I got depressed a few days before leaving San Cristobal. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t feel like I had seen enough, experienced enough, or done enough research. My trip passed in a dream like state and the assignments were so time consuming that I didn’t have the opportunity to process enough. On the equator the days are divided in half with sunlight: 12 hours of sun, 12 hours of darkness all year round. This lends itself to a dreamy, out-of-time feeling. The close proximity of wildlife, the heat of mid-day, the simple food, all contribute to a feeling of dreaminess that passed the time far too quickly for me.  

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I miss my host family now that I am home. I plan to return to Galapagos in the future. I want to do more research, but I want to bring my children. Since my host family has a daughter 2 weeks older than my own daughter, I will try to stay with the same family again when I return.  

The hardest part, perhaps, of my trip was the fact that I got along significantly better with my instructors (who are closer to me in age and with whom I share research interests) than with my peers from UO. I think that is something to know for other nontraditional students: you may find yourself preferring the company of researchers and professors rather than undergraduates! 

I had three days of travel to return: an overnight in Quito where the UO put us up in an extremely fancy hotel, the contrast between the simple meals with my host family and the luxurious, but empty, 5-star hotel was the start. I spent the next night in Miami with a friend and experienced firsthand how hot the Atlantic Ocean feels: bathwater hot. An all-day layover in Dallas, Texas and I was ready to be back in Oregon. Here I quickly assimilated back into US culture because I attended the Oregon Country Fair, but found myself feeling ungrounded after the experience as a whole. I am not sure that I would recommend something so extreme as OCF upon return from a study abroad! 

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I think if you are on the fence about studying abroad because you are an older student you should do it anyway. It means you might spend more time having dinner with your instructors than your peers, but that is networking time that you can’t get any other way. I have completely changed my academic trajectory after some conversations with my instructors from USFQ, UO and HKU. As a non-traditional student you will bring unique knowledge to the group, and you will be impressed by the skills of the students from other universities. I am especially grateful for the friendships I made with students from Hong Kong University and Universidad San Francisco de Quito.   

By Elise O'Brien, Diverse Ducks Ambassador

Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Galapagos, Summer 2024