell that he cares so much about our planet and the simple things in life. It made my heart happy. We don’t take enough time away from our “busy” lives to notice the small things. It was very refreshing to listen to someone like him. He really made this trip one that I want to do all over again.  

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