Student Exchange: Colombian Explorations

Stefania_GaulSo far, it has been really fun here in Colombia! After a smooth flight, I was greeted by Mrs. Behar and an awesome group of students. Over the weekend, I had a great time at the club where I played some sports, and on the following Monday I took the bus to school at 6 am! That was a big change for me because I usually walk to school closer to 8 am. Everyone at school welcomed me warmly and provided English translations when I didn’t understand what was being said.

In the second week, I tried all kinds of new foods like ajiaco, empanadas and arepas. They were all delicious and taste very different from anything I have ever eaten.

Though there are some things that are similar to Montreal, like the traffic, for the most part it’s very different here. Take the weather, for example. Sometimes I can’t believe it’s November! Also, at school in sports class, I was able to choose to do gymnastics. It would be fun to have that option at LCC. In fact, there are many classes that we don’t have, like religion class and a technology class.

This past weekend, Cayetana, her family and I went to Cartagena where we learnt about the old city and spent some time at the beach. We went back to the club where I water-skied for the first time. It was so cool and surprisingly difficult! We also got to see the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which, to my surprise, was in English with Spanish subtitles.

At school the following week, we went on a science field trip to the Humedal Torca-Guaymaral, which is a big wetland in the middle of the city. We saw the wetland species and what they need to survive (temperature and pH) and I got close enough to touch a cow. Besides that, I almost lost my boot in the mud, which meant that I had to spend the rest of the day with my foot in muddy water. But it was fun either way! – Stefania Gaul ’19, Exchange Student at Colegio Los Nogales

 

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