Brief Intermission

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Woo hoo!

(Late) Pic of us on the Chiva

I'm back in the States right now. I got here on the morning of 18 December and my flight back to Ecuador is on 03 January. Christmas was good, snow is good, malls are bad. Malls have always made me anxious and twitchy, but during Christmastime and after five months in South America, it's just too much.

Christmas Tree at the Beaver Dam

Best parts about being in Michigan include: snow, seeing friends and family.

Worst parts about being in Michigan include: being frozen at all times, lack of Wolf Pack, not having any money.

Also, I've experienced a lot of weird cultural-mindfuck things since being back. First, I feel weird having to throw toilet paper in the toilet. Totally alien. Also, really really tall people. And United Statesians are boisterous, pushy and impersonal. Yikes.

Our program director at Michigan State University fucked us over big time about living in the apartment. We had gone over the plan 10,000 times: we would move in to our place and then receive the money we would have paid our host families to pay rent and stuff. Long after this was decided and we moved in and started our new lives, our director sent an e-mail to the three of us saying that there was no way he could pay us the host-family-money because it was 100% against State's study abroad policy. He said that he could credit our accounts with the money, but how the hell am I going to buy groceries and pay for the bus to school with a MSU tuition credit? I've always been majorly disappointed with the Stateside regulation and communication of the Ecuador program, but this takes the cake.

Anyway.

I feel like this two(ish) week break is just a pause from my real life. I long for the Ecua bio-dome. As much as it's been wonderful to see everyone here, I'm ready to go back, just like how it would be if I had come back from State for vacation. But kind of more, because it's Ecuador.

Two pics from the Huasipichai (housewarming party) at the Beaver Dam

New Years resolutions include speaking more Spanish, making more friends (especially people in my classes), and being more responsible with money.

Next semester I'm taking El Boom Latinoamericano (a lit class about the Latin American literature boom), Política Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian politics), Temas de America Latina (another politics class), Conversación Avanzada (advanced Spanish conversation), and Dibujo Básico (basic drawing!!). How exciting!! Three classes count for my Spanish major and one for James Madison. Drawing doesn't count for anything but it's gonna be awesome anyway.

That's all I have to report.

It has recently come to my attention that people actually read this thing... so I guess I'd better commit to updating more often. Haha.

Gina.