International Students' Welcome Party

Let's just take a moment to compare the welcome parties for students, as I'm sure this is somehow an important part of understanding the culture.

At my home university, for new students, they throw a little Barefoot Luau, encouraging students to participate and get to know each other poolside for a few hours, serving "mocktails," soda, and water to demonstrate ways to participate without alcohol.

Here, we went to a rather isolated hacienda in Nono, Quito, and played games (which included optional alcohol), ate, and danced. After a ten minute hike to the hacienda, we arrived a little after 10am. Although no alcohol was mandatory or suggested, the availability was quite different from the States.

Nono, Ecuador: The view from the hacienda

The first game involved a greased wooden pole, with prizes strung to the top. The goal was to climb the pole, which resulted in my team building a human tower tower of three (myself in the middle). The next group used extra team work, with a base of four and building up from there.

A student trying to climb alone

Our team, building a tower (I'm in black)

This is far more difficult than it seems.

There's also a person below me.

In an effort to not fall off the pole, she fell on me.

Few of us had thought far enough ahead to
figure out how to get back down

The final group, with extra effort

Four tiers of students

The next event was dizzy bat, followed by an obstacle course. Oh, this was no ordinary obstacle course! To start, take a (optional) shot of booze, followed by the tire run like football players, followed by another optional shot, followed by an army crawl, followed by another optional shot, finishing with a giant slip'n'slide. Despite the chilly weather and the constant mist, many of us dove down the soapy slide without a second thought.

Army crawl

Makeshift slip'n'slide

Obstacle course competitors. It's not warmer that it looks.

After the games, we had a delicious lunch, full of food that involved potatoes (my favorite). Then we did a bit of dancing before making the ride back to Quito.

A bit different from the welcome party back home, don't you think?