Luke McSween Oviedo, Barahona, Dominican Republic 2019

My Trip to Oviedo, Barahona, Dominican Republic 

Luke McSween

                

In-Country Training: 

              On June 2nd of this past summer, eleven other volunteers from different parts of the US and I landed in the capital Santo Domingo. All of us were from parts of the US that did not have a local chapter, so we had been sent five days ahead of the 30 other volunteers to complete training in a convent. The first culture shock I experienced were the road laws, or the lack thereof. We had arrived at night, and I remember being astonished at how chaotic the roads were. There were no road lines separating lanes, and everyone swerved within inches of each other. Soon we arrived at the compound we would be completing our training in. In the small but spacious compound with no AC and no shortage of mosquitos, we formed a close group as we completed different activities. We had quite a few soccer players as well, so we bonded by spending our free time playing games and juggling.

               The compound itself was made up of four buildings: a dining hall, the tenant's house, the church, and a mysterious small meeting building. We only had access to the church (which held our rooms on the second floor) and the dining hall. In the dining hall we had our first experiences of the local foods, which included lots of rice, beans, and plantains. The coffee was very rich as well. The dorms were old, and there were no windows to keep out the bugs, only wooden shudders. We put up mosquito nets around our beds to protect us at night. We soon learned that the lack of hot water showers would not be such a bad thing, as the heat kept us awake each night.  

                While we were staying at the compound, I was bitten by a spider on my right ankle. At first I had mistaken it for a mosquito bite, but in a day my ankle had doubled in size and was too painful to walk on. I had not seen the spider, so for the next couple of days I was told to watch for any side-effects in case it was poisonous. As you can probably guess, waiting to see if you're in danger or not is not fun. Fortunately, no side-effects came up in Santo Domingo. 

                 Barahona (the name of the southern region of the Dominican Republic as well as the major city in the region) was a different story. After meeting up with the thirty volunteers that had completed the training in country at a hotel, we drove four hours to a hotel in Barahona. This hotel was much nicer than the compound and even had hot water and AC. We spent five days in this hotel doing different activities more oriented towards life in community, such as purifying water and community rules.

                On our last day at this hotel, I came down with a fever. My ankle had fully recovered by this point, so I wasn't worried about there being a connection between the two. But the counselors wanted to make sure there was no connection, so I was taken to a private hospital. The hospital gave me a pill to take for my fever and told us to come back the next day if I wasn't feeling better. Fortunately, I didn't need to return. 

                On the last day before going into community they tell you who your partner is and which community you were assigned to. To help determine your partner and community, an interview was conducted for each volunteer the day before in which you could request a partner. Because of my visit to the hospital, I was unable to attend the big reveal. In the cab on the way to the hospital I was told that I would be working in Oviedo with Sam, a freshman that I had never talked to. At the time I was annoyed that I hadn't been put with one of my friends. But by the end of the 3 weeks in community, Sam and I had become good friends.

Sam

 Driving to Community:

                    On June 9th, all forty volunteers were crammed into two guaguas, the public buses. One bus headed into the mountain communities, while the other headed to the coastal communities. My community Oviedo is considered a coastal community being an hour from the coast. We started off about 8:00 am, all of us nervous to see what types of communities we would be working in. My community was one of the last stops, so I was able to see many of the other communities. Each community was strikingly different. Some were situated on ledges with a beautiful view of the sea, some were actually on the shore, and some, like my community, were much more inland with scattered farms. In each community, you could see little boys walking around in groups, with varying amounts of clothing. There were also people sitting by the streets talking with neighbors, which I would later spend many hours doing myself.

                    When we finally arrived at Oviedo, I was a mix of emotions. I was excited, but also nervous. From the communities we had driven through and the training we had received, I did not know what level of development to expect. I was also nervous to meet my host mother, Maria. The challenge of living in a house where no one understood English seemed daunting. Additionally, I was placed with Sam because I was one of the stronger Spanish speakers in the program, and Sam's Spanish wasn't very developed. 

