February 4 2009

So a lot has happened this past year.

After my exams I flew down to Ecuador and had a crazy time.It was difficult for me being with people who only wanted to party all the time. I wanted to learn Spanish, I wanted to explore Ecuador and learn as much as I could, but my homestay was horrible, my classmates only spoke English (though it was never their first language) and didn't even get to do that much traveling.

Fortunately I was able to go to the Amazon, which had been a secret life-long dream, and I met some pretty cool people.

I then went to Guatemala, and boy was I happy to be there! I went to the University of San Carlos and tried to squeeze in the entrance exams, but they have a silly system, and was only able to do the first exam before I went home. My original plan was to go back in October to finish the exams and start school in January.

It didn't exactly work out like that. I went back to TWU in the summer and took a Religious Studies class on the Old Testament. It was pretty cool, and then I  headed back to Ecuador at the end of July to study Organic Agriculture.

After the course, I went to Quito to see some of my Ecuadorian friends before I headed down to Peru, and heard about the same program about linguistics as in Guatemala, but the university in Quito was a little bit better. So I changed my plans, went down to Peru, home for two weeks and went back to Ecuador to study French in PUCE to see how I liked the university, and if I would be able to handle it the next year. (Registration isn't until April/May and  the program doesn't start until mid-August).

So that put me back in Ecuador for the 3rd time last year. I came home for Christmas, had a horrible time being stuck in LAX while I was sick as a dog. I had a wonderful Christmas, and planned on working, but I got laid off and I found myself back at TWU again.

So in a nutshell, that brings me to now.

Perhaps I'll be updating more often, and post a few pictures as well :).

An Amazonian Village