What's this trip really about?

A challenge for me lately has been explaining to my friends and family what kind of trip this is and why I'm doing it. The obvious reason that comes to most people's minds is simply that I'm doing it because I love to travel. Which is totally true, but this trip is about so much more than traveling. This trip is different than the trips I've done in the past, in so many ways. I'm going to be living in a community where I don't know a single soul, do volunteer work in a place I know very little about and live with a host family I won't have contact with before getting there. It's all about stepping into the unknown, out of my comfortable and predictable little life. Yet, I strongly believe that somehow everything will work out. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this summer isn't going to be all fun and games. I'm expecting to be challenged and pushed to my limits, to grow and learn from the people I meet and the obstacles I will face. It's my way of educating myself, of learning about the world.

So a few days ago I found out that I'll be living near the town of Cayambe, in a small community called Convalecencia which literally translates to "convalescence". My mom jokes about how this place might cure me from the travel bug I have (haha, very funny mom!). I also found out a bit about my host family. I know where my host parents work, that I have two host brothers and that they have two dogs, chicks, guinea pigs and rabbits. That's about all I know. I'm going to be working at a day care which is walking distance from my host family's home. I'm very excited at the prospect of working with little kids. I'm curious to see what kind of activities I'll be expected to do with them. I hope I find something to do during the afternoons since the day care closes at 2 pm.

There are now only 9 days left before I leave for Toronto. I'll be staying the night there and flying to Quito early in the morning. It's pretty surreal still. Leaving my friends and family will be sad but this is something I need to do right now. I need to live simply for a while and put my priorities in the right places. It's so easy in our society to forget what's life all about (in my opinion) like the simple pleasures found in lending a helping hand or opening you heart to a new friend. There are so many distractions that we just forget. Anyways, I won't rattle on about this so I'll finish this post by thanking everyone who supported me because I have now reached my fundraising goal!! What a relief :) Thanks millions for helping me make this experience come to life!

Third Seminar

I had my third and last seminar last Saturday (I missed the second one). It was mostly for practical information such as how to stay safe and healthy. These seminars really makes it more real for me, I am slowly starting to realize that I'm actually leaving. The countdown is 31 days as of today before I leave. That's INSANE. I'll be done my first year of university in about 2 weeks. Then I have around 2 weeks at home to prepare to leave. Yesterday, I got an email from Fundacion Reto Internacional, which is the program Intercordia is partnered with in Ecuador. I filled two form, one for my host family and one for my work placement. I can't wait to find out where I'll be living, who will be my host family and what will be my work placement! In all, we are 12 Intercordians going to Ecuador. I hope the whole group gets along, I'm sure they're all very interesting people. Oh, I also got my plane ticket! I'm leaving on May 3rd and getting to Ecuador on the 4th. When I get there we'll have a seminar for 3 days and then we're brought to our host families. :):):) I really can't wait!! I've also decided to stay an extra 2 weeks after the program is finished to travel around Ecuador which I'm also really looking forward to. I'll be traveling with a friend from STU who's also participating in Intercordia. It should be quite the adventure to backpack around the country for 2 weeks! I'm pretty close to my fundraising goal too, which is really great. Only 500ish more to go. Well, that's all for now. Ciao :)