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Bc. Taťána Rejlová, UCT Prague,
ročník 4About the country
Location of the place
Quito - the capital of Ecuador
City
The city is located in altitude 2850 m so you may be a little bit sick first days. But it is only important to sleep well and drink a lot of water. The city is quite busy but very nice. Historic part is with a lot of churches and is beautiful, I can recommended you free walking tour. You can still visit and relax in the parks - Carolina park, Metropolitano park, Guápulo park... the city is really big, has 2 millions inhabitants and is 40 km long so you have to travel by bus or by taxi to your work. The university is about 1 hour from hostel but some companies are closer. The city has a lot of different parts and it makes the city so nice - for example Cumbaya (there is also the university) is the richest part of the city but for example in Bellavista are really nice streets. Our hostel was in the south part of the Quito and it was safe part. Ecuador is quite safe country, only you should beware of pickpockets, mainly in the bus.
Surroundings (possible trips, ...)
Ecuador is really beautiful country and it is really easy to travel around whole country. They have really good transport for long distances, use a lot of buses who go every day and go through almost whole country. Ecuador has three mains parts - sierra (mountains), costa (beach) and bosque (rainforest) so you can hike, relax on the beach or exlore animals in rainforest. It is also possible to visit Colombia or Peru.
Employer
Employer
My employer was the university, USFQ (Universidad San Francisco de Quito)
Work description
First days I worked with the beer. We cooked the beer, filled the beer to the bottles etc. My main project was with tomatoes so I did dry tomatoes, tomato paste and barbecue sauce, nice experience how to think about productions in bigger volume. One week I helped with the extraction of mortiňos (something like blueberries) in laboratory and some days did bread and analysed properties.
Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)
380 $ per month (if you work for example like me 9 weeks, you have 2 salaries)
Language requirements
English - good
Spanish - good
It is good to know Spanish language a little bit. At the university they speak English well but in companies it depends, I heart sometimes it wasn´t very good.
Spanish - good
It is good to know Spanish language a little bit. At the university they speak English well but in companies it depends, I heart sometimes it wasn´t very good.
Accommodation (price, who provided it)
The whole group of IAESTE lived in hostel Don Quijote. We paid 200 $ per month. There is housekeeper who cleans your room every week or when you want. You still have to pay for the laundry - one laundry costs 3 $. I lived in triple room but you can ask also for single room.
Social life
Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)
The people from IAESTE from Ecuador are very nice. They help you with everything. Some days they organised events like go to the pub or some trips. There are two girls who care about you really well, Joana and Estefy. Of course they pick-up you at the airport. It is good to use Whatsapp before your flight because they want to contact you when and where they will wait for you.
Meeting other foreign students
You live together with other foreign students so it is nice you are not alone there, you can travel and explore the Ecuador in group. But if you prefer to travel alone there is no problem too. Students are usually very nice people, they like travelling like you so they are friendly.
Sport and culture
The culture is everywhere around you, Quito has a lot of possibilities like Prague. You can go to the cinema, to some museums, good restaurants or only walk in parks or historic centre.
I really like sports. I visited climbing halls so I also met some people from Quito, it is really good to know somebody who lives there. The people are very friendly and they help you too. I also like running - there is Carolina park or Metropolitano park so you can run there, there is only problem the sunshine is very early (you live in equator) so only for girl it wasn´t so good, I didn´t have a lot of free time for running. The people in Ecuador love football so for sure there are possibilites to play it.
I really like sports. I visited climbing halls so I also met some people from Quito, it is really good to know somebody who lives there. The people are very friendly and they help you too. I also like running - there is Carolina park or Metropolitano park so you can run there, there is only problem the sunshine is very early (you live in equator) so only for girl it wasn´t so good, I didn´t have a lot of free time for running. The people in Ecuador love football so for sure there are possibilites to play it.
Food, local specialties
Food - it depends how much money do you want to spend for it. During your work you usually go for the lunch and the cheapest lunch is some soup, chicken with rice and juice (3,50$)...sometimes you are full of this food so it is good to try something else. Tipical food is quimbolito, empanada, churrasco, encebollada, sopa de locro...etc etc. They also have a lot of different fruits and I loved the juices from it. They eat a lot of meat so for vegetarians it is a little bit harder but I lived with one vegetarian girl and it was possible too.
Other information
Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic
The best communication is with Skype, Whatsapp, Messenger. It is almost necessary to buy ecuador simcard, it costs 15 $ per month but it includes also 3 GB of the internet.
Recommendations for students who will go to the same place
Just do it. It is really beautiful and interesting country.
What not to forget with you
- travel adapter - they have 110 V. But you can also buy it there
- notebook - because of the work
- money - yes, it is important..
- cap and gloves? - if you want to hike a lot ...
- notebook - because of the work
- money - yes, it is important..
- cap and gloves? - if you want to hike a lot ...
Benefits of the internship
Great experince, two foreign languages (English and Spanish), new friends from the whole world
Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country
without problems, good communication and very nice people
Overall experience with IAESTE
Good communication, they help you with everything
Student's website
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Employer's webiste
www.usfq.edu.ec
Other useful links
https://www.facebook.com/saintrootscerveceria/?hc_ref=ARTEGGnGWQZTdO228SrRf5E7-EVjYtzthCGVFXVQKBJlBL0X6qsf3zZL5wsMt2-r3ZY&fref=nf -really good beer!
Other comments
You can ask me whatever you want....and ...sorry for my English, I think I have a lot of mistakes.