First Week of Classes

So, I feel like I should describe my new campus to you before the novelty wears off and I can’t remember what would be interesting to hear. My school, the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, is a small, private university in a neighboring valley of Quito, Cumbayá. There are approximately 4,000 undergrad students, and 250 of them this semester are exchange students! There’s at least one other foreigner in all of my classes, and it’s easy to tell. Their attitudes are a surprising mixture of friendliness and hesitance. I’ve actually met fellow Americans on the street. Just walking, there’s that face, half-open and half-guarded: I want to talk to you, but I’m not sure! It’s a trademark, and it’s how I’ve met three people who live on my street!

            As for my classes (the scholastic part of the program, the legal reason I’ve been admitted to the country: to study), I am taking 6. It sounds like a lot, but as Mónica so graciously pointed out, I don’t want to be staring at 4 walls all day. Better to stay on campus and meet people. Taking her advice to heart, I realized I could take classes here I don’t have the opportunity to in Georgia: one of those exclusive art classes (Basic Weaving!), and an Andinismo class, that has a field trip to a nearby mountain every weekend (we have to attend 3). So I have those two fun ones, which oddly enough are related. The word for weaving in Spanish is tejer, and it’s the same verb used to translate ‘tying knots’: you weave them. On Friday, we learned one called the mariposa, or butterfly.

            The classes that have had Ecuadorian students raising their eyebrows (apparently I’m taking a hard load) are: Tropical Rainforest Ecology, Planning of Environmental Projects, Indigenous Literature, and Eco-anthropology. All except for the ecology class are in Spanish. The class with the most foreigners is Indigenous Literature: a full half if not two-thirds of the class are gringos. The other day, we discussed the word ‘gringo’: its connotations and denotations. Some of my fellow gringos got up in arms, but I feel like the least we deserve for our American reputation in South America is a nickname that means light-skinned foreigner. Here, it’s allegedly not insulting but instead affectionate.

            My Tropical Rainforest Ecology class includes a field trip to Tiputini, the research station owned by the university in the Amazon. I’m looking forward to applying what we learn in class, though we won’t get to go until May. It’s an odd dynamic the Ecuadorian students have with the research station—most don’t ever have the opportunity to go, unless their majors are specifically related. However, all the internationals are offered the chance, regardless of their major. The hope, the International Programs director stated, is that we’ll go back to our countries singing the praises of the rainforest and pushing for its conservation.

            Now, to describe the campus….It’s a bubble, a lush, resort-like oasis in the midst of a bustling city block. High walls surround the entire university. There’s only one entrance and exit for students. I know this because I walked halfway around it in vain one day, figuring it’s good to have an exit strategy. There are guards at the entrance, but that’s not unusual. Like I may have mentioned, the school supply store up the road has a guard. My urbanización has three guards, one of whose jobs is to patrol on motorcycle. I am very jealous and have to squelch urges to invite myself along.

            There’s a lagoon, a pagoda, an ivory colored phallic tower, buildings painted all sorts of pastel shades, courtyards with fountains, and grassy patches where students lounge. As you can imagine, a campus for 4,000 is nowhere near the size of UGA. I frequently run errands to and fro. It probably would take 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other. 15 if you were slow. Accordingly, breaks between classes are only 5 minutes. That wouldn’t really be an issue either, though, considering classes don’t really start in earnest for at least 5 or 10 minutes after the time listed. Ecuadorian students know this and stroll in nonchalantly, greeting the teacher by their first name. “Como te vas, Angélica?” (It’s a university policy to call teachers by their first names and address them informally. It blows my mind.) That’s another way to tell the Americans apart. We are on time! We do not want to be late, especially the first week. We’re sitting in the hallway five minutes early. This is also how I’ve met fellow exchange students, exchanging that sheepish, you’re here early, too, huh? look.

            Our drop/add period is much longer. Classes started on the 11^th, and the add period just closed on the 20^th. We still have until the 1^st of February to drop. Lunches have been fun; there is a cafeteria on campus, but there’s a multitude of lunch places right off campus. The farther from campus, I’ve learned, the cheaper. Lunch is incredibly cheap anyway. An expensive one would be 3 or 4 dollars. The other day, we ate at an Italian place, and the calzone was $4.70. I felt extravagant. Other places offer more typical food, and one place we found, Del Horno (From the oven), provides a soup, plato fuerte (main dish), postre (dessert), and jugo (juice)…for $2.50.

            Classes are just now starting to pick up. I’ve mostly had readings so far, though there will be the future presentations, quizzes, and tests. I’m enjoying walking around campus and hearing Spanish all the time. Everyone has been very friendly; though of course it’s been easier to make friends with other foreigners (think freshman year mentality). I’m looking forward to this year and the promise it holds!