This week classes were really interesting as we actually started lectures and readings about the material instead of the pretty broad introductions at the beginning of the semester. I really like the opportunity to take more liberal arts classes. For example in my film seminar we watched a French documentary on the American military in Iraq that would have been extremely controversial in the US. It was a pretty disturbing movie and I’m really looking forward to our discussion next Tuesday. We’ve also been reading some very “loaded” stories in my lit class.
On Friday I went to the Museo de Arte Moderno a la Casa Cultural for my art history class to check out the art on display from the 19th and 20th century. The art was great and it was cool to see the artists’ portrayal of the social and political atmosphere at that time. But the thing I’ll remember most about the visit the museum was the lighting…so all over Quito they are taking measures to cut back on electricity since we are in a major drought and most of the power is hydroelectric. So the museum’s way to conserve is through motion sensor lighting which makes sense since they just stay off unless someone is actually looking at a specific exhibit. What this means though is that every time you stopped in front of a piece of art to take a closer look, the lights went out, so you had to kind of dance around to avoid looking at a painting in the complete dark.
After the museum I went to meet some friends in Parque Carolina, the huge park near my apartment, and on our way back home, my friend Kristin and I got caught in a big protest on one of the major streets. A bunch of students were protesting the exportation of petroleum with signs, whistles, bullhorns, etc, and they were actually stopping traffic on both sides of the street. It was neat to see students involved in controversial issues here just like they are at home but it also made me hope that the political uprising they’re predicting relatively soon here holds off until I can read about it in the news at home!
Saturday and Sunday we had 2 day-long field trips for my volcano class. The professor Theo is awesome, so enthusiastic and incredibly energetic so we learned a lot from first hand experience, and the trips were also a good way to meet people since we were on busses for a while. On Saturday we went to a bunch of different places to collect different types of volcanic rocks (which was admittedly kind of dry…), but we drove through really scenic landscape and on the way back to Quito, made a stop in the thermal baths of Papallacta. In that town there are a bunch of resorts with pools filled with water volcanically heated hot springs. All in all it was a pretty relaxing way to learn about geothermal energy…
Sunday we drove to Cuicocha, about 2 hours north of Quito to Ecuador’s 5th most active volcano. In the shadow of the volcano was a crystal clear crater lake that formed when a volcano collapsed in on itself thousands of years ago. It was a warm and sunny day so it was great to sit by the lake and take a boat ride around the volcanic islands that had formed in the middle. Can’t say I’ve done anything this cool in a class back home
Also, I’ve put up some pictures using picasa, but I’m still trying to figure it out. Check them out though:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kate.s.dickson/
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Mindo!
Friday afternoon Will and I took a bus from Quito up to a tiny town called Mindo, 2 hours to the northwest. It’s a town up in the rainforest known for its outdoor activities and it’s a popular weekend trip for tourists and families from Quito alike. We stayed in a hostel that a girl on our bus recommended called Casa de Cecilia and it was straight out of Swiss Family Robinson. It was tucked away back in the trees and all of the dormitory style rooms were at the top of ladders and there were hammocks in the common areas. That night we met up with a group of 2 Americans, 1 Ecuadorian, and a Spaniard working on environmental mitigation for an international company in Quito. They had actually just gotten back from Haiti last week, in what ended up being a pretty timely departure; but meeting such interesting people is the coolest thing about staying in hostels. That night was the first time I had to sleep under a mosquito net since this summer and its definitely something I didn’t miss at all :)
In the morning, after Cecelia cooked us breakfast, we went “canopying” with the group from the night before, which is basically zip-lining through the trees. It was such a rush and the view from the top of the ziplines was insane. The most fun part was when they let you go “superman” which was hanging upside –down with your hands and head dangling below your body. In the afternoon we met up with Ben and Priscilla, our 2 other friends from school and then went hiking to a series of waterfalls. To get to the waterfalls you had to ride on the Terevista, a tiny cable car across 2 mountains. It was really neat because once you were across, you could just explore the trails to the different falls and spend as much time at each as you like.
