First Days at USFQ and Awkward Moments

Wednesday was pretty much the first day of freshmen year all over again- except this time around all of my professors and the majority of my peers would be speaking Spanish. I forgot how it felt to worry about navigating around campus, making new friends, and being able to communicate with professors. Thankfully I only had two classes, one of which is with all BC students, so I felt a little more relaxed. I woke up ready to begin my day, got in the shower and.... no hot water once again haha. If you can recall, not being able to shower before your first day of freshmen year would have been quite traumatic. All of the sudden there was a knock on my bathroom door. Myra, our family's empleada, appeared with a blue bucket of hot, steaming water. I was so excited that I wanted to hug her... until confusion set in as I wondered how I would use this bucket to shower. She handed me another tiny bucket that I used to scoop up the water from the blue bucket and pour on myself. Let's just say it was the most awkward shower I've ever taken, but it was actually kind of fun haha.

I jumped on the red bus, which finally took me to the green bus, and from there I chose a seat. A petite girl that looked about my age asked me if she could sit next to me. We started chatting and I learned that her name was Luz Alexa (I thought it was a good sign that her name means "Light" and her second name was so close to my last name). She's a freshmen at La Universidad San Francisco (the school I attend) and was anxious about taking a driving class. In that short bus ride we bonded a lot. She made me feel more at ease about my first day, and even volunteered to take me to my first class. When we arrived on campus, I saw groups of stylish students laying by the lake, cuddling on the stairs, and laughing under the shade of tropical trees. I immediately feel in love with the ambiance and atmosphere of the school. Luz Alexa then took me to my class in the DiVinci building, which is a deep reddish orange color and really intricate inside. I was about twenty minutes early, which in Ecuadorian time is a bit ridiculous, so Luz showed me the library, and then took me to the lake to meet her friends. They were all so sweet to me, even offering me fruit and asking me questions about Boston College. I'm so thankful for Luz Alexa, who went out of her way to make a stranger feel comfortable in a new environment.

My first class, Genero y Sociedad (Gender and Society), went very well. The teacher speaks very clear Spanish and the class seems so interesting. I'm nervous about giving an oral presentation on Gender & Ethnicity in Spanish, but what do I have to lose? After explaining the syllabus, the professor asked the class if there were any questions. One student raised his hand and asked in Spanish "If I open the window, can I smoke during class?" She of course said no, but it was interesting to see how much more casual things are at this university.

Next I had Amanda's class (our program coordinator). We didn't start the course, but instead talked about how our first day went and shared scheduling concerns with Amanda. We're really lucky that she cares so much about our well being here! Once we were done classes, some of us gringos went to eat crepes (burrito crepes- yum!). Then MacKenna & I attempted to lay on the bamboo hammocks (which was a struggle to say the least haha they will take some practice). All in all it was an excellent day. Thursday and Friday also went well... so far so good.