Saturday evening I arrived in Quito having traveled all day long from Seattle with layovers in Dallas and Panama City. Sunday was orientation day. We took a Spanish test and were placed in our classes and then later took a walking tour around the city to see where all the hospitals were at. I was placed in the advanced level Spanish class with other students who had pretty extensive experience in Spanish. This was the highest level class they were offering, however I was quite disappointed when we spent the first couple hours of class going over ‘ser y estar’. We later moved on to some medical vocabulary terms like how to say parts of the body and common illnesses; however, as far as Spanish grammar is concerned, I didn’t learn a thing during my two weeks of class. It was all review. And quite honestly, I could teach myself vocabulary from a book. But the teacher, Marisol, was nice and it was good to practice.
For lunch I and the other students would typically walk a few blocks to any number of restaurants. There were traditional Ecuadorian sit-down cafes, some fast food specialty type places, and then some restaurants which could be classified somewhere in between. It was possible to get a full meal consisting of a meat (often chicken or beef), rice and beans (menestra), fried plantains, salad, and a drink for just $3 if you ordered the Menu del Día.
Monday and Tuesday I had class for a few hours in the morning and then a few hours after lunch. Wednesday began my first day shadowing physicians.
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