On Sunday before heading back to Quito we rode in the back of a truck back to the top of the mountain to another waterfall, solo, but much bigger than the ones from Saturday. There in the canyon, they had built sort of an outdoor water park, with a swimming hole at the base of the falls, a rope swing, some jumps into the river and even a water slide from the top of the fall into the water below. Definitely worth the steep hike down and back! Before catching the bus back we had lunch at this place we found where the woman running it was a grill-master worthy of food network. She had this huge grill with all different types of meat, trout, chicken, grilled corn, and grilled plantains. You got a huge plate of veggies, rice, beans, and plantains, plus whatever type of meat you ordered for 2 dollars, and you could tell it was legit because it was literally packed at all hours. Yum!
Also, pictures soon to come, I'm trying to figure out picasa now...so I'll keep you all posted.
Love,
Kate
In the morning, after Cecelia cooked us breakfast, we went “canopying” with the group from the night before, which is basically zip-lining through the trees. It was such a rush and the view from the top of the ziplines was insane. The most fun part was when they let you go “superman” which was hanging upside –down with your hands and head dangling below your body. In the afternoon we met up with Ben and Priscilla, our 2 other friends from school and then went hiking to a series of waterfalls. To get to the waterfalls you had to ride on the Terevista, a tiny cable car across 2 mountains. It was really neat because once you were across, you could just explore the trails to the different falls and spend as much time at each as you like.
On Sunday before heading back to Quito we rode in the back of a truck back to the top of the mountain to another waterfall, solo, but much bigger than the ones from Saturday. There in the canyon, they had built sort of an outdoor water park, with a swimming hole at the base of the falls, a rope swing, some jumps into the river and even a water slide from the top of the fall into the water below. Definitely worth the steep hike down and back! Before catching the bus back we had lunch at this place we found where the woman running it was a grill-master worthy of food network. She had this huge grill with all different types of meat, trout, chicken, grilled corn, and grilled plantains. You got a huge plate of veggies, rice, beans, and plantains, plus whatever type of meat you ordered for 2 dollars, and you could tell it was legit because it was literally packed at all hours. Yum!
Also, pictures soon to come, I'm trying to figure out picasa now...so I'll keep you all posted.
Love,
Kate
Thursday, January 14, 2010
San Fashionista
Wow, I could really get used to 3 day weekends—I’m definitely going to have to try and arrange that next year in Chapel Hill! I spent literally all day Friday getting documents and pictures together to obtain my CENSO card, which is basically a temporary ID for my time here. Friday night, my family took me to see downtown Quito by night which was incredible because everything was still lit up for the holidays. All of the really old government buildings were illuminated and its cheesy but everything looked like a post card. They close off one street, called La Ronda, to cars at night and all of the store fronts, restaurants, and bars open up and its basically one big street festival with live music and people everywhere. This used to be a really run down, dangerous part of town but in recent years it has been restored and now it’s one of the city’s centers for artisans, dining, etc. Each store front has a huge caldron of canelazo a drink kind of like hot cider, made from a variety of fruits, cinnamon and the alcohol from sugarcane. They also sell little snacks and sweets that Tania told me were traditional from back during her childhood.
Saturday I went with Ben and Will, 2 of the other UNC students here back to El Centro for some touristy stuff. We took the bus downtown then basically just wandered around for like 6 hours…I have no idea everywhere we went but we were just trying to take it all in. We visited 2 famous churches, La Compania, which is almost completely decorated in gold, and La Basilica, a huge stone church like Notre Dame. We climbed up this tiny, rickety metal ladder to the top of the tower, and from there the view of Quito and the surrounding valleys was incredible. Totally worth the nerve racking climb back down. After one of the $1.25 set-menu lunches in a tiny restaurant, we met up with a friend of one of Ben’s friends, a girl named from Priscilla who lives in Quito now but spent a lot of time in the US before college. She showed us around downtown more and it was interesting learn about the city from someone more familiar with its history. That night I went out with Maria Jose and Daniel for my first trip into La Mariscal, Quito’s nightlife epicenter—also called “gringo-landia” by people from Ecuador because of how many foreigners go there to hang out at night…it’s a really fun and crazy scene.
