Now before you ask, “Why the heck would you choose Ecuador?”, let me explain that after looking through the World Endeavor’s website, the Ecuadorian program fit best with what I wanted to do, which was primarily to go to South America to learn Spanish while getting some work experience.
During my two month stay in Ecuador, I worked at“La Selva Lodge” in the Amazon Jungle teaching English and working as a waitress.But this decision was not easy to come to because it wasn’t the “typical” abroad experience. Not only were the general nerves of traveling by myself prevalent, but also traveling alone would test me in ways I never expected. But we can’t forget the logistical side of things that nearly made me go crazy.It wasn’t just getting the panicked call from my Aunt a week before I left who was utterly confused as to why I was going to Ecuador and concerned for my safety. She said “Wait, you’re going where?!” And it wasn’t having Wells Fargo accidentally cancel my debit card just two days before I left, almost forcing me to go to Ecuador with only cash.Even though these things did not ease my pre-travel jitters, the most nerve racking aspect of traveling was the uncertainty. The uncertainty of whether or not Ecuador was the right decision, the uncertainty of whether or not I would make lasting friends, and the uncertainty of whether or not all my high expectations would be met. I questioned if I would survive my layover in Panama, improve my Spanish and discover something new about a different culture and myself.What I found through my experience abroad was that if you are willing to put in the work to get out and travel, you can make it what you want it to be with an adventurous yet realistic attitude. There will inevitably be challenges and obstacles as you travel, but no matter if your experience is exactly what you wanted or what you expected, you are guaranteed to learn, and isn’t that the point?
It is hard to condense everything I experienced while abroad in a short article, but what was unique about my time there was that I was not only exposed to Ecuadorian culture but also that of Europe.The majority of students in the school I attended for my first week in Quito were German and I was interested in knowing what their perception of America was. One of my friends admitted the first things she thinks of is Americans being fat—which she immediately reassured me is not true. My next German friend, not surprisingly, associated America with McDonalds. The final response was actually unexpected and clever. My friend imagined us running around yelling “Freedom!” all the time. I was even surprised to discover the differences between Britain English and American English, getting a good laugh as he referred to soda as a “fizzy drink”.Not only was it interesting to learn how others nations view Americans and the subtle differences in culture, I was also surprised how big of a role American culture plays in Ecuadorian culture and European culture.One thing that surprised me was that almost all Europeans that I met (which were a lot) knew English. Even at the “La Selva” Lodge, all the guides could speak English because with the mix of cultures among the guests, English was the most useful language to know and was most commonly spoken to communicate between various cultures.
