Gripe and U. San Francisco

So at the beginning of last week I started getting sick, mainly cold / flu symptoms with some other random stuff mixed in, not fun. Here they call it gripe, which translates as flu, but is applied to most any ailment. I went to the doctor at school, had a few tests and things and was prescribed some pills which seemed to do the trick. Then it came back this week, hard. I missed another day of school and went back to the doctor who looked at the results of all the tests I did and told me I was fine. I politely disagreed, so he dealt me a truly crushing blow, no cheese, eggs, or milk for 8 days. Usually my breakfast is cereal (obviously with milk), bread, cheese and eggs. I can tell you I am less than pleased with this new diet. I have been reduced to bread and fruit juice in the mornings, Tuesday cannot come soon enough. Mami said that all the exchange students they have hosted had similar sicknesses at about the one month period, so I think it could be just my stomach getting used to eating all this new stuff. 

I went to school yesterday, as normal it was very hard. I am thinking of changing courses because at the moment I am in the hardest level, called IB which is a high school curriculum recognized as one of the best in the world. The fact that none of the grades I receive here are going on my college transcript doesn't help the motivational aspect either. 

Last night I got a call from the XPLORER office asking if I would go with them to a University just outside of Quito to help promote the outbound part of their business, the part that sends Ecuadorians to work and study in the United States. I was already going to say yes, then they mentioned that I wouldn't have to go to school, needless to say I was in. 

So we went to the University, Angy and another guy from the XPLORER office, Emily and me. The ride there was an adventure in itself, steep twisting hills all the way, with terrific views at every bend. As we went down it got hotter too, strange seeing as it was only about a 15 min drive, but the difference in temperature was substantial. I actually just looked online and where we went is 2000 ft lower than Quito, so that does explain a bit. The university was called Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in the town of Cumbaya. As soon as I walked through the gate I was amazed by the place and had to look at everything, the campus was beautiful. Courtyards and fountains at every turn, sprawling lawns down to a small pond and all the buildings were old spanish architecture, so cool. I regret not bringing my camera. But, there is a concert / art festival / extreme sports show there in two weeks which I am going to try and go to, if I do, I will be sure to bring the camera. 

So back to what we were actually doing there. It was a day where all the exchange programs could come and set up tables in the main entrance hall to try and recruit students into their programs. We had the best set up, mostly because of the cotton candy machine we had going for free outside, but also, our table was more interesting than the others. Emily and my job was to hand out information to anyone and everyone who we walked by. In this way we explored most of the campus and bombarded countless students with green pamphlets. Eventually we ran out and then had nothing to do, quite boring. In total I would say that we handed out well upwards of 500 sheets. A job well done. The rest of the day was normal, I went back to Quito, swam, a lot. Put off writing this, until midnight, again. 

In other news, Emily was robbed twice in three days. Thankfully she only lost a few dollars the first time and the second robber returned her cell phone after a few minutes, very odd. We think he must have just been playing a joke with his friends, but she was still robbed, which is emotionally trying and not very funny. 

We only have three hours of school tomorrow because we are voting for school president, and voting is serious business here. Then we have friday off because it is independence day for Guayaquil, the other big city in Ecuador. We had to cancel the plans for this weekend which is lame, but I am sure there will be some crazy fiestas to attend instead.