4th day

Today I had my first day of classes. I felt like a freshman all over again, which wasn’t the best feeling. I don’t have internet at home and I didn’t have a schedule that said where my classes were supposed to be, so I had to find a computer to use before my classes, which started at 9, and I arrived at 8:55. First was Andinismo (mountaineering/rock climbing), which is going to be intense, but relaxed. Relaxed as in it’s not a real class with grades, but intense as in they start out easy, but it gets really difficult quickly. Unfortunately it’s full of gringos though. Good thing is class only meets on Fridays, but we are required to go on 3 or 4 weekend trips. Friday we’re learning how to tie ropes, but I went to a shop to get some rope, but they were out, so now I have to find another store somewhere in Quito to buy it. I also have to get a book in a bookstore in Quito, which is annoying because I have no idea how to navigate the city. I think navigating Chicago alone is difficult, but Quito is way scarier; I’ll try to recruit a friend to go with me.

After Andinismo is Temas de Latín America (Issues in Latin America), which seemed okay, then a half an hour break, when I ate pan con queso (bread with cheese) and a banana next to the pond with an Illinois friend. The bread here is flaky and delicious, but probably not the healthiest. Next is my Conversación Español Intermedio clase, which seems like a wonderful, relaxed class. There’s about six of us, and we learn a lot of vocabulary by learning it in context. If someone asks a question about a word, even a bad word, we will be quizzed on it. We will present articles we find in newspapers and be asked about it, but if we keep making a grammar mistake, we’ll be penalized. We didn’t have a classroom so we sat at a table by the lake in this beautiful, breezy, sunny weather. Next is my Español Advanzada clase, which seems pretty difficult, but we’re covering everything I have trouble with (subjunctive, idioms, homophones, etc), so I’ll learn muchísima. We have to write four essays about movies that we have to watch on our own time. One of them is Y Tu Mamá Tambíen, which is basically soft-core porn, but really good, so that should be fun. After that, is EEUU y Latín America relaciones, which I’m thinking is the class to drop. It sounds interesting, but the professor doesn’t speak clearly, so I understood about half of what he said, and I couldn’t keep myself awake. I realized how important it is to speak clearly so that non-natives can understand. It’s a pity that just because he doesn’t speak clearly, that I bet half the gringos will drop the class. This class was moved to another room after about 20 minutes, which is so typical here the first week. I don’t understand why classes are moved around so much here. U of I has its stuff down in this department. In my Spanish for gringos classes, I understand almost everything the teacher says, but the others it’s more like three-fourths (excluding my relations class). After going to a outdoor sport store twice with no success, trying to find where the heck my classes were, and getting moved around to other rooms all the time, the bus I was taking home broke down. ¡Es Ecuador! Tomorrow will be much easier because I only have a drawing class. However, I need to learn how to bus it around Quito and get my books and gear.