Reasons

Sometimes it seems like the desire to go to Ecuador appeared out of the blue.  When I learned about study abroad during orientation as an incoming freshman, the places I wanted to visit were South Africa (because of all the amazing animals there) and Australia/ New Zealand (for the animals and also the amazing landscapes, as seen in LOTR, for example).  The reason I decided to study abroad in Ecuador and, more specifically, the Galapagos Islands is actually very simple, though.  I took a class on the Galapagos Islands last year in order to satisfy that annoying Beyond the North Atlantic general education requirement.  The class was a lot of fun and I found the places we talked about very interesting.  The Galapagos Islands are a place we've always learned about in biology classes as one of the birthplaces of that science.  Eventually, I decided that there was probably no better place for a biology major than those islands, certainly especially true for marine ecology (which is the program I am taking classes through).  I can visit those other places later in life (I hope), but for the perfect place to be both a tourist and a student I can think of nowhere better than Ecuador and Galapagos.