1: Pre-Ecuador thoughts, Aug. 11

            I sit at Gate 14 in Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. It’s 6:30 in the morning. By the end of the day, I’ll be in Ecuador, beginning the greatest adventure of my life to date. Hour by hour, I’m hurtling headlong toward culture shock, altitude sickness, and a sensation of loss of control due to only understanding 60 percent of what any given person says. Yet…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t ridiculously excited to get there.

            I’ve heard so so so much about study abroad, and the ways in which it can fundamentally change a person (for the better, generally). It’s not hard to believe. In six short months, I will have an unfathomable wealth of experiences and knowledge. What would six-months-from-now-Grant have to say to me? ‘Don’t go down that alley on October 16^th?’ ‘Probably shouldn’t buy that funny-looking pink fruit at the market?’ Regardless, all I can do now is try to figure out what I’d like to accomplish and how I’d like to grow in Ecuador.

            High on the list of priorities is Spanish fluency, but I’m not too worried about that. That’ll come; it’ll have to.

            Also high on the list is being comfortable with advocating for myself, especially in uncomfortable situations. In the past, I think I’ve blurred the line between being laid back about things and being too timid to go get what I deserve. I anticipate that Ecuador with force this from me, and that’s something I welcome.

            I’ve decided to try to take any problem or failure (barring serious illness or injury) as not a crisis but a challenge. If I take the wrong bus and find myself in a strange neighborhood, I hope to have the level-headedness to see it as a challenge. I’ll ask some questions and figure it out.

            I’d like to come home with a more internalized understanding of the metric system. I feel like one cannot fully integrate with the global community until one speaks the global language of the metric system. Seriously, it’s so goddamn easy; I’ve just got to figure out how much a kilogram is.

            At any rate, adventures and surprises await!