La Gringa Makes (International) Friends

by Devan Bey

Wow, that's a lot of people. Credit to UEES Abroad Facebook page.

After more than a week in Ecuador, I've got some serious reporting to do. I'll start somewhat lightly. On the first night, after 20 or so hours of traveling, I arrived to the Quito to greet my new (only) best friends in the nation, the estudiantes de intercambio (exchange students). Exhausted and reeling from the altitude and the trip, I stumbled into the Hotel Tambo Real, a modern outfit located conveniently across the street from the local McDonald's and KFC.

I found myself one of 41 students at the hotel, each of us more out of place than the last (with myself holding down the fort at the very end of that line). After a day of reorienting and getting to know the students on the tour, I began to feel slightly more comfortable with my surroundings in and out of the hotel. Of course, being me, I still lacked all reasonable understanding of the geography of the city and relied heavily on my more observant compañeros as guides during our nighttime excursions for food and drink.

I tremendously enjoyed the week I passed with my familia de intercambio, made up of students from France, Mexico, Canada, the U.S., Belgium, and Australia. We each came to this country with different goals, ambitions, and knowledge, and although these differences still remain, it is easy to envision many of these individuals as friends for life. I'm not just saying that either! Well, whether it happens or not, it's not terribly hard to envision. And that's the best I can ask for at this point!

One of my favorite aspects of this trip was the bonding between cultures. It is so tempting to isolate oneself into a single group based on language, nationality, etc., and to preserve these groups for the entirety of the trip. Overall, I was extremely happy to find myself bonding with Mexican students (practicing Spanish along the way), as well as Americans, Canadians, Australians and a couple of French students. At one point in the week, we played a game during a party in an Otavalo hotel, pitting French against Spanish speakers, with the goal to successfully keep the other team from repeating what the other said. Phrases like Tres tigres tristes twisted the tongues of the French while every single word in French proceeded to choke my brain and mouth and leave me virtually immobilized. Now I know I will never, ever speak French, it's just not in my capacity as a human being.

Since our week of claustrophobic togetherness is now ended, and as we all start to get comfortable with our host families and the university in Guayaquil, I look forward to staying close with my international classmates now and after the exchange ends.

P.S. No later than Thursday I will have another, more specific post. I know you didn't come to a blog about Ecuador to read about Europeans and Americans! If anyone has a topic they're dying to know about, leave it in the comments. Hasta luego, ciao, byebye!