“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an hones accomplishment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around” - Leo Buscaglia

So, Hey! I am home now from the wonderful, beautiful country of Ecuador, and have been since the beginning of august.  

I didn’t think that there would be any reason to blog once i was home, but now i am thinking that maybe it will be a good way to keep up with myself and just reflect one everything happening in my life. 

I am currently running for a position in my sorority as well as another club i am involved in called Net Impact.  Not having a job this year has really allowed me to become involved on campus and it is so much fun.  I feel like a completely new person this year.  I am much more focused on my school work and my involvement.  I have my solid group of friends, and I always have my wonderful Gamma Phi Beta Sisters.  

Sophomore year has definitely been different.  I feel very established and confident on campus this year, didnt realize how small i felt last year. I am having a wonderful year so far, and can’t believe that it is flying by so fast.  Time is creeping along long term, but the weeks just fly by everytime.  The work load is a lot this year, but I am enjoying what I am learning. 

So as for the quote of the day.  I have been really starting to get into the swing of recruitment for my sorority (it happens in the beginning of January). It has been a discovery process for me though.  It is hard to get to this point and to start seeing how things really work.  I have made a pact with myself that i will not be judging anyone on their appearances.  I want this incoming pledge class to be strong in character and commitment and just genuinely care.  I want all of my sisters to take a second to think about how they are going to go about looking for our new sisters, and i hope that they come to a similar conclusion as to me.  I dont know exactly how this applies to that quote. but i guess that i just think that if you are willing to give everyone just the slightest bit of positive attention, it could change the outlook of day. thats all today! :]

poptech:

Wonderful Alphabet animation. 

(via wisherdreamerliar)

bauldoff:

I do not care what car you drive. Where you live. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. If your clothes are this year’s cutting edge. If your trust fund is unlimited. If you are A-list B-list or never heard of you list. I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you truly own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones and skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind.

Extraordinary Mind by Andre Jordan. (via Peter Santiago)

(via sailingonthesea)

Palmar!

Hello everyone. I am fresh off of my week of no Internet, and very little cell phone usage, and man does it feel good to be in the moment. However, I am not going to lie, I was very excited to be in contact with the outside world again.

Last week we lived in homestays in a very tiny costal town called Palmar. If you say Palmar to any Ecuadorian that does not live there, they have no idea what you are talking about, that’s how small it was. We all have the great fortune and misfortune of being in Palmar during their annual fiesta – Fiestas de Palmar.  It was a really interesting thing to experience.

The town of palmar is beautiful and sad in many ways. It is a beautiful coastal town where people live off of fishing and selling their fish and oysters to markets outside of town. A lot of the men will fish for weeks at a time, and then return home to be what we consider “lazy” for a few weeks. I think that it is perfectly understandable that they take a few weeks  off after their hard work. Unfortunately there is somewhat of a drinking problem in Palmar with the men of the houses.  We were very careful everywhere we went because of the party and the drinking scene. It was a really eye opening experience to see such a large community drinking problem when it came to the men in the town.  It was definitely an experience. 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which way you’re looking at it, our APF Charlas both got cancelled for the week because of the Fiestas de Palmar.  It was really nice because we all got to relax on the beach and really get to know the small town and the people at the Neo Juventud organization that we are sort of partnered with.

Neo Juventud is a really awesome organization that helps to support youth in the community of Palmar.  They are awesome and they run a bakery, and internet café and a small gym for the town.  Something about their organization was really inspiring to me, I think it was because it was the first time since we’ve been here that we have been with an organization that really has it together and really seems to be making an impact in the way that they have set out to make one.  I hope to be able to keep in touch with the people of Neo Juventud because I think that it is an awesome program and they deserve a lot of support.

For our weekend off on Friday most of our group went to Montañita to spend the day. Half of the group that went, went because they wanted to learn how to surf.  Unfortunately surfing cost $30 and we are just all very cheap at the end of our program money rope, so we all just laid around the beach for the day instead.  There were a ton of stands lining the streets that had a lot of beachy drinks and batidos and juices, so I took full advantage of anything that had coconut in it! It was a really fun day and we all got a nice amount of sunshine. After that we divided again, Matt and Cate went to meet up with the other two in Puerto Lopez, and the rest of us headed back to our homestays, not wanting to spend more money on a hostel and food when we had a free bed and food back in Palmar (free being a loosely used term seeing as all of the money and housing we receive this trip we are paying for when we pay for the program).

