Ecuador: Adventure and Incredible Culture in a Developing Nation Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Thhe university I attended used a very similar teaching and grading system as my home university, and the workload was very comparable for the level of the courses I took. The professors I had were excellent. They were very enthusiastic and approachable and very knowledgeable about their subjects.

On-site administration of your program

The on-site advisor was great and very helpful and knowledgeable. I could easily reach her and get help solving my problems. The only difficulty was some confusion at first in signing up for classes, as the courses tended to overlap, or be canceled at the last minute.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

My host-family was wonderful and welcoming. They were so helpful with anything I needed to know and taught me a lot about current events within the country as well as history. The location was a little challenging, as it was far from the university and from downtown, but I adjusted fine and it forced me to learn the public transportation system really well. The neighborhood was not as upper-class as many of the other exchange students homestays, but I preferred it that way. I appreciated being able to live in a more middle class area and seeing what life is like for the majority of people.

I had no dietary restrictions, but I was really happy with the food in my homestay. I was made breakfast and dinner daily, and I usually bought my lunch at the university. My host family provided more than enough food and all of it was very good. I didn't miss very much. There are a lot of restaurants near the university to get lunch, and I found that typically the cheaper the menu the better the food. Small "almuerzo" restaurants and empanaderias had very afforable, good food in large portions. The trendier looking restaurants tended to be overpriced and not as good overall.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Our CIS program advisor invited us to the theater to see a ballet production, which was great. The only program organized trip I went on was the trip to the biodiversity station at Tiputini in the Amazon rainforest, which was incredible. There were other organized trips, but they were not included in my program fee, and I prefered to travel independently with Ecuadorian friends that I made.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

There are a lot of challenges living in South America. It is not as safe as the US or most of Europe, however common sense and thinking ahead can prevent most problems. I never had a safety of health problem when I was there. Most other students who had safety related incidents, such as getting robbed or threatened, in my opinion were not being smart when the incident occurred. They had made themselves easy targets. Some students had health problems, mostly in adjusting to the different food and water. Although this is somewhat unavoidable, its easy to reduce the chances of getting sick. I never had any serious problems. The only vaccine I needed was for Yellow Fever to be able to go on the trip to the Amazon. Other students were taking malaria medication, but even the advisors at the university said it probably wasn't worth it, as the students were far far more likely to get sick from the medication that to catch malaria, which is very rare now. I got my Yellow Fever vaccine in the country at the clinic within the University. It only cost me $17 and was very quick. I did not have to set-up an appointment and I only waited about 5 minutes. I didn't need any insurance, only my address and telephone number and I may have had to show a copy of my passport as ID. Safety and health issues were talked about during orientation and I think they were covered very well.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Most people at the university did speak English, but I was encouraged to speak Spanish nearly all of the time. I spoke only Spanish within my homestay. The only people I spoke English with were other international students and a few Ecuadorian students who had studied in the US and prefered to speak English.

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• Host Family

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• Host Family

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• I liked how much independence I had to travel alone and do what I wanted, I liked that I was not chaperoned

• Signing up for classes was very confusing and the information I was given before leaving turned out to be wrong