I have been at Colegio Los Nogales in Bogotá Colombia for a little over three weeks. I cannot believe I am halfway through my exchange. It’s been going by so fast!
Despite living outside of the city I still feel as if I’m living the city life here, as I have been going to the malls and exploring different places and restaurants to see in Bogotá. My first weekend here I visited the flea market in Usaquen, a small part of the city. It was very interesting to walk around the market and see what everyone was selling, such as handmade jewelry and woven bags. After walking around we got lunch at a Colombian restaurant and watched a football match. During a three-day weekend I went with my host, her cousin, and her uncle to hike Monserrate. We took the Trans Milenio there, which is like BART but it is a bus and it doesn’t go underground. The hike has 500 stairs, which was a difficult hike. Seeing the city from the top and walking around the cathedral at the top made it worth it, even though it was raining quite a bit.
While I’ve been here I’ve been to two concerts, Sebastián Yatra, who is a Colombian singer, and a band called Rawayana. The concerts here are pretty different to most concerts I’ve been to. They’re more like big parties with everyone singing and dancing, which I have to admit I enjoy more than most concerts I’ve been to in California. Another thing that is different here are the greetings, every time I meet a new person I’m always met with a hug and a kiss on the cheek; I was hesitant at first, but I have grown to appreciate casual affections like those.
The students at Colegio los Nogales have been so nice and welcoming towards me during my exchange. I have not felt any trouble fitting in with my host’s friends or family and they have been so accommodating to me. The language barrier has been a little difficult, because my host parents don’t speak much English, but I have really grown to understand Spanish, even if I haven’t been able to speak as well as I wish I could.
Overall Colombia is great. I have learned a lot and met people that I hope I can keep in touch with for the rest of my life, along with making great memories. I would recommend to all tenth graders who would like to go on exchange to look into coming to Colombia because it is a beautiful country, and the food is definitely worth coming for, especially arepas.
The Athenian School Exchange Blog 