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This is a creation of my favorite pictures and memories from my time in Colombia. I will never forget this amazing country with its wonderful people. Enjoy! - Powered by Slidely - Create & experience your photo collections as beautiful slideshows

I can’t believe how quickly a year has passed by. It seems only yesterday that I arrived to Colombia, and here I am only a few days from departure. When I came here, I was a bit terrified and concerned as to how the semester would go. It was my first long-term experience living abroad. Amazingly, I loved my first semester in Colombia so much that I decided to extend for another. There have been many challenges along the way, but I will never forget the amazingly beautiful country of Colombia with its cheerful students, friendly people, and awe-inspiring landscapes. Here are the top five things I’ll miss the most when I leave Colombia.

1. Empanadas and Fruit

As far as Colombian food goes, I really will not miss it. Overall, I found it to be bland and in serious need of hot sauce with way too many potatoes, but two things that I will miss are empanadas and the fruit. First off empanadas are delicious, especially when fresh out of the oil. Secondly, Colombia has the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted. It is so fresh and there are many varieties I had never heard of like guanabana. I will miss just being able to walk down the street for easily accessible fruit and juices.

2. Weekend Adventures

One of my favorite parts about Colombia was discovering the country. Almost every weekend, friends and I would hop on a bus and go. I hated the long bus rides, but the destination was always worth it. From seeing the coast, coffee region, and the region of Boyaca. I have seen so many amazing things during my time here, and I will miss just being able to jump on a bus and go wherever I want to.

3. The Culture

When I first arrived in Colombia, the culture kinda boggled me. It was so laid back. Now I have learned to embrace the culture most of the time, and I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere I lived in. It was the direct opposite of my American culture where everyone is always on the go. It taught me to savor the little moments, and to take time out of everyday just to chill. Some things that annoyed me at first, like the incredibly loud music and the smell of potent onions, has since grown on me. I’m not saying I’m going to go out of my way to look for these things in the future, but I will look back upon them fondly.

4. The Students

The students have made this experience worthwhile. Many of them had no interest in learning English, but the still enjoyed talking with me, asking me about my culture, and demanding to know what different song lyrics and slang meant. One thing I’ll never forget is my 8th graders chanting and cheering for active games in the classroom. Their enthusiasm always brought a smile to my face. My after school English club will always hold a special place in my heart too. It was basically half of one of my 8th grade classes, and we had a great time goofing around, practicing English, and learning.

5. The Teachers and Community Members

Finally, at the end of my list are the people I worked with every day. They were always there for me whenever I needed help or a friend. I remember once when I got sick and had to go to the doctor, multiple teachers called me to see if I needed anything. Another time when I was locked out of my room, community members dropped what they were doing to come help me get the door open. The generosity and kindness of Colombians astounds me even to this day. I will never forget how they made my time here memorable.

#teach abroad #Colombian adventures

#teach abroad #colombia adventures

travel-quotes

Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions.

Peter Hoeg (via travel-quotes)

#definitely feeling this one today #teach abroad #Colombian adventures #camp life

Yeah camp counselors in Villa de Leyva! They were such an amazing group of people to work with. I’m so lucky to know them!

#teach abroad #Colombian adventures #camp life #a great way to spend two weeks #i love these people

The Blue Monkeys of the Mystery Machine (aka Cabin 3)

#teach abroad #camp life #Colombian adventures #what a great group

Lessons from Camp

11/24/16

I have just returned to my sleepy town of Aquitania after a two-week long experience in an English Immersion Camp in Cite, Santander. This was a fantastic experience that I am glad I had the chance to be a part of. While I was there I learned a few lessons that I would like to share.

1. Mornings are hard.

When at camp, the concept of a good night’s sleep is not really a thing. Every night there are activities to partake in, campers to get to bed, meetings to be had, and messages to check. With all this going on, sleep can be put on a back burner, meaning that most people, especially counselors don’t get nearly enough of it. With this in mind, I quickly learned to take the free time I had and devote at least a little of it to sleep or rest.

2. Learning can be fun.

One of the camp’s philosophies is to engage the students in active and hands on learning, especially by using TPR. Due to this almost all of our academic sessions were centered around playing with language rather than grammar and usage. There are many activities that I would like to take from camp and use in my own classroom, because they bring a new life and get students active and engaged with little effort, while of course they are having fun!

