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Ñuca Yachashcacuna: Part II

I have had a lot of time just to think during my time in Ecuador, which, in the past, is something that I have not had a lot of time to do. I have been able to contemplate how I want my life to be and how I want my gap year to be. I have come to one conclusion: I want to be happy. This may seem like an obvious and very simple deduction, but my life seems to have been moving so fast that I didn’t really think about it much. It’s basic, but being happy is important.

I believe that my experience in Ecuador has been, and will continue to be, very valuable in my development. With this being said, I am not necessarily the happiest person right now. My situation is difficult, and this fact is apparent to me every day. However, I believe that going through difficult times is necessary in personal growth. These hard times are very valuable to me and I appreciate them for what they are. In many circumstances, it is the difficult times that define one’s character.

I’ll be honest about this; last year was difficult for me. I am not going to go into detail, but it was a hard year. There was a decent amount of disappointment, as a number of things did not work out the way that thought I wanted them to. During my time in Ecuador, I have realized that I am ready to just be happy and enjoy my life. Life is too short for this not to be the case.

I do not want to be unhappy, but at the same time I do not want to leave Ecuador and feel as though I have not gotten as much out of this as I can. Because honestly, I don’t think that I will ever live here again. I wouldn’t trade the experience that I have had here for anything and it has given me an opportunity to look at my life from an outside perspective. I want to stay on the great track that I am on right now, and when I think that this path is taking me home I will follow it (I kinda got all metaphorical right there), whenever this may be. I want to continue moving forward and living my life to the fullest. But until I come home, I’m going to “be here now.”

This is the conclusion of my two-part blog post on my experience so far. If you read the whole thing, congratulations and thank you. There was a lot of stuff that I needed to get out there. In case you were wondering, “ñuca yachashcacuna” means “my experience” in Kichwa. Thanks again!

Sam Garcia

About Sam Garcia


Sam put a great deal of time and effort into athletics for the first eighteen years of his life. As a result, his team at Episcopal won the first State Championship for the school in twenty years in lacrosse and he received All-State honors for indoor track. He has taken advantage of growing up in the Washington DC area, and just completed an internship with Senator Mark Warner's office this spring that allowed him to learn more about his passions of current affairs and politics. He has also done a great deal of traveling around the world, helping form his strong desire to expand his horizons. Sam also enjoys listening to music and playing videogames. Sam will attend New York University after his Global Citizen Year.

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