Leaving my first family in Cotacachi wasn’t enough pain for the last week. I also had to see and then leave (again) my family in Quito. There were four other students here from Switzerland and the States, so we were at a full house full of love and laughter because we all knew we had one of the best host families in Quito, possibly in Ecuador! Our last night together was gifted by a prepared meal from one of the U.S. students. We talked about our fun memories of my first week here in Quito, about our graduation party, and what we learned in our different projects. My mom was especially interested in my project because not many students have tried my development project; I was one of the first ones to be in Cotacachi and experience life with indigenous people. After dinner, we took pictures as a memory for the rest of our lives. After the pictures, it finally hit me that I was leaving tomorrow afternoon, and I would be back in the States in less than 30 hours. I wasn’t ready to go yet; I wanted to stay there longer, but my time was up and I couldn’t convince myself to accept it. I was there for so long, I actually forgot I was from the U.S. Funny story: I spoke English for the first time after three weeks, and I had forgotten all of my English! For once, I felt more comfortable in Spanish than in English. At the end of the night, I went to sleep and mentally prepared myself for my trip back home. I was ready to go now, but I wanted to hug my host parents once more and tell them I would be back soon, but I knew that wasn’t going to be true for a long time.