                     As soon as I stepped off the bus, a tall woman with dyed orange hair came to greet us with a big smile on her face. She gave us a big hug before greeting our supervisor, Gabby, who had come to the community many times before to make sure the community was ready for my arrival. While my supervisor and Maria were talking, Sam and I unloaded our heavy bags. We followed our host mom into a pink house where we were directed into a room with two beds that our host mom had set up for us. Our host mom's son, Mario, greeted us in the living room as we walked through. He was a tall man around twenty-two years old. After a few minutes of chatting with our host mom, our supervisor left to drop off the next set of volunteers. And there we were, in a community we didn't know with people we had never met. It's amazing how things changed in those three weeks in community. 

My Home

First Day in Community: 

                    On our first day in community, our host mom invited the local youth helpers to meet us. The local youth helpers were teenagers our age in the community that worked directly with our program, AMIGOS. They were meant to help us with our three goals in community: our daily camp, our volleyball team, and our project. Our jóvenes or local youth helpers were Alexis, Ariel, Sidney, and Juan Louis. We all met that afternoon in our host mom's kitchen to discuss our plans going forward. During this meeting, Sam and I also gave out gifts from our home states. I gave our host mom and new friends GooGoo chocolate bars and Predators T-shirts, while Sam brought pictures of the Golden State Bridge. 

                     Later that day we met our neighbor Yaya, a sweet, small lady who was good friends with Maria. Yaya's easy nature set us at ease as we talked with her about our work in community as well as our own homes. We loved talking with Yaya. We met with her every day for coffee and had several meals with her. 

                     After meeting Yaya, our host mom brought us to the government-built basketball and volleyball arena, which had lights. In this arena, the boys played basketball until 7:00 pm every week day, after which a girl's volleyball team would practice till 9:00 pm. For a while Sam and I sat with our host mom in the stands watching the boys play, until I decided to try and play myself. A boy named Juan Pablo greeted me and asked me if I wanted to play. Soon I was playing in a game of three on three. 

Playing 3 on 3

                     That night we had what would become our favorite meal: hot chocolate with bread. Our host mom had been a cook at one point, so all of her food was very good. Maria also helped us set up our mosquito nets over our beds. Fortunately, our room had a powerful fan. 

My Mosquito Net

                     During my first day, I had struggled with the local people's Spanish. I could get by in conversations, like our meeting with the jovenes, but vocabulary and dialect proved to be a challenge. 

Our Goals in Community:

                    In community, we had three main objectives: to establish a camp for kids, to create and practice with a volleyball team for a tournament, and to complete a community project with a 12,000 peso budget. 

                    The camp was intended to teach core ideals, such as teamwork and respecting the environment, to kids between the ages six to twelve. But because there were so few kids the first couple of days, we didn't turn anyone away. During a meeting with the jovenes, we decided to hold the camps in the park from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. While we would have liked to use the local school, the principal was difficult to deal with, so we decided that the park would be better.

(Back row) Alexis, Sidney, Gabby, Luke, Sam, Ariel

                     However, the park was very broken down and had trash and glass everywhere. Sam and I borrowed brooms from our host mom to clear the glass from the center pavilion area. 

The Park

                        During camp, we would play games like Telephone or, their favorite, Duck-Duck-Goose ("Perro, Perro, Gato" as we called it).

"Perro, Perro, ¡Gato!"

                    Due to the ages of our kids, as well as their small attention spans, we couldn't play games that required a lot of explaining. Plus our local helpers turned out to be difficult to work with and wouldn't show up to camps, making it even harder to communicate complex games. Using a soccer ball I had brought with me, I taught the kids to play soccer. The main sports in the community were basketball and volleyball; they had never played soccer before. So each day at the start of camp I would play soccer with the kids until everyone had arrived.    
                    While a lot of kids would come some days and be absent others, I made some close bonds with a lot of kids in the community. One boy named Wriley came early every day to try and beat us to camp. I could always count on him to participate in our games, even if he was difficult at times.

Wriley and I trying snapchat filters

                    I also became good friends with two boys named Emilio and Christopher, who lived across the street from us. During the last week I helped set up a make-shift basketball goal outside their house using some string I had. We played basketball for a while, and the neighbors came out to watch us. The last night in community, I started a baseball game with them and a couple other kids, using a stick and plastic ball with random objects as the plates. We were having so much fun that the neighbors again came out to watch us. One neighbor gave us a small baseball bat to use as well. One time I picked a laughing Emilio up off second base and ran with him back to first so he couldn't advance. I still remember the laughs from all the neighbors as they joined in and yelled for Emilio to hurry up and go to third.

