Heyy there.
It's been another week in this lovely town - though I didn't go on any crazy trips or pull any wild stunts, it was still pretty fun. Monday and Tuesday I managed to stay in and do homework, which was nice because I knew the rest of the week would involved little free time. On Wednesday, I went to Julie's apartment to watch the UNC/Dook game. We were streaming it from her computer - her parents bought a box back in NC that would allow her to watch cable all the way in Ecuador. She passed out all of her Carolina Blue attire (I shamefully own none here) and we all huddled around the screen, shouting in unison first in joy then in horror and disappointment. We were 7 of us - Julie, Lauren, Alli, Cole, Liz, Shannon, and I - missing just a few of the other Tar Heels in the country. It was a fun, if triste, night.
On Thursday, we attended the info meeting for our trip to Tiputini in March, which is the biodiversity station owned by the University in the Amazon rain forest. They explained about how we get there - plane then canoe - what we should expect to see - monkeys, snakes, spiders, piranhas, birds, thousands of plants and bugs, and though it's almost completely doubtful we'll see one - jaguars!!! It will be a weekend of humidity, cold showers, and WONDER because we'll be in the rain forest - swimming in rivers and climbing the canopy. Sounds absolutely incredible. But of course, I'll tell you all about after it's done. And no worries, I'll be taking thousands of pictures.
That night, Lauren invited just about everyone she knew to her place for dinner. We went shopping in Cumbayá, and about 6 of us went to her place her to make everything. We made a taco dip, pico de gallo (that was me! freaking delicious), guacamole, then tacos with all the fillings, and finally chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. About 20 people showed up so we had a great atmosphere going. We got the place nice and clean after and everyone had a pretty good time I think. The one awkward thing was of course that the apartment belongs to Lauren's host parents, so when they arrived at one point during the night the party kind of died and half the people ran out - almost like the cops showing up. They had asked that no one drink so that'd be the reason for the flight of the Americans. Anyway, we all lamented not living in our own places for this kind of event - the freedom of people trashing the place and not worrying about it until the next day ;)
Afterwards we went out and had another fun night out on the town and came back at 3:30am..... luckily our driver Carlos is an angel and will always make sure all of us get home safe and sound. That makes me feel infinitely better about going out every time.
Of course I had class on Friday, so I made it to campus and went to weaving, where I'm starting my final project. There were only 2 other people in class, so I spent the hour talking to Alejandra, the sweetest Ecuadorian girl. She has lived in NYC for a year so she's good with English but we spoke in the Spanish the whole time. I loved hearing about her impressions of the US - she thought it was weird for example how her host mom in the US had a box for "winter" and "summer" clothes. Anyway, it was great to speak to someone new in Spanish and made me feel so great because I'm getting better and better and it makes me so happy! I even spoke a little in my literature class which was awesome as well.
Afterwards, Powers and I got lunch then headed to her place, where we watched this terrible animated owl movie and then skyped with her boyfriend in the US (who is French so we make fun of each other, it works out.) We were dyinggg for some burritos so Powers' host sister came with us and drove to a cute little Mexican restaurant - the burritos were not like Chipotle so mission failed but it was still tasty. After, her host sis got an emergency call from the vet clinic where she works, and so we all headed over and watched as they put an IV in this poor dog's leg - the dog has an autoimmune disease and is slowly dying. I guess it took it hard because all of a sudden I felt terrible and nearly fainted. They had to put me outside where it was cooler and get me water. SO embarrassing!
Anyway, after that I came home and talked with my host mom and sis for a while, then went to my bed and passed out for real this time, of pure exhaustion. I guess you know you're getting older when you can only handle one night of 4 hours of sleep. :)
That leads to today... it's nearly 3, I'm in my PJs sitting on my bed. Should do homework, etc but instead I'm going to spend my time on listentoyoutube.com which is an amazing site that rips mp3 off of youtube. So I'm currently adding to my itunes library.
Time to go... love you guys!
Cyn
PS. Without adding too much detail, Thursday night had some interesting occurrences and possible awkward ramifications. Anyone interested in hearing more details, chat me up sometime :)
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