Spanish & Service Learning in Ecuador – Overall my experience in Ecuador was amazing. Day to day life was fairly simple and we got into quite the routine very quickly. We started out having a class in the morning, going home for lunch and then returning to Spanish class in the afternoon. This routine lasted for the first three weeks we were in Guayaquil, After that we had the chance to choose a volunteer site and then visited that site in the mornings and continued with our Spanish classes in the afternoon.

The host family was an amazing experience. My host family was very nice and welcoming. Their family was very big so there was always lots of house guests and they were equally as nice. The Ecuadorian food was amazing and always something new and different. The amount of fresh fruits and vegetables was something i never waned to leave behind!

The Weekend trips we got to take throughout our time in Ecuador had to be my favorite part. My group and I were lucky enough that we got to visit all parts of the Ecuadorian climates while we were there. We visited the coast, the highlands and even got to spend a day in the amazon. The trip to amazon was my faveorite day trip that we did. It was so beautiful and we even got to visit a Kitchwa village, which is a native tribe to Ecuador.

The house building trip (as photographed) was the most heartwarming experience and the one that I enjoyed the best. As a Civil engineering Tech graduate, to go out and help build a house for a lovely woman and her family was the coolest thing i did the whole trip.

As to be expected there were some bumps in the road along the way but is hard not to have them when traveling. The biggest one of course is the language barrier. So my main piece of advice for anyone going on this exchange in the future is two things: 1. Try and learn a little Spanish before you go and 2. keep an open mind." 

Emily Seymour

Civil Engineering Technology Student

NSCC Waterfront Campus