Hi. I have had a very busy past few days. On Sunday, my friends and I took the teleferico (gondola) up to the top of one of the mountains that surrounds Quito. It was really cold and very hard to breathe (we were 12,000 ft altitude) but the view was spectacular. You could almost see the entire country of Ecuador! Afterwards, we ate dinner at a very good cuban restaurant. Yesterday I had class in the morning and in the evening so I spent the day with my friends going to bookstores to look for books for our classes, eating lunch in a park, and going to the rocodromo (a rock-climbing wall). Today I slept in and went running in a huge park with one of my friends. It was very difficult to run!! I am still not used to the altitude. I have class this evening. Even though all my classes are in spanish - they are all very easy. I am taking a society and culture of Ecuador class, a globalization class, a spanish grammar class, a ceramics class, and a service learning class (we only spend a little time in the classroom for that class and spend the rest of the time volunteering for a local organization). I've had more than a week of classes already and so far my only homework has been 1 page of grammar homework where i had to conjugate verbs in the present tense. 

I think the hardest thing about leaving here in 4 months (besides the mountains) will be the breakfasts! It's my favorite meal of the day! Everyday I eat cut up fruit (usually kiwi and guava), homemade fruit juice (usually blackberry, pineapple, melon, guava, tomato de arbol, and other fruits I havent even heard of)! It's delicious. I also eat fresh bread from a nearby bakery with homemade warm jam that my mom makes, and yogurt and granola. Its the best meal ever! I don't know how I ever lived without homemade fruit juice with every meal!