Emilio and I

Christopher and his sister

                        For our volleyball team, Sam and I spoke to the coach of the girl's team that practiced in the sports complex. There were two volleyball teams in Oviedo, but the other one practiced in the park (where there were no working lights) and was composed of older people. For the team, we had to have 5 guys and 5 girls, to promote gender equality, and the 9 other communities were each going to send a team to Oviedo for the tournament. The volleyball coach, Angel Louis, loved the event and took over the planning for us. He let us practice with the team each night and also reached out to the other volleyball team to enlist three more players (as Sam and I had to be part of the team).

Practice with the volleyball team

                        The tournament was a huge success as everyone was excited to prove their community had the best volleyball team. My team was able to win the tournament, and we received medals as a reward. At the end, the leaders of AMIGOS talked about the importance of equality to all the players.

                         My favorite goal, however, was our project. The AMIGOS organization stressed the importance of the idea that the local helpers should choose the project as they actually know the community; this was our only condition for the project. With a 12,000 peso budget, the local helpers decided that fixing the lights in the park's volleyball court would be our project. Lots of people played or watched volleyball there each afternoon until the sun went down. If the lights were fixed, they would be able to play much longer.
                          While we had a clear goal in mind, the main obstacles were finding a store that sold the materials and finding the person that could do the job. Fortunately, the local helpers knew of a guy who lived in community who could do the job. We weren't able to collect the materials until after Sam and I had left community, but the project was still completed!

Our Project

Debriefing:

                     After three weeks in Oviedo, both Sam and I were sad to go. Maria had been the best host mom, and we were very sad to leave her amazing food and great company. Before we boarded the bus, Maria reminded us that we would always have a home in Oviedo, and that we could come back any time.

Luke, Maria, Mario, and Maribal

                 All forty volunteers met up at a hotel for two days of debriefing. We shared tons of amazing and crazy stories from our time in community. It was another hard goodbye as we all went our separate ways.

Thanks:

                I would like to give a huge thank you to the Wilson family. Without your support, I would never have met such amazing people. I learned so much about a different country as well as myself during this trip. I am extremely grateful for the many relationships with both people in the community and in the AMIGOS program that the Wilson family has allowed me to create.

Tripp Chamblin Ecuador and the Galapagos 2019

On the last day of my adventure in Ecuador, my group met on the rooftop of our hostel in Quito to say goodbye both to the city and to each other.  The roof gave us a view of the entire city and the mountains around us about which we had learned folk tales and legends from locals and teachers. We sat in a circle and passed around a ball of yarn, creating a web as we shared our final thoughts.  Every single student, of which there were fifteen, explained that the highlight of their trip was not the amazing sights, living on a sailboat through the Galapagos, or living in the Cloud Forest of Mindo or even in the Amazons, but the connections that they made with fourteen other teenagers from all over the US (plus one from Ireland) and their new Ecuadorian families.  After everyone said their last goodbyes, we cut the yarn into fifteen pieces that serve as bracelets and a reminder of our experiment.

Arrival

The Group outside our hostel in Quito

On July 29, I boarded a plane from Nashville to Miami with John Moore.  As this was my first time flying alone, I waited nervously at the gate wondering what I forgot for almost an hour because I decided arriving early was the best way to mitigate any problems I may have inadvertently caused.  My nerves were, however, eased with the random upgrade to first class that placed me literally in the first seat on the plane. John did not share my excitement as he had to walk past me, already holding a drink with my feet kicked back.  We arrived in Miami at 10 AM, and waited until noon, the time in which I was supposed to meet my group, whereas John had to wait until 6 that night in order to meet his group traveling to Argentina. My group was not difficult to find as there are only so many groups of scared looking teenagers with person-sized hiking backpacks on their backs.  I met the two group leaders, Audrey and Natalia, who later told us that they had only met two weeks before the trip and had never been to Ecuador themselves. I sat down in a hallway-blocking circle with a group of strangers, and, naturally, we started to play Uno in the middle of the floor at the Miami airport in complete silence. I am sure we were a sight to be seen to anyone passing by to catch their flights.  Once we passed through security, however, things began to pick up. We played a couple name games led by the group leaders, and I soon learned the names and origins of my new “mandatory best friends.” Colin, Jose, Sam, Jordyn, Mia, Nina, Natasha, Ella, Andrea, Krissy, Eva, Favour, Elissa, and Naomi. Because of the games, I doubt I will ever forget the names of this group. We took a group photo for insurance purposes and boarded another plane to Quito, Ecuador.  We arrived at a hostel that became our “home base” in Quito at 10 pm, exhausted, and went to sleep.

