As someone who was deciding whether or not to travel abroad, I found the “day in the life” blogs to be super helpful. Unfortunately there weren’t a lot of these from Quito or the Galapagos Islands and everyone’s experiences are different. I hope to help others figure out if studying abroad here is a good fit for them. I will also write “Day in the Life in Galapagos” as I develop a routine after being on San Cristóbal Island for a few weeks, so stay tuned!
Starting the Day: On a normal weekday with no field trip, I wake up around 6:20 A.M. If I decide to go to the gym at University San Francisco Quito (USFQ), I eat breakfast at 7 A.M. and then head there. If I decide to run around the neighborhood, I do that first and then eat at 8 A.M. When weightlifting at the school, I shower in the bathrooms at the school. They have four to five showers so finding an available shower is not an issue! Unfortunately, the gym membership does cost $60 a month, but it was a must for me since I am an Army ROTC student.
Class and Lunch: Class normally goes from 9-12 P.M. During the first two months, I took Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Tropical Ecology! Every week we have at least one day of field trips. For Tropical Ecology, my class traveled to the Amazon Rainforest for three days! For lunches, we normally head to Paseo San Francisco, the mall right across the street. They have a food court with over a dozen places to choose from! This includes pescatarian, vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free options.
Afternoons: Most days we have the afternoon free which we use in different ways. Sometimes we have homework to complete and may spend the whole afternoon working on a map for GIS. Most times, the workload isn’t anywhere near what I faced in the United States. When we don’t have homework, we spend the afternoon playing beach volleyball with other students in the GAIAS program and local students from USFQ. These can turn into massive beach volleyball games where we are competing in 8v8. Exploring Quito is always another option. Many of us tried out a nearby rock climbing place or visited the middle of the world attraction (“Mitad del mundo”).
Transportation: I leave for home no later than 6 P.M., making sure to get back before dark. To get back home, I take a 10-15 minute bus ride and then have a 15 minute walk back to my house, which is in a gated neighborhood. Some of my friends have short walks to the university, others had to take Ubers, but most were able to take a bus.
Dinner: In my house, dinner was at 7:30 P.M. and I spent the evening talking to my host family about the day. I always aim to be in bed around 9-10 P.M. most nights.
I am very happy with the daily routine I developed. Overall, I felt safe in the area but always stayed aware of my surroundings, especially when traveling home by myself.
Please feel free to reach out to me and ask questions! My instagram is faith.y15 and my email is fayst1509@gmail.com.
