I’m flying to Ecuador tomorrow. After postponing my semester abroad from fall to spring, then watching covid cases explode around the world and worrying that the pandemic would foil my plans, I’m ready to go. My suitcase is packed, fresh strings are on my guitar, and my covid test came back negative. This is happening.
Winter break has been a bit chaotic. I took a lovely day trip to Maine with a friend, and I finally had time to watch the last season of Money Heist, and since then I’ve been working on cover letters for summer internships and attending Zoom Spanish class and my program orientation. I tried to get as much done as possible before I head to the Galapagos, where the wifi won’t be as fast and I’ll have plenty else to do. But I’ve also had some nice long phone calls with friends while shoveling snow and cleaning my bathroom, and I’ve been eating all the weird vegan food in the fridge and freezer. (I’ve been on a Just Egg / fake sausage / fake cheese sandwich kick. Bonus points if it’s on a bagel from the place up the street.)
When my team gets back on the water in March, I’ll miss rowing. I’ll miss lunches with Mehana and dinners with Alison, Tuesday night HoCo in Shafer, and watching flowers bloom in April and May. But I’m so excited to slow down on island time, learn to scuba dive, and reunite with my host family from my gap year. My photos are going to be awesome. Ecuadorian slang is going to come right back to me. I’ve got a bunch of Spanish romance novels downloaded on my Kindle, plus two English books that take place on the Galapagos.
Ready or not (but mostly ready), here I come.
Incredible (vegan) donuts from Lovebird’s in Maine