As midterms approach, I feel that I should reflect on my course work thus far. I am thoroughly enjoying the classes I am enrolled in. One class in particular, The Shadows that We Cast, has a particularly warm place in my heart. I have always enjoyed reading short stories and writing my own—this class was made for me because it is all about the Irish short story.

I can now finally cross off “Go to the Amazon jungle” from my bucket list.

This past Friday-Tuesday, IES took us on a trip to the Amazon during Carnaval. We stayed at a biodiversity research station run by researchers from la Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in a region of the Amazon called Tiputini.

Although extremely humid, it was an amazing trip! To give you an idea of some of our adventures…

-climbed a platform approximately 45 meters above the ground with amazing views of the forest

So yesterday passed the one­-week­-until-­I­-leave milestone. I’m officially starting to get a little sad I’m leaving home. Now everything is “Oh this’ll be the last Wednesday that I do this, and “Aw this’ll be the last time I shovel my car out from three feet of snow.” But really. You couldn’t see my car in the driveway.

We were told upon arriving never to eat street food.  In the centers of Ecuadorian cities and towns, vendors line the sidewalks selling everything from pig skin to papaya beneath colorful umbrellas.  The smoky smell of cooking meat wafts through the streets from little grills on wheels.  You can buy a complete meal, cooked right in front of you, from the side of the cobblestone road for $1.50.  But it’s not the low prices alone that make this part of Ecuadorian culture so novel to me.  It’s the accessibility of an actual mea

For months and months I have been waiting for this moment to arrive and finally, it’s here. Tomorrow I’ll be on a plane on route to Sydney, Australia for 23 hours but today, I’m staring at my suitcase thinking of what to pack. I’ve got the essentials toothbrush and toothpaste, passport, shoes, and clothes. Probably too much clothes. Way more than I can fit in just one suitcase. The airline (Qantas) allows me to check in two bags each at 32 kg or 50 lbs for us Americans.

(Italiano)

Ho detto la volta scorsa che sono molto fortunata di vivere con una famiglia italiana qui a Milano. Per il corso d’italiano, dovevo preparare alcune ricette per il compito, dunque ho deciso di cogliere l’occasione per cucinare con loro! Abbiamo fatto cannelloni alla ricotta e zucchine, e melanzane alla parmigiana. È stata una esperienza meravigliosa e deliziosa!

(English)