T-minus 26 hours and counting

This is what the living room at home looks like:

This can only mean one thing.  I'm in the midst of packing and preparing for a trip, otherwise the mess would be a little less organized, and it would be in my dorm instead.  This time, it's a trip for three months to Quito, Ecuador to spend Winter quarter studying Spanish, staying with an Ecuadorean family, and living life to the fullest extent.

Since I will be leaving Seattle (not to mention, Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and North America in general) and my friends and family, I have decided to keep a blog while I'm abroad, in an attempt to keep everyone updated on what I'm doing.  If I manage to stay on top of this project and post updates once or twice a week, I won't have to stress about large email updates, or posting a ton of photos at once.  And maybe, just maybe, I can provide some amusement, random facts, or at least another way to procrastinate on homework to those back home.  We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Here is where I'm going:

Here is where the volcanoes in Ecuador are in relation to me:

Tungurahua had some activity earlier in December, the geologist in me is a little excited.  The sensible part of me is mildly concerned.  The geologist in me is also a little annoyed I couldn't find any hazard maps for the area.

General trip FAQ:
-I will be spending 10 weeks in Quito studying Spanish, class is 4 days a week.
-I will taking classes at the Andean Center for Latin American Studies (ACLAS).
-I will also be doing a service learning project while I'm there, specifics to be determined upon arrival.
-I will be staying with a homestay, and I will be the only one from my program with the family
-The weather is sunny and 65ish, so I will have a quite comfortable Winter.
-Quito is 9,350 feet above sea level, it is also the capital of Ecuador with a population of ~2.1 million.
-I will have time on weekends to go explore other parts of the country, our program will have a couple group outings to visit other cities during the program.
-I am not planning to visit any other countries while I'm down there.
-Quito is 3 hours ahead of Seattle.
-I will have internet in some capacity, but no promises on responding to email or Facebook.  I expect Skype will be a possibility too.

This seems like a fairly respectable pre-departure post, so I'll stop here.  Expect more photos and stories to come.  I'll leave you with a picture of alpacas, since I associate them with Ecuador.  I'll let you know if this stereotype is just that, or if there is some truth behind it.