Six days

Eight months of filling out applications, translating everything I'm thinking into Spanish, worrying about money, and convincing various family members that yes, Quito is safe! has come down to this: What underwear should I bring?

I've been obsessively making a re-making lists (I think it's some kind of High Fidelity-esque hazard of working in a record store) all summer, but now that it comes down to actually packing, I can neither literally nor figuratively get my shit together. Clothes are everywhere, I can't decide what books to bring... it's quite overwhelming.

But I'm SO SUPER EXCITED that I could just arrive with a paper bag full of woodchips and still be overjoyed.

Here's what my class schedule is going to be like:

MWF:

1100AM-1155AM - EAI315 - Gramatica Avanzada (Advanced Spanish Grammar)

1200PM-1255PM - SOC 340 - Genero y Sociedad (Gender and Society)

TTh

1000AM-1125AM - SOC 290 - Problemas Sociales del Ecuador (Social Problems of Ecuador)

1130AM-1255PM - EAI 321 - Lengua y Literatura (Spanish Language and Literature)

All the classes are three credits, so that's twelve in all. After having taken between 15 and 18 credits for the past four semesters at Michigan State, this doesn't seem like a whole lot of classes, but then I remember, oh yeah, this is all going to be in Spanish.

My "mama ecuatoriana," as she referred to herself, seems wonderful. Rita is a psychologist, and also has some kind of import/export company where she buys and sells flower seeds. Her daughter's name is Maria Elena, and she's married and out of the house. Her son, Jose Ignacio, is 21 and goes to USFQ. The housekeeper's name is Rosita, and they have a German shepherd named Titi.

That's all I can stand to write for now. I'm exhausted and I really should pack... haha.

Much love, Gina.