Back to Uni

Student life... sometimes I have to admit I do miss it. Not the essays, exams and all the stresses that went with it, but the constant brain exercise and learning, the atmosphere and the social side to it. Today I had a trip back to memory lane.

Cumbayá is a "parish", as they call it here, in the Metropolitan District of Quito (located east of Quito, less than half an hour drive). It is mainly a resident area for the more affluent "quiteños" and a very nice place to live indeed. I visited it today for the first time and went to have a look at the university campus there.

Universidad San Francisco Quito (USFQ) is a private university with very high standards of education. I have to admit that I was somewhat jealous to see the facilities and the beauty of these buildings. I'm guessing this must be the Ecuadorian equivalent of going to Oxford or Cambridge.

Walking around the campus you can tell that students must come from quite comfortable backgrounds. Everyone had a BlackBerry or iPhone, the cars were all shiny and new, and rucksack brands were North Face or Jansport.... Not what I'm used to see in downtown Quito!

The coolest thing was that there was a beach volley-ball court. I sat down for a little while and watched a training session and a bit of a match. For a minute I thought I was in LA or Rio! "Just" like my days back at Middlesex Uni...

As term is coming to an end the place was somewhat empty and a lot of the teachers were offering advice sessions and consultations. As I wandered the corridors and read people's names on their doors I couldn't help but notice that the majority of the lecturers were foreign, I spotted quite a lot of German and English sounding names.

But the most surprising fact of all is that down the road from the uni, they are building a massive shopping centre, something similar to Westfield in London. This shopping centre, it turns out, is owned by the uni and will be open in 2012!

If I was a student again, I definitely wouldn't mind joining USFQ!