Quito, Ecuador!
I will be living in Quito for with a host family this summer from June 14th- August 27th. I will depart from Cleveland around noon on that Saturday, with one stop-over in Atlanta, and coming home with two stops: One in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and another stop in Atlanta. I won't know who my host family is until they pick me up at the airport on June 14th! But I am so excited to meet them. That night, I will basically be settling in, and getting ready for orientation on Sunday, and then classes that start monday.
Quito is roughly 2,782 miles from Columbus, and is the capital and second-largest city in Ecuador (pop. 1,250,000). Quito sits high in the Andes at 9,300 ft. Due to its high altitude and position on the equator, Quito has a constant, mild to cool climate. Quito is located about 15 miles south of the equator (Ecuador, Equator, get it?). Quito is roughly divided into three parts: the Old City at the centre, with southern and northern districts to either side.
During the week, I will be wroking everyday in an Orphanage while taking 15 credit hours of Spanish language and culture classes. Classes will last from the early morning until mid afternoon every weekday. There will be 26 other OSU students in the program, and there will be around 6 people (all OSU students) in each one of my classes. After class is over, and I check in with my family, I will go to work in the local Orphanage!
Now for fun, about three of the ten weekends we are down there, we will be taken on excursions around Quito. And during one of the weeks, we will be taking off class to go to theGalapagos islands to see the turtles and Iguanas and hit the beach for a little bit!
For more information: http://wikitravel.org/en/Quito
You can also click the interactive map below and check out where Ecuador is!