As I write this, I’m just starting my second week at my Independent Study Project (ISP) location. I’ve moved from the capital city of Quito to a small town in the Choco Cloud Forest called VillaFlora. Suffice it to say, it’s very different here! As I go through another new start, I’m keeping in mind …
Tag Archives: Environmental Science
It takes time (part 1)
Phrase in Spanish I learned this week: ¡Ojala que la hubiera encontrado más temprano! (I wish I had found this community earlier!) I had to put the sentence into DeepL’s translator to make sure I got the past subjunctive tense right before I sent the message to my new friend, Ana.* We had exchanged WhatsApp …
Culture Shock
Scene 1: I’m in a place where I feel like I do not belong. I don’t look like most other people. I’m not dressed like most other people. I am surrounded by unfamiliar objects. I don’t share the values that this space is shaped around. Music that I dislike is playing. I’m in a shopping …
Paradise (?)
Of all of our excursions, the trip to the Galápagos has certainly been the most anticipated by our group. Visions of a tropical island paradise were on everyone’s mind as we boarded our flight out of Quito last Sunday. I can’t believe this is happening! was the general consensus. On the plane, one of my …
“This is real life, baby”
And where you are ain’t where you wish that you was well your life ain’t easy and the road is rough but where you are is where He promised to be… …This is real life, baby this ain’t no Hollywood dream – Rich Mullins, “Where You Are” Before I left to go abroad, someone gave …
Home (…in the Amazon)
I’ve heard a saying from a fish who was asked “How’s the water?” It responded, “What water?” It can be hard to understand the context we’re in until we remove ourselves from that context. Recently, I’ve been experiencing this with my conception of home. When I’m in Michigan, it’s hard to pick out what exactly …
Mountains and What They Are Made Of (part 2)
Here we continue the behind-the-scenes tour of my recent mountain adventures! This post picks up where “Mountains and What They Are Made Of (part 1)” left off. Cotopaxi Even after three days in the Paramo, we apparently didn’t have our fill of outside adventures that week. So, we decided to visit Cotopaxi on Saturday. We …
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Mountains and what they are made of (part 1)
If you didn’t know, there are a lot of mountains in Ecuador. Quito sits between two mountain ranges, and recently I’ve also visited the mountains of the Paramo, Cotopaxi, and the Cloud Forest. That’s a lot of mountain experiences since my last blog! These field trip adventures could also be described as mountain-top experiences in …
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¿La Conozco?
In Spanish, there are two verbs for “to know”: saber and conocer. Saber is used for information, like “I know that Mt Chimborazo is the farthest point from the center of the earth” (Yup, take that Everest!). Conocer, on the other hand, is for people and places. It communicates that you not only know information …
Guess what? You don’t have to do it alone.
As I write this I have been in Ecuador for less than two days, just over 30 hours. The past several weeks have been full of preparation for this experience. I made packing lists, filled out documents, got vaccinations, and researched the country, all to ensure I would have everything I needed when I got …
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