Thoughts from a Coffeeshop

As I sit here in one of my favorite coffeeshops near my apartment at 5:51 on a Wednesday afternoon, I’m having a hard time coming up with something to write about. Not because I have nothing to say, but more so that I don’t have the right words to sum up my thoughts about my …

To the Mountains We Go

Since the weekend before we went to the beach and had quite the relaxing weekend, some of us decided to go for some more adventure and spend this weekend hiking. Eight of us traveled to Quilotoa, a small town in the middle of nowhere that’s about three hours south of Quito. This rural town is …

Canoa: Sun, Sand, & Storytelling

This weekend my friends and I traveled to a town on the coast called Canoa. Canoa is not the typical beach town that you think of, but rather it consists of hostels and small outdoor restaurants/bars that line the beach. It isn’t very developed, giving it a feeling of seclusion and peacefulness which makes for an …

A Day in the Life

I have lived in Quito for about a month now and it is pretty crazy to think about how fast everything has happened. Time is such a strange concept while studying abroad. While I feel like I just said goodbye to Holland, I also feel like I have adjusted to life here and that this Ecuadorian …

Leaps of Faith

I’ve been in Ecuador for a little over three weeks now and it’s amazing to think about the experiences I have already had and how they have changed me. I am still observing everything around me and am trying to make sense of cultural differences, but so far it has been an adventure that I’m …

A Weekend in Mindo

This past weekend I traveled with fourteen other people from my program to Mindo. Mindo is a quaint little town located north of Quito in the Andean foothills. We arrived in Mindo on Friday morning after a two hour bus ride and went straight to our hostel, Bio Hostal. This was my first experience staying …

Welcome to Ecuador

One week ago I left everything comfortable behind to embark on a 4 1/2 month journey to Quito, Ecuador. I left my home, family, friends, favorite foods, the snow (not too sad about that one), and the all of the security that comes through those things. I’m now living in a new country where the language, …