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!