On Sunday we had breakfast and Daniel’s family’s house in a valley outside of Quito and then went to the “abuelito’s” house where they have a family cook-out every Sunday. You guys would not believe how much meat I ate…seriously. I tried it all, salchichas, like grilled hot dogs, some huge slab of who knows what meat, and grilled chicken. Oh, and they also made my try tripe because I told them I wanted to try everything, which some intestine of a cow…and it definitely wasn’t my favorite. Amidst the conversation one of the cousins told me that the nickname for the U. San Francisco is San Fashionista, which I found funny and totally true.… we were warned before coming that the students at USFQ dress up for class everyday and are really stylish, and I’d definitely noticed that! The language barrier got a little frustrating for the first time really at the cookout because they reminded me so much of my family that I wanted to be able to communicate like I do with you all. But I’m making progress so it will be a little better each time.
I’ve also started trying to run again after adjusting to the altitude for a week or so. There is a huge park by our house where tons of people are always running, walking, or playing soccer but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get out and clear my mind, but 30 minutes of easy jogging literally feels like an hour of sprinting up-hill!
Saturday I went with Ben and Will, 2 of the other UNC students here back to El Centro for some touristy stuff. We took the bus downtown then basically just wandered around for like 6 hours…I have no idea everywhere we went but we were just trying to take it all in. We visited 2 famous churches, La Compania, which is almost completely decorated in gold, and La Basilica, a huge stone church like Notre Dame. We climbed up this tiny, rickety metal ladder to the top of the tower, and from there the view of Quito and the surrounding valleys was incredible. Totally worth the nerve racking climb back down. After one of the $1.25 set-menu lunches in a tiny restaurant, we met up with a friend of one of Ben’s friends, a girl named from Priscilla who lives in Quito now but spent a lot of time in the US before college. She showed us around downtown more and it was interesting learn about the city from someone more familiar with its history. That night I went out with Maria Jose and Daniel for my first trip into La Mariscal, Quito’s nightlife epicenter—also called “gringo-landia” by people from Ecuador because of how many foreigners go there to hang out at night…it’s a really fun and crazy scene.
On Sunday we had breakfast and Daniel’s family’s house in a valley outside of Quito and then went to the “abuelito’s” house where they have a family cook-out every Sunday. You guys would not believe how much meat I ate…seriously. I tried it all, salchichas, like grilled hot dogs, some huge slab of who knows what meat, and grilled chicken. Oh, and they also made my try tripe because I told them I wanted to try everything, which some intestine of a cow…and it definitely wasn’t my favorite. Amidst the conversation one of the cousins told me that the nickname for the U. San Francisco is San Fashionista, which I found funny and totally true.… we were warned before coming that the students at USFQ dress up for class everyday and are really stylish, and I’d definitely noticed that! The language barrier got a little frustrating for the first time really at the cookout because they reminded me so much of my family that I wanted to be able to communicate like I do with you all. But I’m making progress so it will be a little better each time.
I’ve also started trying to run again after adjusting to the altitude for a week or so. There is a huge park by our house where tons of people are always running, walking, or playing soccer but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get out and clear my mind, but 30 minutes of easy jogging literally feels like an hour of sprinting up-hill!
