Students in Cuenca, Ecuador Relate Experiences of Studying Abroad

Here we reside, at around 8,000 feet, surrounded by mountains but no snow. We recently learned that the name of our city, Cuenca, means “bowl.” It makes sense. We haven’t exported much information from our trip, and we are sure none of you on campus have heard of our travels, trials or tribulations. So, here is an update for those of you looking to while away another cold day, short of light and low on spirits:Many aspects of life abroad are puzzling and amusing, but every day is filled with new lessons and experiences that are hard to imagine at Exeter. Our travels have led us from sea level to altitudes of 15,000 feet, where a band played in the snow with unimaginable lung capacity, for reasons we still don’t understand. And despite the mild climate and clean tap water in Cuenca, we have all been afflicted with ailments big and small, loud and quiet, which have afforded a number of us trips to the health clinic that allow us to practice our Spanish in high pressure situations.Speaking of accidents, we often find ourselves on the ground here. Henrietta, for one, has done the splits in a Zumba-like dance class, and has also face planted in the historic center. But Kelly holds the title for most remarkable and amusing visit to the earth of us all. One day, when we discovered a remarkably deep hole in a park by a river, Kris hid inside of it and we called Professor Trafton over to see our funny trick. Kelly, recording our prank from the bank of the river, fell backwards in a graceful and almost acrobatic move, missing a head-splitting fall by inches. More importantly, her phone (with accompanying footage) survived to tell the tale.It has been strange to be so disassociated from many of our compatriots during a time when it feels as though shocking national news, which few (if any) Ecuadorians follow, breaks daily. But Ecuador had its own elections this past week, and while votes are still being counted, it seems likely that the popular vote will be going to leftist and member of the incumbent party Lénin Moreno. If he reaches 40 percent (currently at 39.1 percent and possibly rising) he will be the president elect. Side note: attempting to explain the Electoral College to our fellow Ecuadorian classmates during our civics class had us scrambling for both logical skills and knowledge of U.S. government—hidden traits that we surprisingly discovered within ourselves. If anything, Ecuadorian politics have provided a diversion (and something of a respite) from the news the reaches us from the homeland.Our school, too, has been full of change and surprises when compared to our routines at Exeter. We all arrive by bus before eight in the morning, which has shifted our internal clocks backwards from our former schedule of sleep-ins and scurrying to classes. In addition, the colegio is a German-Ecuadorian exchange school, and we have now encountered three groups of Germans coming in brief exchange stays. Despite our proximity to these packs of young German teens, most of us, with a few notable exceptions, have not yet skillfully absorbed their language.  Classes at our school include Spanish literature, Math, Physics, Civics and Social Studies. Important takeaways from these classes include: learning derivatives before domain and range, sangre is blood and blood is red and red is rich, and that inertia is most certainly not Newton’s first law. The concept of tardiness doesn’t seem to exist here, and a request to return five minutes early from an hour-long break in order to finish a lab (translated to Ecuadorian: on time, porfa?) was met with a look of incredulous confusion from our enthusiastic physics teacher, who had seemingly heard the word “early” for the first time in his teaching career.Every Wednesday and Saturday, our vacant hours have been graciously filled by Professor Trafton’s meticulously planned excursions. From the breathtakingly elliptical Cajas National Park to the fresh-roasted pig in a market in Gualaceo, our eyes and stomachs have gotten quite the treat. Our bus rides on these excursions have always been always boisterous, filled with the melodious harmonization of eight Exonians singing along to 2009’s greatest hits and Mr. Worldwide (Señor Worldwide), punctuated by the four others’ snores, gurgles and snot-blowing – and thus, Cuenca-pella (get it?) was born. Our theme song, and a song we hope to bring to New Hampshire, goes by the name of Despacito. It’s a brilliant, poetic tune by two of the greatest artists of our time: Daddy Yankee (see: Shakey Shakey, another intricate classic) and Luis Fonsi. It is irresistibly catchy, and has made itself an instant classic in our group and in our associations with our Ecuadorian peers.By the time this letter is published, we will be on a small cruise ship in the northwestern portion of the Galapagos Islands with Señor Matlack, checking out some of the 2,000 species that are unique to that fascinating archipelago. Can you tell we’re excited? We will return just in time for the national holiday of Carnaval, during which citizens across the country somehow find and fill water balloons with which  to attack one another.