Fellow Stories

Education Relies on Blind Faith

Jamie Constantine

2018-01-18

There have been a few moments while in Ecuador where my immediate thought in response to something someone has said was, “that’s wrong.” Most of these thoughts have occurred at my apprenticeship. I work as a co-teacher to English teachers, but, sometimes I end up simply observing in a classroom during another subject. A few...

Home

Aya Kamil

2018-01-17

“Mon dieu que j’aime, Ce port du bout du monde Que le soleil inonde De ses reflets dorés ” -Dalida- While listening to the melodious voice of Dalida, I never thought that a song could depict so well one’s experience, feelings or even emotions ! The little port of the song evoked to me Garopaba.Euuh...

The Importance of Names

Andrew deFigueiredo

2018-01-15

When sitting down to write this I wondered how I might go about writing a blog that is meaningful and at least somewhat unique. So I will focus upon one key thing I have learned during my stay here in Garopaba which I wish I knew from the beginning. Names. It is quite simple, but...

Strengthening My Independence

Leonardo Ruiz-Sanchez

2018-01-15

Ndanke Ndanke

Elise Leise

2018-01-15

After shelling a requisite amount of peanuts with the women of the compound, I found Dé Maraam behind a tin-roofed hut, sitting in the shade and chatting with a grandmother about the weather. As the village chief’s widow, she held respect and authority throughout Bapate and was the woman I needed to speak with about...

College as a Video Game (And the Gap Year as a User’s Manual)

Sunghoon Kwak

2018-01-15

Skill tree(Noun). A hierarchal visual representation of customizations a player can make to their character. Skill trees can either branch out or eventually fold back to a single point depending on the game. Skill trees are found prominently in video games, but you don’t have to be in a virtual world to realize the presence of a...

Deep wounds

Leonardo Salvatore

2018-01-14

"Oi, are you home? I'm about to get there." "Go ahead, I'm waiting for you to open the garage. Be quick." "5 minutes and I'll be there." The car turned for the last time and, as soon as she saw it, she rapidly unlocked the gate and opened it. "Let's go!", she said waving at...

Takk for og til det norske velferdssystemet

Emma Boe

2018-01-14

This blog post has been written in Norwegian about Norway. If you are interested to know more, feel free to contact me.    Takk for og til det norske velferdssystemet.    I Norge betaler vi skatt. En skatt som dekker offentlige goder jeg nok ofte tar for gitt. Her vil jeg reflektere over noen av disse....

Año Viejo

Olivia Dutra

2018-01-13

The daytime when the festivities begin. In this video my sister and neighbors are participating in a new years tradition in Ecuador. For kids they dress as old people and dance in the street waiting for cars to try and pass, and when they do they dance to the car to ask for money or...

Alternative education methods?

Maria Lanza Arancibia

2018-01-12

[vc_video link=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGx3YjzmDig&feature=youtu.be’] Meet Pacífico Fichamba, my host-dad. Paci is writing his thesis in order to graduate with his masters in Ecoturism in Protected Areas. He believes that there is an alternative to the way natural sciences and ecoturism are taught in this country. As Pacífico says “In these areas, many of us practice agriculture in...

5 Lessons from Orejas

Natalie Choi

2018-01-11

This blog is dedicated to an amazing friend, Orejas, who has always been by my side. Orejas is this cute little dog who follows me everywhere I go: cafes, restaurants, markets, shops… Sometimes it can be troublesome if I want to go to a place where dogs can’t enter; nevertheless, whenever I’m with him I always...

The First Time I Cried this Year

Danny DeBare

2018-01-11

I just couldn't hold the tears back. My emotions just took the best of me; one could call it a culmination of a very touching journey. Ecuador finally found a way to crack me: abuelita Coco remembered her father. Got you there! I think that's what the professionals call click bait. By Coco, I'm not...