Friday, January 8, 2010
First week of classes
Hey everyone,
Just finished my first week of classes and I think it’s going to be a really interesting, and hopefully not too stressful semester. I’m excited to take a lot of artsy classes that I would never have room in my schedule for at UNC. And after getting kicked out of my first class (photography I) in literally the first 2 minutes, I rearranged my schedule some so this is what it looks like:
Mondays and Wednesday’s I’ve got a History of Modern Latin American art class first. La professora is super enthusiastic which means she talks really fast, but its going to be really interesting if I can keep up. We get to take field trips to different murals and museums around Quito, so it will be a great way to see the city and see how things like colonialism, the mix of indigenous, European, and American cultures, and political unrest has affected the art of this region. Then I have a class on Ecuadorian short stories. This one might be tough since it’s actually my first literature class of any kind since 12th grade—and the teacher mumbles (which I’ve been told I do, so maybe I’ll leave with a greater appreciation for annunciating).
Tuesdays and Thursdays I start out with a class about the Aesthetics of Film. Its taught by a really young, hipster-esque professor and it’s the only class I have in which I’m the only non-native Spanish speaker…so that’s pretty intimidating. I’m also in a volcanology class that was recommended by everyone I talked to and for good reason. We study volcanoes for one, but most of the class is spent in the field on various field trips to the volcanoes themselves. This means its trips to places that I’d travel to anyway, but it’s free and paid for by grants to the geology department, and we get to go with an expert in the field! I finish up with a drawing class and then no class on Fridays!
Besides classes, everything else at the university is going well. The food on and off campus is good and cheap and although it is harder to get to know a lot of the students from Ecuador, all of the other exchange students are really nice. Everyone back home was right though about how stylish the students here are—most people dress up every day which is very different from UNC.
This week I also got a chance to meet my host mother’s 2 grandsons. They came over the night before classes started and they’re adorable. Emilio is 4 and Jose Maria is 8. And any Baldecchi who is reading, get this…Jose Maria’s nickname is “Gordo”, which literally means fat. Haha, I’m sure there won’t be any lasting implications, but I’m glad we stopped calling Colin “fat-fat” when he was like 4 :-)
Hasta luego, enjoy the weekend!
Just finished my first week of classes and I think it’s going to be a really interesting, and hopefully not too stressful semester. I’m excited to take a lot of artsy classes that I would never have room in my schedule for at UNC. And after getting kicked out of my first class (photography I) in literally the first 2 minutes, I rearranged my schedule some so this is what it looks like:
Mondays and Wednesday’s I’ve got a History of Modern Latin American art class first. La professora is super enthusiastic which means she talks really fast, but its going to be really interesting if I can keep up. We get to take field trips to different murals and museums around Quito, so it will be a great way to see the city and see how things like colonialism, the mix of indigenous, European, and American cultures, and political unrest has affected the art of this region. Then I have a class on Ecuadorian short stories. This one might be tough since it’s actually my first literature class of any kind since 12th grade—and the teacher mumbles (which I’ve been told I do, so maybe I’ll leave with a greater appreciation for annunciating).
Tuesdays and Thursdays I start out with a class about the Aesthetics of Film. Its taught by a really young, hipster-esque professor and it’s the only class I have in which I’m the only non-native Spanish speaker…so that’s pretty intimidating. I’m also in a volcanology class that was recommended by everyone I talked to and for good reason. We study volcanoes for one, but most of the class is spent in the field on various field trips to the volcanoes themselves. This means its trips to places that I’d travel to anyway, but it’s free and paid for by grants to the geology department, and we get to go with an expert in the field! I finish up with a drawing class and then no class on Fridays!
Besides classes, everything else at the university is going well. The food on and off campus is good and cheap and although it is harder to get to know a lot of the students from Ecuador, all of the other exchange students are really nice. Everyone back home was right though about how stylish the students here are—most people dress up every day which is very different from UNC.
