Hoy le dije adiós a una de mis mejores amigas de CEDEI. Las lágrimas eran imparables, es increíble lo mucho que me impactaron mis amigas. Las voy a extrañar, pero sé que mis amistades de CEDEI no terminan con el programa. Estas son amistades para toda la vida. Cuando recién apliqué para el semestre yo tenía el plan de que este programa fuera mi primer gran paso para convertirme en una ciudadana global. Hoy puedo decir que teniendo conexiones en…
It’s truly crazy how fast this time has flown by. I only have a few more days left in Cuenca, and it’s starting to feel real that I’m leaving. I definitely have a mix of emotions about it. I’m really excited to get home and see my family, my friends, and my boyfriend, and I’m also excited to spend a week in Peru before returning to California, but I’m extremely sad to leave Cuenca where I have grown to feel…
I’ve been in Ecuador just short of 3 months now, and I noticed a shift recently that I feel less like a tourist, and more like someone living abroad. When I first arrived, everything felt new and foreign, but now I feel very comfortable in Cuenca, and it has become my new normal. I don’t have the same anxiety talking to new people here anymore, and for the most part I feel like I’m home. I have a community here…
I, like many Americans, am solely a consumer. I don’t know how to hand craft…really anything. I’m used to walking into giant stores such as Target and browsing a plethora of things. Just an enormous amount of “stuff” everywhere. Some things I’d consider to be necessities, but others are wild variations of anything and everything you can imagine. I also take access to this mass amount of stuff for granted. And when I buy things at these stores, or any…
When I told people that I was going to be studying abroad in Ecuador, I received greatly varied reactions. Some people were thrilled and told me that they had been to Ecuador or had a family member who had been and absolutely loved it. Many others, however, seemingly knew nothing about Ecuador and asked how I chose it, considering that it isn’t a common place to study abroad. In all honesty, I gave different people different answers to this question.…
Believe it or not (and it’s probably a lot easier for y’all to believe), the end of my trip abroad is quickly approaching! There is so much that I’m going to miss, and it feels like we are leaving just as I’ve come to see Cuenca as a home. HOWEVER, before I finish up with the program and the blog, I’d like to give everyone some of the best tips, tricks and pointers that I’ve learned since coming to study…
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot This past week has been another filled with lifelong memories and special Ecuadorian traditions. If y’all wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk about the Easter celebrations and some funny encounters I’ve had with Cuencanos. So back in Tennessee, my Easter is usually celebrated with a couple of church services,…
This past week has had quite its share of activities, but they’ve had a much slower pace and have ended up with much more host family bonding: a welcome respite from my group’s fast-paced (but gorgeous and infinitely memorable) vacation in the Galapagos. My week of homey Ecuadorian activities began with a trip to my host father’s work at a family-owned hacienda thirty minutes outside of the city. It was a beautiful trip into the mountains and I got to…
Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois was the original partner and collaborator of CEDEI. The concept of CEDEI began over twenty-five years ago when two of the Augustana professors, Tom Brown and Steve Wille, began to travel with students to Cuenca. These experiences were the seeds that grew into CEDEI, an institution of education and bridge-building that has worked with students from around the world for decades. This interview with Dr. Araceli Masterson, Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the…
So, by no means do I actually claim to be a coffee connoisseur… I like my coffee sweet with milk and lots of different flavors. BUT, drinking coffee in Cuenca has taught me some distinct (and really enjoyable) ways to hang out and drink coffee with friends/family. My first lesson concerning coffee in Cuenca was that in very few places is there a concept of “to go.” If you want coffee, you’re going to sit down and spend at least…