hola! estoy aqui!

i'm a little bit more awake now and have some time since i haven't started classes yet and haven't met many people. so far it has been good. my anxiety and worry is completely gone and i am finally where i should be - out in the world.

flights down were pretty good. i met a nice couple - katie and baz who were on their way to hawaii to visit katie's parents in hilo. baz had the game "limbo" on his mac and that is what entertained us the majority of the time down there. they were pretty cool. and were crazy excited for me when i told them what i was doing. i was still nervous and anxious then so it was good to hear that complete strangers were excited for me. :)

layover in houston... (so weird to see schaub and foster jerseys as the main jerseys they're selling). had a couple hours there... ate some brisket and drank some sam adams. i couldn't go all southern. and this is when i FINALLY started to lose all the anxiety. :)

flight to quito was fine. had a cheeseburger on the plane. had no problems with customs. and yay for a new stamp!!! i'm totally THAT person who immediately opens up her/his passport to look at the stamp. it is a blue stamp and even has the agents initials on it. even cooler. haha. i'm such a geek. the pick up at the airport was fine. the guy who picked me up (i´m forgetting his name right now but he´s a professor here) was nice and brought me to my apartment. cesar, the owner of the apartment, showed me around the place. it's old but charming. def. not like the states, but who cares... i can figure everything out. i have one roommate - tom, who is a retiree from chicago. nice guy... but of course we don't have a whole lot in common. and i'm getting another roommate - nadine from germany. not the same nadine that i met in brazil though - darn. she is coming sunday.

haven't started classes yet, but i have been to the school and even met some students - lino from switzerland, john from denmark, brendan from japan, and some of the employees here. all have been very nice and people seem to be really into the school and speak spanish as much as possible, which is good because it wasn´t like that in brazil.  once classes were over, everyone spoke english or their native language. i also took a salsa class yesterday. lino, john, and joanne (student coordinator at the school) went for a beer after.  i also had a delicious shwarma.  all for $5.

today i walked down to mariscal square, which is the touristy part of town. it took about 40 mins. busses and cabs go there but it was a beautiful day and i felt like walking. i had lunch at the magic bean which i guess is branching out because i think there is another location which also has a hostel that lisa stayed at.  this was just the restaurant.  good, but SO salty.  totally not use to it.

anyway...one of the teachers (who looks like patricia from zumba) needs this computer so i'm going to have to pick up another time. :) wifi blows in the apartment so it's much easier to use the school computers.  going to a place called quilotoa tomorrow and need to be up early.  i figure it is a good way to meet more people and it´s fairly cheap and includes lunch :)

hasta luego!  vida es muy bonita!