This week I also got a chance to meet my host mother’s 2 grandsons. They came over the night before classes started and they’re adorable. Emilio is 4 and Jose Maria is 8. And any Baldecchi who is reading, get this…Jose Maria’s nickname is “Gordo”, which literally means fat. Haha, I’m sure there won’t be any lasting implications, but I’m glad we stopped calling Colin “fat-fat” when he was like 4 :-)
Hasta luego, enjoy the weekend!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The Beginning
When I left Raleigh on January 2nd, it was freezing. Literally. A cold front had come through and it was no more than 25 degrees (which I know is downright balmy compared to the weather elsewhere, but still.) So needless to say I was pretty excited about heading south.
At the airport, my backpack weighed in at 49.5 lbs; half a pound under the 50lb limit…I could actually be a professional packer. There were a few tears at the airport but nothing unusual for the emotional family that we are, and then I was off. It was cool because the flight to Quito was basically filled with college students clearly headed down for the semester—I even met a few going to USFQ and it turns out the girl I sat next to lives with a host family right across the street.
I got into Quito around midnight and my host family was there to pick me up with a big pink balloon with my name on it. My host mom’s name is Tania, and she has 4 kids. The youngest, Maria Jose, still lives with her, so it was Tania, Maria Jose, and Maria Jose’s boyfriend Daniel at the airport waiting for me. As a side note, Maria Jose was super excited that I caught on immediately and didn’t think it was weird that she had a double name…girl, I’m from North Carolina, try living with a Mary Southgate :)
The next morning I unpacked (and yes Mom and Dad, everything fit perfectly into my room…), and then Maria Jose and Daniel invited me to come to a “club” with them. Now a “club” can be a number of things so I asked what kind and she told me “ohh, theres a pool, lots of sports for exercising, etc”, so I’m thinking like a YMCA type of thing. I go back to my room, put on some running shorts, and shoes and an underarmor top thinking we’re headed to a Y. I threw a bathing suit in my bag at the last minute just to be safe and thank god I did.
This “club” was located about 45 minutes south of Quito in a valley and it was literally a Pullen Park, Emerald Point Water park, sports complex, and much more all combined and put on steroids. There were 3 pools, water slides, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, soccer fields, oversized board games, playgrounds, a discoteca, like 3 restaurants, a bar, and an indoor skating rink…some “club”. Anyway, we ended up hanging out by the pools for most of the afternoon because it was warm and sunny, a far cry from the freezing, overcast weather I had been in less than 24 hours before. However, my complete lack of preparation for the day’s outing left me burnt to a crisp when we finally headed home.
That night, we got back and had to go back out to the pharmacy to get Tania some medicine. I forgot to say that she had been sick since before my arrival from some food poisoning on New Year’s eve. This left us on our own for dinner, and to all of you who I bragged to about my host mother being a caterer, get this: my first dinner in Ecuador was KFC. But not even actual KFC (which they do have on practically every street corner), the “woulda-woulda” Ecuadorian chain which is almost as common. So now I’ll pause for a minute and let you all have a laugh picturing me eating a fried chicken drumstick and french fries for my first meal. (for those of you who don’t know I started eating meat over break again so I don’t miss out on anything delicious here, like KFC.)
Okay, anyway, the next day was orientation at USFQ, which is a beautiful campus in a valley called Cumbaya about 30 minutes from the apartment. Quito is a really cool city because its high in the Andes, and most of the “suburbs” are in valleys around it. I’ll usually take the bus there but for the first day Tania gave me a ride. They briefed us on health, safety, culture, and the recent Ecuadorian political scene which is FASCINATING. Seriously, I encourage anyone interested in politics to look into it…in short: 8 presidents in 11 years, a race between protestors and a decoy helicopter to the airport to stop one of the overthrown presidents from leaving the country while he hides out in the Brazilian embassy, and tons and tons of corruption—stuff made for Hollywood. Now its relatively more stable though so don’t freak out yet, mom.
Today we have the day off, and classes start tomorrow. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my spanish thus far but I feel like classes could be another story.
Anyway, wow that was a lot but thanks for reading and hopefully they’ll be shorter in the future. HAPPY NEW YEARS!
