IES Abroad Quito Summer – Environmental Studies

I had such an incredible time on this trip!! I've always dreamed of going to the Galapagos Islands and it was the best experience of my life. Being able to interact with wildlife on such an intimate level was incredible. As well as this, being able to experience the Amazon Tiputini Biodiversity Reserve was a whole other level of crazy. Not having my phone and electricity at certain points definitely changed my outlook on things!

I would definitely recommend this program to anyone who is interested in Environmental Studies or Biology; I believe those specifically interested in Ecology or the Galapagos would benefit immensely from this program. It is also a good program for those who do not want to miss a semester at their home institution by studying abroad, or for those who would like a small taste of what it is like to be abroad before studying for a longer period of time. Personally, I wish that I had chosen a semester program because I did not want my short time in Ecuador to end. The weekly (and often biweekly) excursions in Quito and the Galapagos were fantastic - the following is merely a sample of the many excursions we went on: there were overnight stays in exclusive regions of the Amazon, hiking in the páramos of inactive volcanoes, snorkeling around 5 islands in the Galapagos, visiting artisan markets, and walking around in the cloud forests. These excursions, though fun, were really meant to solidify our understanding of what we had learned in class through hands-on work. There are also two home stay elements to this program - students will stay with a host family in Quito and another host family in the Galapagos, encouraging cultural immersion and practice of the Spanish language. Although it varies by family and student preference, most of the experiences that I have heard about (as well as my own) were generally very positive. I honestly do not have many critiques of this program; the only thing lacking was free time that did not have any programming (for instance, it was hard to get out and experience life in another region of Ecuador if it wasn't in the programming) and the fact that a number of us needed to commute on public transportation for over an hour just to get to campus. However, despite those small hiccups, this program has really opened my eyes and my heart to the benefits of traveling and cultural immersion.