High up in the mountains, in a South American village where pigs and sheep rule the dirt roads, Andrew and Yvonne Hewitt are spending their first year of marriage.

The couple, who graduated last May from MSU, are in the middle of a 10-week training program for the Peace Corps.

For the next two years, Ecuador will be their home as the Hewitts work with local residents to promote organic farming and better nutrition.

Facing the newlyweds are a unique set of obstacles — from altitude sickness to adjusting to their malaria medicine.

"Adapting to a different way of life has its own challenges," wrote Yvonne in an e-mail from Ecuador to The State News. "Even simple things, like taking a shower, takes on a different dimension.

"I basically freeze my butt off, and our shower is electric so occasionally it starts to smell of burning wire."

But being in Ecuador isn't the couple's first taste of living abroad.

Yvonne and Andrew started dating in Thailand when they went on the same MSU study abroad program in 2005.

The 22-year-olds married in June 2006, a month after their graduation.

When the Hewitts left for the Peace Corps last month, the news didn't shock Yvonne's father, Clint Wood.

Wood, who is British, and his wife, who is Colombian, had spent six years in Nigeria with their children.

"We're really an international family, so nothing can really surprise me," said Wood, who lives in Missouri City, Texas.

Now the Hewitts are living with a host family as they undergo an extensive training session that helps them adapt to the culture and practice their Spanish.

"We have little privacy and less time to just be together and relax," Yvonne wrote. "We have full days with lots of activities, and usually we are exhausted by the end.

"But ultimately, we have each other, and we can lean on each other — which makes a world of a difference."