My Humble Hostel Abode

If any of you are new travelers such as myself, you've probably only experienced living in hotels or with family members while you're away from home. I have heard of hostels and how living in one is a new experience entirely from what one may normally be accustomed to. When I signed up to teach English with UBELONG the first time, I stayed with an Ecuadorian host family for three weeks; they were so hospitable and it was as if they were my extended family.  I learned so much while I was there since I was (literally and figuratively) immersed in the Ecuadorian culture! I was forced out of my comfort zone and practice Spanish every day while at the local schools, and come home to speak Spanish with my host family. I was even invited as a guest to one of their family member's weddings in a nearby city, and boy was that an interesting few nights haha.

My second project with UBELONG put me in Mérida helping out at a local food bank. Unlike my living arrangements in Ecuador, I was placed in Mérida's Nómadas Hostel which, let me tell you, was a COMPLETE shock the first night I arrived! I may not have shown it in front of my fellow UBELONGers, but boy was I dumbfounded by what I was to call my home for the next three weeks. Whenever I traveled with family in the past, I got to stay in nice hotels which had free cleaning service, private bathrooms, and sometimes a mini-fridge and a coffee maker. Let me tell you about what a hostel is really like...

Imagine what a hotel looks like, and what your hypothetical room looks like. Now take that image out of your head as I share with you the real details of the hostel arrangements haha. (Note: This was my initial reaction to living here, my perception of this place has changed for the better these past couple of weeks (thankfully haha)!)

• Bathrooms and Showers: I can only speak on behalf of the girls, but I feel as though the guys have more comfortable bathroom arrangements since they have multiple stalls per bathroom! *Jealous* For the girls, you share a couple bathrooms with maybe 50-something other girls (4 outdoor stalls to be exact, and 2 other indoor ones you can use if the dorm doors are unlocked). There are 2 outdoor showers that all the girls have to share (and 2 other indoor ones you can use IF the doors are unlocked). People who know me are aware of my somewhat OCD/germophobe tendencies and can understand why I would be a little peeved out by sharing a bathroom with so many other people. They get cleaned every day, but the plumbing isn't the best here and so they request that all papers should be thrown in the garbage bins (gross... haha).

Girls' dorm and two of the outdoor bathrooms

• Dorm Rooms: Maybe people who had the opportunity to dorm while attending college may be more accustomed to sharing rooms, but this was something that was completely new to me (somewhat). When I volunteered in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity, I stayed at a local center which might have been a shelter. They had an enormous cafeteria-sized room with dozens of beds, so I should've expected a similar kind of arrangement here at the hostel. For the Kentucky and Wisconsin female groups, they stayed together in rooms with 6-8 bunk beds and a communal bathroom. I was lucky enough to have a single room for the first two weeks I was here, and then I got bumped into a shared room with three beds (but thankfully just one other fellow UBELONGer!)

My room for the duration of my stay at Nómadas Hostel

• Kitchen: I was pleasantly surprised to see the kitchen here. It comes fully stocked with a fridge (that is 90% always packed and unusable lol), a two-part sink, and an 8-burner stove and a bunch of communal kitchenware.

• Outdoor Pool: No complaints.  I love the pool. :3

• Outside Lounge Area: This is a nice area for people to hang out to eat, listen to live music, or use the (intermittent) WiFi we have here. Normally when I traveled around, I stayed in the confines of my hotel room or followed my family around to explore the city, but here at the hostel, it's almost as if we are a community all our own. I'm not exactly the most outgoing, social person there is, but I have met some pretty interesting people during my stay. I've met someone from the UK, Australia, Russia, Canada, Texas, and Iowa!

I think staying at the hostel has been a really rewarding experience even though I was afraid I would dread my three weeks here. I purposefully choose to travel and volunteer abroad because it pushes me out of my comfort zone of NYC and makes me see the other aspects of the world that I have yet to see. I loved that I was able to meet someone who was backpacking around Central America, someone who is exploring the cities of Mexico, someone who quit his job to relax before taking on a job as an optometrist in Ecuador, and someone who formerly worked for the UN and in disaster relief. As diverse as NYC is, I am so grateful that I met these individuals who share similar interests in public health, exploring and traveling as me. Prior to staying at the hostel, it was hard running into a random person in NYC just to talk about my career goals and hear advice about graduate school and what jobs I should pursue in the future unless I specifically worked at an organization dedicated to public health. I was pleasantly surprised to talk to these strangers and be able to spend an hour discussing goals and where we wanted to accomplish in life. I have Cedric and UBELONG to thank for my experience at the hostel. As a volunteer, I am in the "Immersion Project" and I definitely feel immersed in the Mexican culture here! :)

From talking with more experienced hostel residents, they said that this hostel is one of the best ones they've lived in. It doesn't hurt that they have free yoga, live music, free salsa lessons, and affordable cooking classes (where you can eat your food!) for 25 pesos. My overall thoughts of the hostel? It's livable, even for the OCD/germophobic-types! Once you accept that nothing will change your living situation, you get used to the idea of living here and you start to grow comfortable and enjoy it.