The Gift of Giving in Ecuador

Location:
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Journal Entry:

Life in Ecuador has been filled with fun and learning. While my trips to other cities were a part of the fun, my time with the people here is what I enjoyed most. I really liked to learn many things about the language, food and the society. I was the only student in the program for this semester, so I had to be more open to meeting new people. This would help me to make good friends and practice speaking Spanish. Between my internship and my school, I was overwhelmed with care and kindness. They gave extra attention to me since I was the only one. Because of this, I wanted to find ways to give back to them.

My internship was at a medical clinic in downtown Guayaquil. Each day, I worked with a doctor and her team of nurses to give daily care to patients. Sometimes we would have patients with serious injuries but, other times we only needed to check their general health. I was very active in the office. The doctor would let me do many hands-on things such as sterilizing the tools, cleaning off of all germs or signing the patients in.

 The hardest task I faced was trying to understand all of the Spanish. I had Spanish class each day after the internship, so I would learn little by little. Eventually, I was able to talk really well with patients. They would always tell me how good I sounded with the Ecuadorian accent.

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