I don´t know what I was worried about

Besides giving a guy at the airport a $5 dollar tip, and forgetting my student visa at home, all is well. My host family is fantastic, I´m getting by surprisingly well with my spanish given that I haven´t really used it in a year (although that might be because people are letting me get away with mixing up tenses), I´m finding gluten-free food to eat, and the weather is nice. However, there are classes, some boring, but most really interesting. Today we had a philosopher come in and lead a discussion about global identity. I mustered up my spanish and said ¨Soy yo. Y puedo ser solo yo.¨(I am me. And I can be only me) The rest of what I said was a horrific jumble of Spanish but that first part was pretty good. What I was saying was that while I was worried before I came here about my hair and my clothes, I realized at the last moment that changing my appearance won´t make me stand out any less, and I just have to accept that I am who I am: forgetful, friendly, funny, American. Being American is the only thing that really differentiates me from some Ecuadorians here, and that doesn´t mean much actually. What it means to be American I think I´ll articulate in another post, but that´s enough philosophy for this post. Expect a batch of photos and videos tomorrow!