The next morning we woke up somewhat early and caught a bust to Puerto Lopez para ver las ballines (to see the whales)! It was a rough morning with many arguments about how much we were willing to pay, who we wanted to go with, and just being Ecuador people (us) failing to be on time. It all worked out in the end though and we had an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day for watching the whales.  We saw I think 5 whales, one jumped and was completely amazing.  After that we came back and the boat dropped us off to swim in the sea for a little bit and snorkel some. It was beautiful, and a great way to eliminate the seasickness that people were having. After chillin in the water for about 20 minutes we all got back in the boat and were taken back to the shore.  We then went to a really awesome Columbian restaurant (lucky mom dad and Wilson will get to try this place), and then layed on the beach outside one of the many many cabanas and enjoyed the strong equatorial sunshine :]

This was basically the end of our very relaxing week in Palmar. It was a great week, but I was definitely excited to get back to Cuenca where it is cooler, and the rest of our friends were there so we could all be together! Yay!

Only 2 more weeks in Ecuador! How time has flown!

Pics from Riobamba APF’s and Banos!

Hello all!

So, I am currently in a bus meant for 10 people, and we have 12, on a drive that will no doubt take us much longer than the predicted 8 hours at this point. Yes, we are all a little bit on edge. Haha. This past week in Riobamba has been really nice. After coming off of our crazy busy weeks in Loja and Yantzaza. We did one campaign and two APF’s this week, but the APF’s were things we already had planned (and in the one place the APF’s never ended up happening).  WE had the whole weekend off, which was so awesome and so needed. 

Saturday morning we all woke up at a decent time and climbed into a bus, very similar to the one that we are in now, and drove an hour or so to Baños.  Baños is a very veryyyy touristy town where I almost felt like I was back in the US because there were so many Americans and other tourists.  When we got there we all kind of lounged around and explored for a little bit, and then we went WHITE WATER RAFTING. Yes, I did face one of my biggest fears this weekend. Ive decided that while im here im going to do my best to just do things (given they’re not actually super dangerous) and just suck it up. I think it’s a very valid goal for me! Haha. But yes, anyways, White water rafting was an awesome experience. We went on a 3+ and our guides were awesome and made it so much fun for all of us, even me who was freaking out for the first 15 minutes.  It was so great to be with my group and face one of my biggest fears at the same time.  One of the funnest parts that they did is that they would make us one at a time sit on the nose of the raft when we were going through the rapids.  Every time the waves would crash over top of us. We were screaming like CRAZY and having such a great time!  After our rafting adventure, we were given a very delicious Ecuadorian lunch, and the whole experience only cost $25, gotta love Ecuador!

That night we all got dressed up (to the best of our abilities) and rode a chiva to the top of the volcano.  A chiva is an open aired bus that plays music and has a little area to dance in. It was really fun to ride in, and when we got to the top there were tons of food stands, a hugs bonfire, karaoke, and tons of other super fun stuff. We stayed up there for an hour or so, and then rode the party chiva back down the Volcano. At the bottom we all got off and went to a very popular bar called “Leprechan” where, shocker, Gringos get in free. It was a really really cool place, all outdoors and bamboo and had great music. After that we all went back and enjoyed the EXTREMELY comfortable beds in our hostel (our beds in Riobamba were similar to sleeping on the floor. All week Katie made jokes about me “joining her on the floor” and patting her bed lol).  The next morning we went and had an AWESOME breakfast and then everyone went their separate directions. Kate, Matt, Daniel and I all went and rented a rugged jeep and drove around town and up the volcano.  Daniel was the only one that could drive a stick shift up a mountain (the man in the group ;] haha) so he drove most of the time. He drove us up a muddy path where we were fishtailing and all screaming and laughing so hard. We found this place called Casa del Arbol, or Tree house, and we hiked up to it and explored the tree house, and the nice family that owns it made us some coffee! It was so cute, and it was raining, and it was just so funny trying to walk around in my poor sperry’s and hike down muddy hills. 

After we finished our little adventure, we all went to the bus terminal and caught a bus back to Riobamba to enjoy our last night with internet and cool weather. We had some good times in my room, while watching Pretty Woman with Katie and Steph. Such a good last night all together with that and the roaring fire!  Riobamba was awesome and we were all sad to leave…. BUT ITS BEACH TIME!