Jennifer Alvarez

If you haven’t heard about Airbnb, it’s an amazing tool that lets locals rent out their living spaces for travelers, usually for a fraction of the cost of staying at a hotel. We landed in Cancún’s airport and took an ADO bus from the airport to the Cancún center bus terminal, which was close to our Airbnb. After visiting Cenote Calavera, we were on our way to El Gran Cenote when my bike tire popped, so we ended up walking back to town and didn’t get to visit that cenote until the next day. We ended up back in Cancún for the remaining day of our trip and we were so tired that we only ended up in the area of our Airbnb.

Okay, maybe you can make study abroad work in Europe, but I found that studying abroad in Latin America is greatly cheaper than the costs of studying abroad in Europe. I always recommend talking to your financial aid department or any specific resources on campus for low-income students to help understand the financial aid situation with studying abroad. I know that Northwestern really pushes this scholarship on its students, so I’m going to push it, too, because it can help greatly cover the cost of study abroad. I’m so fortunate to have been granted the opportunity to study abroad in a place as magical as Ecuador, but I’ve been even more blessed by the chance to study abroad again in Costa Rica!

This photo shows the San Rafael waterfall, and with a height of 150 meters, it is one of the largest waterfalls in South America. Named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Quito’s historical center has some of the best-preserved architecture in all of South America. It’s definitely a little bit of a trip to get to here, but I think anyone visiting Quito should definitely make their way over to El TeleferiQo. Being able to see such breathtaking views reminds you of how truly beautiful our world is, and Ecuador definitely provides you with plenty of opportunities to remember that.

We traveled to the eastern portion of the country and spent an afternoon in Sumak Allpa, stayed in the town of Limoncocha for about three days, and stayed in the Tiputini Biodiversity Station bordering Yasuní National Park for another three days. My group stayed at two locations during our time in the Amazon: a hostel in Limoncocha and the Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS). If being out in nature isn’t your thing, the Amazon rainforest probably isn’t a good fit for you. House shoes: If you don’t want to walk around in rain boots all day, you should bring some closed-toe shoes to use whenever you’re inside.