3. The Comfort Zone

We all have one, and it’s great, but the whole point of camp is to push outside of it. There were many times when I was forced outside my comfort zone, in both activities and language use. This forced me to grow as a person and become an even better leader. The same goes for the campers. This experience was entirely new for them, so every day was outside their comfort zones, and yet they found ways to deal and thrive in their new environments.

4. What the heck is a boomchickaboom?

Obviously at camp, people sing camp songs. I never knew so many of them existed. Where do they all come from? It is safe to say that I now know way more camp songs and can sing more of them than I care to count. Even though I am not particularly fond of these songs, especially the get loose song, overall the campers truly enjoyed them. I guess a small sacrifice for them on my part is worth it.

5. Attitude is Everything

At camp, your attitude is everything, because your attitude colors your entire experience. If you are happy and upbeat, you will see smiles all around along with the greatness of camp. If you have a bad attitude everything is going to suck and be terrible. This is where my own positive attitude was a great help, because not everyday day or session of camp is a walk in a park. Sometimes things are difficult and terrible. Maybe the campers are zombies and refuse to do anything, or you have a crazy virus spreading around camp, without a bright view of life, I would have probably been miserable, and my campers’ experience would have been radically different.

6. Wasps and Viruses are especially terrifying

One day during Me Time, I heard screaming coming from upstairs. At first I thought the girls were just being silly, but then they did it again followed by feet thundering down the stairs. I sprang off my bed and went to investigate. After mounting the stairs, I found two of my girls armed with shoes staring at a window. Once my eyes focused I realized one of the enemy wasps had infiltrated the cabin. They told me they would take care of it so I stood back and let them have at it. They took a step forward, the wasp flexed a wing, they screamed and ended up hiding behind me. At this point I grabbed one of the shoes, a croc, and walked towards the wasp. I smacked it and it fell to the ground. There was a burst of cheers behind me as I went in to squish it. However instead of squishing it, which is near impossible with a croc, it got its stinger stuck in the shoe. After dislodging it, the original assassins ran into the room with brooms and swept it from the room. That is the story of how we vanquished the wasp.

In other news while at camp there was a nasty virus that included vomit, diarrhea, and headaches that rampantly spread around camp. It affected campers and counselors alike, I myself caught a mild version of it. Due to this virus, we taught about hygiene and took turns covering for each other. Here we really began functioning as a team. It also brought my cabin closer together as they took turns caring for each other.

7. Roll with It

Plans change constantly at camp and the best thing to do is to just be flexible. Really flexibility and adaptability are key. When I was teaching sessions sometimes something would happen, maybe the students aren’t interested or we are missing a material, and I had to think of something instantaneously to fix the situation. I am now definitely better at this than I was before camp.

8. What I Never Expected

The one thing I never expected from camp was how hard it was to leave. Today was rough. At lunch, I looked over and saw some of my girls crying, which made me cry a bit, which then lead to a puppy pile. Once we made it back to the cabin where I was collecting the rest of my things, they took turns of flopping into my arms and crying. Quite the emotional day. After a bit they sat me down and went around the circle telling me about how much they appreciated everything I did. It was incredibly, and felt oddly like I was viewing my own funeral. They were so incredibly sweet, and they each wrote me a letter. In return I gave each of them a bracelet that represented our group, the Blue Monkeys, and a letter. After our crying session, there truly was no dry eye in the cabin, we headed to the basketball court where I said my farewell to the rest of the campers. We performed one final cabin cheer, with the entire camp cheering with us, and when I glanced back at my girls they were once again crying. It was amazing to have had such an impact on them that they were so distraught at my leaving. After hugging them all again and wiping their eyes, I hugged some more campers and all of the counselors and headed out. On my walk out I was heralded by choruses of goodbyes coming from every direction.

Camp was an incredible experience. Yes, it had its up and downs, but the last day made it all worth it. I never could have imagined how close I would become with my own cabin and staff team in such a short period of time. If you had told me two weeks ago that I would cry when I left, I probably would have laughed at you, but those girls and the campers in general have left an imprint on my heart that I’ll carry with me.

#teach abroad #Colombian adventures #camp life #great way to end a semester

Colombian Halloween

10/31/16

Colombian Halloween

So Colombian Halloween is a lot like American Halloween, but it is not nearly as big, and many religious specifications limits the celebrating of many. I wore a witch’s hat to school, and was the only one dressed up. Which was just fine, I’m used to sticking out and being seen as the eccentric one. It makes life more exciting in Colombia. In every class, I handed out candy, and it was fun. After school, trick or treating started. I went out on the town to see what was going on, and I have never felt more other. The scene was familiar, cute kids running around in costumes going to different businesses to beg for candy, but at the same time it was completely foreign. I have never felt more homesick other than the first week I was in Aquitania. Luckily I had Hocus Pocus and friends to help me through it.

