SIT Ecuador: Comparative Ecology and Conservation -- BEAUTIFUL ECOLOGY, not much "conservation" Past Review
By Ellen D (Biology, General., Carleton College) for
SIT Study Abroad: Ecuador - Comparative Ecology and Conservation
Mostly, I just feel so lucky that I have seen the animals and plants and landscapes that I saw in Ecuador. I found poison dart frogs and cock-of-the-rocks. I watched an anaconda attack a cayman and a hammerhead swimming alone while I snorkeled above it. I wanted a break from the midwest landscapes and the intense academic setting of Carleton College, and that's exactly what I got. I wish the program had challenged my ideas about conservation a bit more, but some of that reflection is still unfolding for me since I've gotten home.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
I felt overall that the traditional educational experience was weak at this program. They focused on experiential learning--and were vocal about this from the start--and as a result the lectures felt kind of random and disconnected and we did not have to do any reading at any point. Our assignments were challenging and were almost all group projects. My grades were lower from this semester than they usually are at Carleton College, even though the academics felt much easier. This is due to the fact that the professors on this program ascribe to an Ecuadorian grading system where very few A's are given. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The two professors were amazing! They had great connections around the country, were enthusiastic and also had very impressive backgrounds in biology and international living. I felt very supported by them, and I felt that they were very open to feedback as well. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Everyone on my program had good homestay experiences. It is a bit difficult to get around in Quito after dark, so my program-mates and I had trouble accessing nightlife together. Our families usually provided us with all three meals and many families brought my friends on their weekend trips to the country or to cultural sites such as museums. We all had to take various bus routes to get to class from our homestays which was an interesting challenge while living in Quito. |
| * Food: |
The program was excellent at accommodating for vegetarians, even while Ecuadorians are unclear on what vegetarianism is. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The program was AMAZING not for the academics, but for the out-of-classroom experiences arranged for us. We went to the Amazon, the cloud forest, and the Galapagos islands and at each location we were given lots of freedom to explore the ecology and biodiversity of each region, and to experiences some of the social culture--especially at the cloud forest and on the Galapagos. We had lots of time on our own and were encouraged to explore, and they also set up awesome experiences such as nighttime canoe rides....etc |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
We had a doctor in Quito that everybody went to at least once for weird stomach experiences. He was really great at identifying symptoms and making us feel comfortable--he was fluent in English, for example. The program organized a health and safety orientation that was very extensive, perhaps too extensive because I was really worried about Ecuadorian men the whole time, and it turns out they were not that threatening. ;) |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | N/A |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | Spanish 204 -- about 3 semesters of spanish in total |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
This program incorporates one long-term homestay in Quito and two shorter homestays in the cloud forest and on the Galapagos. The homestay experiences vastly improved my Spanish speaking and comprehension skills. We also had Spanish grammar classes every morning while we were in Quito. These were helpful for formal instruction and for some current-events awareness, but were overall kind of annoying to have for two hours a day. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | This program is amazing for students who want to see unique, beautiful parts of the world and the animals and plants that live there, AND students who are ready to try new things at least once and learn a new language and culture. NOT for students who want a really critical, academic examination of conservation theories and methods. NOT for students who want to be very very challenged physically--we always had beds and showers, for example--although the water was rarely hot! |
