Education System in Ecuador

Here is the last question that I have to answer for my study abroad assignment. How is the education system you are experiencing different from what you are accustomed to in the U.S.? From your perspective as a student in the U.S. how is it beneficial and disadvantageous? Consider the perspective of your host-country’s students, how is it beneficial to them? Is it unfavorable to them in any way?

The education system in Ecuador is quite different from the system in the United States. The first thing that I noticed about the University in Ecuador is that there are no dorms on campus. This gives the university a feeling that is very similar to that of high school. The students don’t really hang out on campus when they don’t have class, and there is nothing to do on campus after around five in the afternoon. Classes here are also much more relaxed than classes in the U.S. it is quite common that the teacher is five or ten minutes late some days and they don’t even think anything of it. If students don’t have their homework one day they just turn it in the next day without any problems.
From my perspective as a student in the U.S. it seems quite odd that the teachers are not necessarily held accountable to be to class on time and it seems like sometimes they don’t really take the classes that seriously. From what I can see it is advantageous because the culture here is much more laid back and if teachers were to be really strict on things like the time of class and exactly when homework is done a lot of Ecuadorian students would have lots of problems with that. This seems unfavorable to the students because the professors are not giving it everything that they have; they are just doing the bare minimum that is required of their jobs. It does not seem like the professors are passionate about what they are teaching.
With the new constitution of Ecuador there have been new laws passed that have started to regulate the teachers and professors in Ecuador. One of the regulations is that the teachers and professors need to pass a test that is going to hold them accountable for actually having knowledge about what they are teaching. Many of the teachers and professors are upset about this because many of them if they took the test right now would not pass because they have not been keeping up on their knowledge and have just been doing the bare minimum.

Study Abroad Assignment

I am going to be answering this question for my study abroad assignment

What did you assume before you left that you are not finding in your host-country, host-culture and/or host family and friends? Why did you make those assumptions?

Before I got to Ecuador I was told not to have any expectations about my experience, but of course that is nearly impossible to do. I knew that I was going to be living in the capital city but I did not realize that it was going to be so huge and modern. I expected it to me more like when I visited Nicaragua and all the roads were dirt and everyone lived in really tiny houses or shacks. Quito is quite different than that. There are huge malls that are just like the malls in the US and Supercine is a brand new movie theatre that is nicer than most in the US. I was also expecting everyone to be really conservative and I have found that is true only to a certain point. My host parents were both married before to other people and they got divorced and married each other. I expected the culture to be super Catholic and not support divorce but it seems quite usual. I know that other people on my program have parents who have also been divorced. The other thing that I assumed about Ecuador was that everything would be really cheap and what I have found is that certain things are really cheap and other things are really expensive. The things that are really expensive here are technology which makes sense and clothes which to me makes absolutely no sense what so ever. What I have been told is that it is because most of the clothes are imported and have a really heavy tax on them, but it still does not explain why all clothes are super pricey.

I think the reason that I had all these ideas was because I visited Nicaragua and that was the impression that I got from them. But I am not sure why I transferred it over to Ecuador because when I stayed in Nicaragua we were in the country almost the whole time and I knew that here I would be staying in the city, but somehow I just pictured living in the country I am not really sure why. I had also been told that South America was very Catholic and I guess my perception of Catholicism in the US is that it is super conservative and I guess that perception just transferred over to Ecuador as well. Also I had been told that things were really cheap in Ecuador and I did not think to ask if it was everything or just some things.

This blog entry is a long one because I have to write over 300 words for my study abroad program but this should be pretty easy I have lots to write about :)

This last weekend we decided to go on a trip to the town of Baños which is a small tourist town about three and a half hours outside of Quito. I was a little nervous because this was our first trip outside of Quito without it being planned by our program. It was actually really easy we went to the bus station and got our tickets. It still blows my mind that everything is so cheap, for a one way ticket we each payed only $3.50 which is super cheap. When we got to Baños it was around 2:30 so we ate lunch and went on a hike. The hike took us up the side of a mountain that was right under Volcán Tungurahua the hike was beautiful and we were able to see the whole town of Baños from the mountain. We were not able to do the whole hike unfortunately because we did not have enough daylight, but the part we did was spectacular. The next morning we got up bright and early to go white water rafting. I have decided that this is pretty much my favorite sport it is so fun. The river we went through was class III and IV rapids so it was pretty wild at parts. About halfway through the rafting we stopped to take a break and we left the boats on shore and went swimming in another river that fed into the bigger one. To get to the part we were swimming in we had to go right through the middle of a Baptism that was happeneing. I felt really bad but the guides did not seem to think it was a problem so there was not much we could do about it. We ended up swimming in a little pool at the bottom of a waterfall. It was so pretty. The other funny thing that happened was that we were in the middle of some class III rapids and our guide asked if we wanted to go swimming so I was like sure why not? And goes alright get in so we all jumped in and held onto the raft while we went through class III rapids it was crazy.
After rafting we went back and rented bicycles to go bicycling la ruta de las cascadas or the route of the waterfalls. We biked to probably 10 or so water falls and were able to hike down to one of them and stand underneath it. At one point it started raining a little bit on our ride and we came around a corner and spanning the valley was a double rainbow, it was pretty much out of a fairytale.
Sunday we got up and went Canyoning which is rappelling down waterfalls. I was kind of scary but absolutely beautiful at the same time. I was really sad that I did not have my camera but oh well it was a great experience.

