And just when I didn't think I could feel any other emotions

If there is one thing that has characterized the past few weeks, it has been that I think I have felt every single emotion known to man. While much of this has been phenomenal, there have also been some hard times where I have really had to look at myself. All these experiences though have been necessary and I am glad for them.

Two weekends ago, I, along with about 10 of my friends headed out for another beach weekend, this time in a super chill town called Canoa. Super good time. Amazingly chill beach with cool food and drink stands. Fishermen. Plenty of hostels and other tourists. Overall, it definitely is a place that I will try to make it back to if I have some extra time. Friday, I decided that I was going to teach myself how to surf so I rented a board and just got tossed around all day (emotions: anger, frustration). It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be. I have always known that the ocean is an amazingly powerful force, but I don't think I had ever truly experienced its strength until that day. That Saturday morning was the terribly earthquake in Chile so several of my friends woke up to text messages from the US Embassy or friends that we were potentially gonna get rocked by a tsunami that was part of the after effects. Luckily we were able to hold off leaving til we talked to more people and we ended up being fine. It turned out to be a beautiful day (emotion: peaceful) for just relaxing (I stayed out of the water and in my hammock all day). I would say that it would have to rank as one of the best weekends so far.

But as tends to happen here, the very next weekend tops the last again. This past weekend brought a trip to the small town of Baños which is described in my Lonely Planet guide as a "tourist mecca". And they really aren't lying. While my friends (a smaller group this time which was much better in my opinion) decided to leave Friday morning, I skipped town Thursday afternoon, got in around 8:30, just in time for a wonderfully relaxing evening. This turned out to be my first true experience in a hostel staying with all completely random people (emotion: awkward) which was interesting. When the others arrived Friday afternoon we did one of the craziest things I have ever done in my life: puenting (spanglish for bridging jumping/swinging). This consisted of strapping into a harness that is connected to a bridge that is about 100 meter (for all you non metric people, thats over 325 feet!) over a beautiful river gorge, jumping off (emotion: insanely scary), free falling about 100 feet (emotion: liberation), then swining underneath the bridge and slowly being let down to the ground. It was not bungee jumping because there was no up and down but it was still amazing. (The craziest part of the whole experience was how relaxed the whole thing was. There were no waivers. You didn't have to sign your life away. It was just another one of those "oh yea I'm in Ecuador" moments.) Saturday morning we got up decently early, rented mountain bikes and headed out down la ruta de las cascadas or the highway of waterfalls. In about a 6 hour trip we saw some of the most beautiful waterfalls and natural scenery I have ever seen. The waterfalls were all falling off the mountains that form the river valley so you we got rivers, waterfalls and mountains all at the same time (emotion: awe). It was semi ridiculous. Like Lord of the Rings/New Zealand ridic. I honestly don't even feel the need to travel to NZ anymore cuz it was that beautiful. After several nice hikes and about 20km of riding, a nice rain, and a wonderful traditional Ecuadorian almuerzo we all piled into the back of a truck (bikes and all) for a ride back up the hill. Overall, another phenomenal weekend. I also hope to return there if I have some time.

This past week back in Quito has been interesting and is where a lot of my recent angst (I'm not sure if that is exactly the right word or not) stems from. Recently, I have really been realizing how much of a joke academics are at my school. And its not just my classes that I am not taking terribly seriously. Everyone is feeling the same thing. This is leading to some amounts of boredom because I don't feel like I am being challenged. Even though I know that school isn't the reason that I am down here, it would be nice to at least be engaged in my classes. This feeling, similar to what I was feeling at the end of my last semester at Case as well, allows my thoughts to wander into looking too far forward at what is next instead of really enjoying the moment I am in. So I have been spending a little bit of time recently thinking about my summer and next school year and what I want to do after college, planning more adventures instead of really enjoying the one I am in. The other day I had conversation with one of my best friends down here about how we aren't sure if this is going to be that truly life changing experience that most people make studying abroad out to be, just because we aren't stepping as far out of our boxes as most people in doing this whole crazy thing. This can be kinda disappointing in some ways just because I fear that this whole thing might not live up to the expectations I have for it, but also it has been good to keep that in the back of my mind so that I don't let my expectations get too high. It has also been weird because many of my friends have had their friends or family in town which just makes me miss all of you guys back in the States. So basically I have been on the top of the world and kinda down in the dumps a bit recently, but its all part of the experience.

Thats what I've got for all of you now. It is currently a little after 11 AM on Friday morning. The rest of this weekend is going to be nice and chill. I went out the past two nights and I really just need some time now to recover and sleep a bit. Probs just gonna do homework and maybe bake a bit.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate everyone who reads this. But don't be bashful. Leave me a comment or email me so I know whats going on in your lives!