Semester in Ecuador

This program let me travel throughout Ecuador to lots of cool places, including the Galapagos, the cloud forest, and a very isolated part of the Amazon. If you like nature, its a great fit. The host families were wonderful. The Independent Study Project at the end of the trip was definitely a highlight. We got to travel by ourselves to work on a natural resourcesrelated research project of our choosing, generally working through local non-profits. For mine, I worked with camera traps of spectacled bears in the cloud forest to understand their patterns. It was part of a larger research project done through the Ecuadorian government and the University of Quito. Getting to put my knowledge to use in that way was wonderful.