Hi everyone! 

I'm really sorry that it has taken me so long to post! Google has been being silly and I haven't been able to access my account since I have been here until today. But, I am in Ecuador now and I have been for 71 days!! Today is actually my 10 week anniversary in Cuenca! It's really crazy to think about how much time has passed, but it's actually not hard to believe when I think about all that I have done here. I have met soooo many new people and experienced so many new things that I never could have even imagined before I left. I'd say that now I'm starting to get into the part of my exchange where life is normal and I know what to expect on a day by day basis. Monday-Friday I am in school and after school I usually do something for a few hours with friends, then I come home and talk to my mom and we usually talk and eat something and then I go to bed. On weekends I usually go out with friends on Friday and Saturday and then on Sundays it's family day so I eat lunch and spend the day with the family. There have been two rotary trips so far, one in September to Punta Centinela for Spanish camp and one in October to the Manabi province, and both have been very fun and it has been nice to have the opportunity to go to the beach already jaja :D Today there is no school because this weekend is very important in Cuenca, it is called Fiestas de Cuenca and it's a weekend long celebration filled with a lot of parties and activities and everything to celebrate Cuencan independence. Tonight at 7 there is a Rodeo that I will go to, it has been a tradicion in Cuenca for 25 years but this is the last year that they will have it so I am lucky that I am able to go! My Spanish is also improving, slowly but surely, and I think that by the time I return to the United States I will speak Spanish well. Here I live only with my host mom, and we get along really well and she is a real mom for me. Cuenca is even more beautiful than what I thought before I came here and I couldn't have been more lucky with my placement. Overall, everything is going very well and I'm really grateful to everyone who helped me have this opportunity, and I can't wait to see what these next 9 months have in store for me. I'll try to update often now that I have access to my account, and I think I'll aim for around once a week!

Until next time,

Stephanie