9-6

It is really interesting, before I left I was told that we would all go through stages of culture shock and all of that, but I guess it didn’t really hit me until now that that was completely true.

The first stage was the honeymoon period, this was when we were all super excited to be in Ecuador and couldn’t wait to explore and learn more about the culture. Everything was an adventure, taking the bus, walking down the street.

Now for sure I am in the next stage, I don’t remember what it is called, but in this stage everything is difficult, and its not that I don’t want to be in Ecuador because I really do, it’s just that everything seems much more difficult and frustrating than it needs to be. For me at least, it is frustrating and takes forever to take the bus, I hate the guys on the street who yell at me when I walk by. It is just really interesting. We for sure have settled into life.

It is really cute because my host family is starting to act like my family; my mom still won’t let me out of the house without a jacket even though it is usually around 70 degrees all day. My family has also started trying to convince me to go out more at night and party because I am young and that is what I am supposed to be doing I guess? I am not really sure, what I am sure of though is that I do not really like the party scene too much. Everyone smokes here especially in the bars so all the bars are filled with smoke, and if we try to go dance the guys are all over us and won’t leave us alone, it just really is not my idea of a good time and my family does not necessarily get that.

My semester now is going to be fairly easy which is nice; I only have three classes, Spanish conversation, yoga and Jewelry making. I was going to take a psych class too but I went the first day and could tell that I was going to be really stressed out the whole time so I am just going to have an easy semester and work really hard when I get back.

Basilica

So today decided that we needed to go out and do something, we ended up at the Basilica which is in the old part of Quito, it was really cool because we were able to climb up all these different really sketchy ladders to get into the towers of the church. In one part we had to walk over a really rickety bridge then climb three different ladders to get into one tower. The view from the tower was incredible. We also climbed into another tower where we could go out on one part of the tower. The part of the tower that we could go out onto was about 2 feet by 2 feet and there was no railing. Of course we all had to go out there and get our pictures taken because it was just crazy and there was no way that would have been allowed in the States. The ledge was easily ten stories off the ground which was kinda scary, but really cool.

Ok so obviously i have not been very good about writing posts as of yet, but hopefully i will get it together.

Tomorrow I start classes at the University. Right now i have three classes, spanish conversation, jewely making, and a psych class called sexuality and attraction. All of these classes are in spanish so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

I have been really impressed with my spanish, it has gotten so much better, i can have real conversations with most Ecuadorians, and understand for the most part what is going on.

So far we have been to the Galapagos which were really cool, i might need a whole post sometime to write about that, and also a small town called Otavalo. Otavalo has the largest indigenous market in Ecuador, i spent way to muc money, but i got alot of really cool stuff, not to mention i finished my christmas shopping!!!

7-19

So far I have been in Ecuador for three days and from what I can tell I am going to have a great time. Before I arrived I was really worried about my host family and whether or not I was going to be able to communicate with them, when I arrived at the airport in Quito, I was quickly handed over to my family and we proceeded to my new house. I was quite relieved to realize that my family was really understanding and that they were really patient with my Spanish. My family consists of a mother and father, and two daughters. Both the daughters are in their early twenties and are really nice. Also both girls speak English so when I am looking really confused they help me out which will be great for the beginning, I just hope I do not become to dependant on their translating skills because I really do want to learn Spanish.

Things I have realized so far:

1. My Spanish is not as bad as I thought.
2. My Spanish is better in the morning than at night. (I think it has something to do with being tired, but I am not sure)
3. Quito is a really modern city, I was expecting something similar to when I visited Nicaragua but I was in one of the malls today and there was a Victoria’s Secret which really surprised me.
4. I thought Quito was really conservative, but I have realized that is not the case, sure it might be more conservative than the US, but it is not nearly as conservative as I thought it would be. One of my host sisters Andrea actually has her nose pierced, and my other host sister is planning on moving in with her American boyfriend in a year or so which blew me away, I thought that was a really big no no in Latin American countries, but it seems to be more or less fine.
5. And the last thing that I have realized is not to wear new shoes when you go out and don’t know exactly what is going on because it might involve a lot of walking and then you might end up with massive blisters but you live and learn I guess.