¡Estoy aquí!

After spending the past week doing an orientation in Quito and traveling to various destinations along the Andes mountains on our way to Guayaquil, I am finally here, and I love it!! It is super hot and humid, but a nice break from the snow of MN! We'll see how long that lasts. It is the rainy season, so it rains a couple times during the day and at night also. When we arrived in Guayaquil on Sunday, our host families were at the university (Universidad de Especialidades Espíratu Santo) waiting for us. I was so nervous! I love my host mom though, and she treats me as one of her own daughters. I also have a dad and two sisters, Gabi (24) and Carla (19) and a brother, Ricki (17). It is much more difficult than I had anticipated to communicate with the family, but the daughters help to clarify what mamá and papá are saying. The food here is very different than back home too. Lunch is the largest meal of the day, and dinner is more of a dessert or a small meal of bread and coffee. For breakfast today, I was served a huge plate of fruit, a grilled cheese sandwich, a large cup of tree-tomato juice, which is much sweeter than regular tomatoes, and a cup of café con leche, or coffee with milk. My host mom appeared out of the kitchen after I had eaten this with a box of Fruit Loops, informing me that they had bought it for me, and then asking what it was. I thought this was very cute! Lunch was a vegetable soup followed by chicken, rice, and salad, and for dinner we had hot chocolate (I sweat the whole time drinking that!) and a sweet bread with cheese in the middle. Used to skim milk, wheat bread, and watered-down juices, all of this rich, heavy food has been quite the change! I think it is something I could get used to. Today was our first day of classes also, and because the semester is split into 2 halves I am only taking Spanish. Hopefully it will help with my family! The school is absolutely beautiful, lined with palm trees and fountains. My favorite part of campus: the outdoor pool. The international students have bonded so much as a group over the past week, and our latest adventure was "gringos go to the mall to purchase cell phones." I am excited to see what is in store for us in the weeks to come, but as for now, I can't wait for our internship tours in the morning! ¡Ciao!