Part 1: Adventures in Quito

For the first two days, the group toured around Quito, going to churches, buying unfamiliar fruits at markets, enduring orientation meetings, and having short Spanish lessons at the EIL (Experiment in International Living, the program through which my trip was coordinated) headquarters.  The adjustment to non-potable tap water and locals that speak only Spanish was a bit difficult, but these changes were balanced out by the fact that Coca Cola in Ecuador is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, a vast improvement in flavor. We went to shopping malls which seemed to be the most America-like locations in Ecuador.  Each of our first three nights in Quito were riddled with Uno, spoons, and a Spanish game called cuarenta, or fourties. On our fourth day, we woke up and visited the Equator museum. We learned why water in a sink goes in a different direction in each hemisphere, walked the Equator like a tightrope, and attempted to balance eggs on nails. After, we drove about 20 minutes to the Equator memorial, created in the 1800’s.  Hopefully, the people that built the memorial never learned that their gigantic monument had been built a few kilometers away from the actual Equator.

The view from the roof of the hostel

Part Two: Mindo, Ecuador

On Day 4, the group arrived at 5 PM to an eco lodge in the Cloud Forest of Mindo, Ecuador.  The transition to the hostel was not too different from the US, as we still had reliable hot water and rooms like those of a small hotel.  At the eco lodge, however, the adjustment was much more abrupt. We lived for four nights in completely wooden cabins, each with two light bulbs, situated a twenty minute hike into the forest and across a river that could only be crossed by way of a dilapidated cart attached to a rope pulled by a person on either side.  In Mindo, we hiked to waterfalls, rode in the beds of trucks, played more card games than ever because of the complete lack of Wi-Fi, tubed down a river, visited a butterfly farm, and experienced a town much smaller than Quito. On our night in the town, we went to a community soccer field and participated in a Zumba class before playing soccer with a few boys in the town.  I was humbly reminded that my Spanish skills are much more advanced than my soccer abilities. We also talked with street vendors and bought small souvenirs before eating dinner at a local pizza restaurant. Each morning in Mindo, and throughout the month, most breakfasts included eggs and rice with fruits on the side with either coffee or juice. It is notable that in Ecuador, it is uncommon to drink simply water with a meal.  This practice of consuming only coffee and juice was surely a factor in my dehydration near the end of the month. Lunch and dinner are also eaten with rice, but usually have chicken or beef for more formal meals, and another starch such as potatoes. Living in the eco lodge showed us how it is possible to live with a very small carbon footprint and without some of the amenities that we before considered vital to our existence.  

Part Three: Homestays

We returned to Quito for one night after Mindo, and although the eco lodge was a perspective changing experience, I did enjoy a hot shower in Quito.  We had our first opportunity to do laundry before a five hour drive to a town called Riobamba in which we would live with an Ecuadorian family for a week.  The day leading up to meeting my family was one of the most nerve racking times of the month because I felt unprepared to speak only Spanish all day with strangers and live in their home.  My family, however, was perfect. I lived with my mother, Ximena, my brother, Sebastian, and my sister, Kelly. Ximena is a lawyer but left work often throughout the week to drive my brother and I to various activities and events across the

city.  On the very first morning, my brother, who is two years younger than I, knocked on my door and told me that we were going to walk through the city so he could show me everything. We walked to my mom’s office, my dad’s office, my sister’s favorite places to hangout, and I met some of my brothers’ friends.  Although our conversations were sometimes imperfect, we quickly bonded over the ukulele and bass guitar that my brother played. I came to Ecuador with a little knowledge regarding the ukulele, but I left a bass player too. As a family, we drove to a community pool, bought groceries, walked the city, went to the mall and watched movies, swam in hot springs.  Each day, we also met with the group for activities. Almost every morning, we rode the bus to an elementary school in order to plant trees, paint a playground, create a mural, and repaint a wall. At the end of our work, we put our painted handprints on the wall with our initials. All of the students in summer school watched us and occasionally started conversations.  We also went to cooking classes in which we learned how to make llapingachos, a type of potato based tortilla, and took salsa dance classes. At the end of the homestay, the group met in a park and competed in a scavenger hunt in which we had to ask locals questions and find various statues and monuments in the park. On our last day, we hiked a portion of the volcano

