old quito.

Something I have found in common between my life in the Midwest and my life in Ecuador:  I. LOVE. WEEKENDS.  

This week has been crazy.  It's strange how time can move so slow but so wildly fast at the same time.  The semester has officially shifted from only funtivities, hanging out, and exploring TO spanish class, spanish class, and more spanish class.  This week in spanish I... 1. learned a couple new vocab words 2. practiced my Origami 3. learned some slang from the UK (thanks to my British partner, Tom) 4. took two tests in one day 5. passed my tests with flying colors and moved up to the intermediate class so next week I will actually start learning new things! 

Yesterday I also squeezed in my first "one-on-one" with Kim.  We went out for lunch before my afternoon class and COMPLETELY lost track of time.  I knew in the moment we were speed walking like freshmen on their way to class in the first week of school that Kim and I would be GREAT friends.  Losing track of time while being in one's presence = forever friends.  

And when I thought my day yesterday couldn't get any better, we hit the streets.  We rode the obnoxiously packed trolley to Old Quito and spent the evening experiencing the oldest street in Quito, La Ronda.  We stopped at two different restaurants for empanadas:  empanadas for dinner and dessert!  The dessert empanada rocked my world.  Seriously...it was practically three times the size of my face and covered with sugar.  

It was so fun to hang out, listen to live salsa bands (attempting to dance but realizing that's not my area of expertise...) and laugh with my semester family until my stomach hurt.  I would say "TGIF" but that was yesterday sooo...TGFF (Thank God For Fridays).  

[La Ronda]

[dinner empanadas]

 [me, sarah, our new street friend, kim, & alyssa]

 [waiting for dessert]

[me, alyssa, & bonnie.  could laugh with these beauties all night]

[DESSERT.  melted my tastebuds with deliciousness] 

[the trinfolk]

 [oh how i love kim]

[hahahaha...the ladies.]