Arriving in the city of Bogotá was amazing. The whole city is surrounded by mountains making it nice and cozy. All of the buildings were inside this little box made by the mountains. It vas very weird to see all of that green land, and right next to it, a series of buildings. That got me really excited to visit this interesting city.
Also, since Bogotá is 2600m high, it became a little difficult to do normal tasks like walking or going up stairs. So, when my host family picked me up, I was already out of breath just from walking around the airport. But thankfully, they were very kind and helped me with everything that I needed.
On the way to my new home for the next month and a half, I was able to see what happens when you squeeze 8 million people in a relatively small city. It took about two hours to get to the house (which was not very far away) because of all of the traffic. It wasn’t even a busy day! Apparently, from what my exchange, Camilo, said, the traffic is one of the worst in the world.
Once we got home, I was shown the love of soccer that Colombian’s (yes, Colombia, not Columbia. It’s practically a crime to call a Colombian, a Columbian…) have. Even a family like the family that I am staying with who are not very big fans of soccer love that sport. The night I was home, I was watching a soccer game. It was Colombia vs. El Salvador. Colombia, as one of the best teams in the world, won 3-1. The whole family screamed and we had a very good time that night.
On Tuesday, my first day of school, I was shown eight huge buildings. Apparently all of those belong to the school. It was very easy to get lost, but thankfully all of the wonderful new friends that I made helped me navigate my way around the school. Only three courses are in Spanish so I can actually understand what the teachers are saying most of the time. But during the Spanish classes, I try to understand as much as I can to build up a vocabulary to be able to talk with my exchange family only in Spanish.
On the weekend, we visited the older part of Bogotá, where you could see all of the ancient Spanish architecture. It was beautiful and we had lunch at a very typical Colombian restaurant. So far, I have tried at least a dozen new foods, especially fruits. They have many exotic fruits in Colombia.
I also had the opportunity to go to a Colombian party. We danced to some very different music (they call it reggaeton), and I had lots of fun there.
The following Tuesday, there was another exciting soccer game. Although, this time, it was Colombia vs. Canada! I was very excited to see how it would turn out, and I was happy to see that we only lost 1-0 to one of the best teams in the world.
I am now getting ready to go to Villa de Leyva which is a very old and small town. It dates back to the Spanish invasion. I know that it will be awesome. I know that Colombia has a lot more to show me and I hope to be able to tell you all about it in my future blogs.
Espero que todos ustedes tengan la oportunidad de visitar Bogotá un día, ya que es uno de los lugares más interesantes que he visitado. Chao! – Paul Virally ’17 – Exchange Student @ Colegia Anglo Colombiano