#Colombian adventures #teach abroad #halloween

My students are seriously great

10/27/16

On this day I walked into my 10-4 class, and my students were so excited. One girl, her name is Julie, she led a cheer about how they missed me and were happy that I was back. I had many greetings such as this one from teachers and students alike. They were all just happy that I was back. It just goes to show the community that has formed around me since my arrival here 4 months ago.

#Colombian adventures #teach abroad

An Unexpected Journey Home

10/16/16-10/25/16

Home

After parting ways in Bogota, I continued on to Miami. First I ate some airport food and then felt uncomfortable and at times sick on my way to Miami. It was lovely. Once we landed and got off the plane, I had 40 minutes to get through customs and make my flight. Yes I’m an idiot, but I wasn’t thinking when I booked the flights, and there were no other options that I could afford that would get me home by 9:30 the next morning. I asked customs if there was a way they could rush me through, but they gave zero shits so I was on my own. After customs I was down to 20 minutes. So here I was running through the airport, and sweating profusely. Lo and behold I was on the exact opposite end of the airport from where I needed to be. I continued to sprint, and check to make sure I was going to the right way. Everyone kept telling me that I was cutting it rather close. I could have slapped them. I knew I was cutting it close, hence the running and sweating. I made it to my gate with 10 minutes to spare. I was shocked. The bay was empty and there was no personnel to be seen. Luckily there was someone at the gate next door, so I flagged them down and explained and somehow managed to get on my flight. I apologized to my seat mates for being late and explained my flight situation. They probably didn’t need or want to hear it, but I had to tell someone. I was just so happy to be on my flight and back to the English speaking world, and then the next thing I knew, we had landed in Minneapolis, where my phone could actually function again. I then rushed off the plane and met my wonderful parents and finally ate my first decent meal all day, this was around 11pm. We then arrived home and slept in preparation for a long day ahead.

The next day was terrible. It was great to see my family and friends, but the circumstances were incredibly depressing as we all tried to wrap our minds around my uncle’s suicide and what they meant for us as a family. Could we find a new normal, or was it forever broken? That question still remains to be answered. After the tearful day, I took a step back and realized that my time in Colombia has changed me. I am now more confident and able in social situations. Small talk no longer phases me, and I appear way more outgoing to the casual observer. In fact quite a few people commented on the change. It’s amazing how life can change when you’re not looking.

After this event, we went home and I don’t even remember what we did. The next day, I went to lunch with Rachel and we had ice cream. Delicious! I then sent a package to Ohio of the things I brought back for other Rachel since she had no space in her backpack. The rest of the day I spent time with my sisters, took my sisters to conferences, and hung out with my grandparents. Conferences are strange when you are sitting in the parental role, especially when you’ve been out of the country for almost 4 months. Yet it was still wonderful to spend time with my sisters. Natalie had been growing the bugger.

Lexi came up from Lacrosse to visit me, I was so excited to see her! We played with the kittens, went shopping for Halloween costumes, met up for lunch with Tricia, and then visited an apple orchard (yay apple dumplings!!!) Really this trip home revolved around people and food. It was truly a gift.

Other highlights from this trip was finally meeting the family puppy Jack, he is so cute! Petting Hunter, and going to an incredibly awkward Halloween party with Tricia. Then leaving early and heading to a bar, where we talked about the people that we saw. Don’t get me wrong it was great to see Joyce and her family, it was some other attendants that made it strange. Just an awkward night, there really is no other way to describe it. Maybe it could also be called the high school reunion that I never wanted.

Other than that, I had a delicious meal at my grandma’s and then bright and early Monday morning Dad drove me to the airport. Our conversation almost brought me to tears multiple times, especially when he talked about how much it meant to him that both Will and I were able to make it home. At the time, I couldn’t say this, but I really didn’t come home for my uncle. That was a bit was the reason, but I really went home to be there for my Dad and my family in general. When something like this happens, people have to flock home to be there for each other, and I’m so glad that I did. Even though the trip back was long and sleepless, it was worth it and I can’t wait to go back. I got a taste of home, and now that I only have a month left, all that I want to do is return.

#Colombian adventures #teach abroad #home #the journey