| Welcome to Cultures Shocked. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you have attempted to register and are not receiving the authorization email, please email culturesshockedmods at gmail dot com with your user name and the email you registered with so we can manually approve you. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Ecuador | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Sun Mar 1, 2015 7:21 pm (1,407 Views) | |
| azafran | Sun Mar 1, 2015 7:21 pm Post #1 |
|
Just found out I'll be in Ecuador all of next summer! I'm going through Amigos de las Américas, and will be in Cotopaxi region. I know there was someone on the old boards who was in Ecuador last year, any other re/in/outbounds? |
![]() |
|
| mburucuja | Sun Mar 1, 2015 7:56 pm Post #2 |
|
Congratulations! How long will you be there? |
![]() |
|
| azafran | Sun Mar 1, 2015 8:46 pm Post #3 |
|
Thanks! Between six and seven weeks. |
![]() |
|
| mburucuja | Mon Mar 2, 2015 7:29 pm Post #4 |
|
Nice, that's decently long for a summer program! Obviously we both know how much more in-depth you get on a semester than a summer program, but seeing the 3-4 week programs just kills me. For as little time as I had in Turkey I can't imagine only having half of it! (Side note, but I considered a study abroad program through IES in college that might interest you. It's in Granada, and you study both Spanish and Arabic language/history/culture!) |
![]() |
|
| azafran | Mon Mar 2, 2015 9:03 pm Post #5 |
|
And as summer programs go I think this one really digs you into the culture/daily life of wherever you are, as you are placed with only 1 other American (or a participant from Latin America) in a tiny rural community (with a supervisor stopping in once a week), and you stay there for the entire duration working to facilitate and implement a project, with a huge emphasis on the sustainability of the project--you run community meetings, 'campamentos' for children and jovenes, and develop the project in line with resources the community has and what they want. In Ecuador the focus is on micro-enterprises. Ah, just realized that info was utterly unprompted, but my elevator-pitch was fresh in my head and I'm very excited obviously ![]() That program looks so cool, thanks! Even though it would be 3-4 years away for me, I've already been stressing about if I'll be able to find a college study-abroad option that is long-term in Latin/South America where I can keep up my Arabic. (edited for typo) Edited by azafran, Mon Mar 2, 2015 10:20 pm.
|
![]() |
|
| mburucuja | Mon Mar 2, 2015 10:11 pm Post #6 |
|
No need to apologize! It sounds like best case scenario for a summer program. ![]() There are tons of options in Latin America! Most of them are in Argentina, but I know of people who've studied in most countries. Just keep that in mind when you're looking for a school and make sure you go somewhere that's truly committed to study abroad and offers lots of options. My school had an exchange partner in Ecuador (so tons of my friends studied there) with sites in Quito and the Galápagos, and it was a member of ISEP which has sites in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, plus a lot of cool options like Malta, Guadeloupe, and Lithuania. It was also an ACM member, which had a couple programs in Costa Rica, and they had a HUGE list of approved programs, so people also could have studied in Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, and Bolivia. Paraguay, Venezuela, and some of the Caribbean were just about the only places that *weren't* options! I highly recommend going to an ISEP-affiliated school if there are any that are a good fit for you, because it opens up a bunch of very low-cost, very immersive options. Check the study abroad offices of colleges that you're looking at, and ask questions. I eliminated a bunch of colleges right off the bat because they looked at study abroad as a break in education instead of an integral part. :/ I ended up where I did almost solely because of their commitment to international education. |
![]() |
|
| azafran | Mon Mar 2, 2015 10:19 pm Post #7 |
|
Thanks for the advice! Also in my previous most meant to say "keep up my ARABIC" not Spanish haha (as schools in L/SA where I can keep up my Spanish should be relatively easy to find
|
![]() |
|
| mburucuja | Mon Mar 2, 2015 10:40 pm Post #8 |
|
Ah, ok. That makes a bit more sense. I thought maybe you just really wanted to go to LA instead of Spain or something, and most Spanish programs are in Spain. Southern Spain is probably your best bet for both Spanish and Arabic. In my experience, it's not a commonly taught language in Latin America. In most schools there, you have your carrera and just basically just study that so there's not a lot of room for non-major classes. Unless you can find a school with a carrera that includes Arabic, it'd probably be tough. It may be easier to find schools in North Africa that teach Spanish? I know French is much more important, but I'd think Spanish would be offered in many Moroccan schools at least. Or just study for self-study/informal conversation groups instead of formal classes for a semester or two, or do a semester in LA and then another in MENA! |
![]() |
|
| azafran | Mon Mar 2, 2015 11:22 pm Post #9 |
|
That's a good idea about North Africa! I don't want to do a long-term in Spain again--I'd like to do at least a semester in LA. But also in MENA...but then if, insha'allah, I end up in Morocco with NSLIY my thoughts will likely change... Future exchange is so fun and addicting to think about, even when its 4 years away
|
![]() |
|
| unanina | Wed Mar 4, 2015 8:47 pm Post #10 |
|
Hi there! My Spanish teacher studied in Ecuador and is actually teaching us about Ecuadorian culture right now. Obviously *I'm* not an expert, but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to forward them on to her. Cotopaxi sounds pretty amazing, by the way. I want to go to Otavalo someday... |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Latin America & the Caribbean · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2







4:51 AM Jul 11