...AND SO IT BEGINS!

          Am I really in Ecuador right now? It doesn’t seem real to me, still, but I absolutely love it so far! There are so many stories I have to share already but unless you would like to read for hours at a time, I am going to have to cut some of it out until I make it back to PA to share. I suppose we will start with the beginning…

          On January 2^nd (the day before I left) and on the 3^rd, I was bombarded with texts wishing me the best of luck on my semester abroad. I would like to take the time now to thank everyone for all of their support, prayers and generous donations for this trip. I wish I could thank all of you individually but just know that I appreciate it more than I could explain. I also appreciate the infinite amount of advice from everyone… some was helpful and would make me even more excited and then others were interesting tid-bits of info to say the least.

          My whole family was able to drive me down to the Baltimore airport where I would be flying by myself for the first time. After I checked in my bag we all just sat in the little for court until it was closer time for my flight since they wouldn’t be able to go with me through security. Not only was my immediate family there but my cousin Adam who lives down there made a special trip in to say good-bye and leave me with some flying/traveling advice… he and his wife Lea are professionals at this type of thing. Text messages kept coming in from so many people to again, wish me the very best and safe travels. I also was able to talk to my cousin Tasha on the phone for a few minutes right before I was about ready to venture out on my own; I think she was as excited for me as I was! Everyone walked me over to where security was to say good-bye and every time I hugged another person it would become a little more real to me that I would be leaving for 4.5 months. There were so many emotions  going on for me at this point… excited to actually be in Quito, nervous about forgetting something for customs and not being allowed into the country, and of course, sad about leaving my family. I didn’t want to drag it out because I knew that if I did I wouldn’t be able to stop crying for a while, but I made it. The man that took my ticket must have been watching our little hug session because when I handed him the ticket he said, “aren’t you going to take all of them with you?”… I wish.

          Everything with my flights worked out incredibly smoothly. I had a short layover in Miami and it was just the right amount of time for me to find my next gate and be sure that I had everything I needed in order. That was the first time that I had ever been in Florida and I could not believe how much Spanish was down there! I knew that it was common for that area but holy man! I will say that I was trying to eaves-drop on some conversations just to see how much I could pick up, hah.

          After four hours of flying from Miami I finally made it to Quito around 8:30. The city looked incredible coming in! Quito is long and narrow but I hear that in 2010 there were 2.7 million people who lived there! There were so many lights in the valleys of the mountains and volcanoes and I was just in awe of it.

           When I got off of the plane I ran into a group of nearly 20 others so I asked them if they were all here for the BCA study abroad program…and they weren’t. They were studying abroad but were there through another program. I decided to welcome myself into their group anyways. It was so easy getting through customs and then I grabbed my bag and went off to sit at a little café to wait to meet up with my group.

          I arrived roughly an hour and a half before the rest of them so I waited there and ordered a hot chocolate like my director told me to. I don’t know why, but I was expecting the hot chocolate to taste just like it does in the States, but it doesn’t. It actually tasted bitter to me. That was when I realized why the lady gave me 3 packets of white sugar. It wasn’t bad but definitely made me remember that there are going to be many things I will need to adjust to.

          Two of my directors came in to get me and it was easy to recognize them because of the group they set up on facebook. I went to shake his hand and he said, “that isn’t how we do things here” and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. Oookaayy, culture difference number one. Even when meeting for the first time that is how everyone is greeted. BCA sent out bright green luggage tags to everyone so that it was easy to identify who belonged to our little group. Every time someone would walk in, the group that was there would cheer loudly and clap for their arrival, followed by the kiss greeting. Everyone was just so excited to be there that we all had so much to say to each other. It has only been one real day and we are already getting close. So far so good!