At the airport, my backpack weighed in at 49.5 lbs; half a pound under the 50lb limit…I could actually be a professional packer. There were a few tears at the airport but nothing unusual for the emotional family that we are, and then I was off. It was cool because the flight to Quito was basically filled with college students clearly headed down for the semester—I even met a few going to USFQ and it turns out the girl I sat next to lives with a host family right across the street.
I got into Quito around midnight and my host family was there to pick me up with a big pink balloon with my name on it. My host mom’s name is Tania, and she has 4 kids. The youngest, Maria Jose, still lives with her, so it was Tania, Maria Jose, and Maria Jose’s boyfriend Daniel at the airport waiting for me. As a side note, Maria Jose was super excited that I caught on immediately and didn’t think it was weird that she had a double name…girl, I’m from North Carolina, try living with a Mary Southgate :)
The next morning I unpacked (and yes Mom and Dad, everything fit perfectly into my room…), and then Maria Jose and Daniel invited me to come to a “club” with them. Now a “club” can be a number of things so I asked what kind and she told me “ohh, theres a pool, lots of sports for exercising, etc”, so I’m thinking like a YMCA type of thing. I go back to my room, put on some running shorts, and shoes and an underarmor top thinking we’re headed to a Y. I threw a bathing suit in my bag at the last minute just to be safe and thank god I did.
This “club” was located about 45 minutes south of Quito in a valley and it was literally a Pullen Park, Emerald Point Water park, sports complex, and much more all combined and put on steroids. There were 3 pools, water slides, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, soccer fields, oversized board games, playgrounds, a discoteca, like 3 restaurants, a bar, and an indoor skating rink…some “club”. Anyway, we ended up hanging out by the pools for most of the afternoon because it was warm and sunny, a far cry from the freezing, overcast weather I had been in less than 24 hours before. However, my complete lack of preparation for the day’s outing left me burnt to a crisp when we finally headed home.
That night, we got back and had to go back out to the pharmacy to get Tania some medicine. I forgot to say that she had been sick since before my arrival from some food poisoning on New Year’s eve. This left us on our own for dinner, and to all of you who I bragged to about my host mother being a caterer, get this: my first dinner in Ecuador was KFC. But not even actual KFC (which they do have on practically every street corner), the “woulda-woulda” Ecuadorian chain which is almost as common. So now I’ll pause for a minute and let you all have a laugh picturing me eating a fried chicken drumstick and french fries for my first meal. (for those of you who don’t know I started eating meat over break again so I don’t miss out on anything delicious here, like KFC.)
Okay, anyway, the next day was orientation at USFQ, which is a beautiful campus in a valley called Cumbaya about 30 minutes from the apartment. Quito is a really cool city because its high in the Andes, and most of the “suburbs” are in valleys around it. I’ll usually take the bus there but for the first day Tania gave me a ride. They briefed us on health, safety, culture, and the recent Ecuadorian political scene which is FASCINATING. Seriously, I encourage anyone interested in politics to look into it…in short: 8 presidents in 11 years, a race between protestors and a decoy helicopter to the airport to stop one of the overthrown presidents from leaving the country while he hides out in the Brazilian embassy, and tons and tons of corruption—stuff made for Hollywood. Now its relatively more stable though so don’t freak out yet, mom.
Today we have the day off, and classes start tomorrow. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my spanish thus far but I feel like classes could be another story.
Anyway, wow that was a lot but thanks for reading and hopefully they’ll be shorter in the future. HAPPY NEW YEARS!
Bienvenidos!
Hey everyone! Welcome to my latest blog! As you probably know, I will be spending the semester in Quito, Ecuador, going to the University of San Francisco-- USFQ (named for the saint, not the city), traveling, and living with a host family. Hopefully this blog will allow you all to keep tabs on some of my adventures while I’m here. Also, I’d love to keep in touch by email (katesdickson@gmail.com), or on skype (ksdickson). Anyways, enjoy!!
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