My expectations

I am very shy about trying new foods. I believe this could possibly be taken as ethnocentric because I may not try certain foods, like meat, because of this. I am also a vegetarian, so that may make trying new things difficult. I am also not accustom to people being very close to me, so that will be a bit of a shock to me as well.

Some stereotypes of Latin Americans would be that they typically have large families, are very close to others and don't respect personal space.

I think they may see Americans as unhealthy and very uptight. We can appear to be very distant and not close with our families when looking from a different cultural perspective.

I think it might be pretty hard to communicate with the locals at first, as well as there might s bit of a culture shock when we get there. Especially with living with host families.

I hope to gain a better understanding of Ecuadorian culture, what it's like to live within another culture, as well as experience new things. I also hope to break out of my shell a bit and get more comfortable and trusting of others.

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