Chimborazo.  It is the tallest mountain in Ecuador, and due to the bulge of the Earth at the center, Chimborazo’s summit is the tallest in relation to the center of the Earth. The weather in Ecuador stays about the same all year long because of its position on the Equator, but it changes from chilly in the morning to a Nashville summer heat in the afternoon and back to below 50 degrees at night.  However, at an elevation of 15,000 feet at Chimborazo, snow formed along the trail. We biked down 40 kilometers to a small town at the base of the mountain where we ate our lunch. On the night of Day 15, the group went to dinner together with their homestay families and said one last thank you and goodbye. The next morning, we traveled by bus to a town in between Quito and Riobamba called Banos.  This city had more tourist attractions than the other cities, and although we stayed in the city for only one night, the hotel resembled that of a resort. We rode horses through the city and into the forest, and visited another natural hot spring. On the way back to Quito, we stopped at another waterfall and went caving. We packed for the Galapagos that night and got ready for an early wakeup call.

Part Four: Galapagos

We arrived at the Quito airport at 7 AM and boarded a flight to the island of Baltra in the Galapagos.  Three hours later, we landed. My initial reaction to the island was surprise because although I expected a lush, colorful environment like that of Hawaii or other tropical

islands, Baltra looked more like a desert. 

Our guide, Ivan, soon explained that many people come to the Galapagos with that expectation, but because the islands are all volcanic and still very active, eruptions destroy most colorful plants and volcanic rock is not a suitable soil for most plants.  However, the wildlife presence in the Galapagos was amazing. Ivan explained that the animals on the island are not afraid of humans because there are very few predators in the island food chains, so the animals have no fight or flight instincts. Sea lions swam around us as we snorkeled and turtles would almost run into us as they resurfaced.  Sea lions lined the beaches and were happy to take a look at the humans around them, and the crown jewel of the Galapagos, the marine iguanas, were omnipresent. We lived on a large boat for the four nights that we stayed in the Galapagos, and each night before dinner,

Ivan would lay out the schedule for the next day, including what animals we would see.  It became a running joke that during the night, the crew members would have to capture the animals on Ivan’s list and lay them out in our path for the morning because it seemed so unreal that all of these endangered animals could be easily found just feet away from whatever trail we walked. At night, we sat on the top deck of the boat and watched the stars, as there was almost no light pollution because the entire area is a national park.  The Galapagos were by far the highlight of the entire trip.

Part 5: Amazons

The group returned to Quito for one night before hopping on the bus again to go to the Amazon rainforest.  We stayed in another, slightly more luxurious eco lodge, but this time we were accustomed to sleeping with mosquito nets in the open air.  We boated on large canoes to indigenous islands where we learned about traditional foods, tools, and how to hunt with a blowgun.

We spent hours hiking with the local guide, Domingo, who knew every single plant and tree in the Amazons, and although he knew no English, always laughed along with our jokes.  After many attempts to use the Wi-Fi at the eco lodge, I decided that it would be better to go unplugged, and I spent almost four days without using my phone at all. We learned about all of the animals

that lived in our region of the Amazon, including green anacondas that can grow up to 10 meters long. Immediately after learning of the dangerous wildlife, we went tubing in the Amazon River, a slightly scary experience, but a fun one nonetheless.  After four nights in the Amazons, we drove back to Quito and said our goodbyes before boarding the plane back to Miami.  

Thanks

I would like to use this platform as an opportunity to express so much gratitude to the Wilson family, my own family, Mr. Paolicchi, and all of my language teachers for making possible this opportunity to see the world.  I have not only improved my Spanish skills, but also experienced a culture and people far from home, as well as made life-long friends and even a new family in Ecuador. Thank you all again!

Luke Morad Wiesbaden Exchange

Luke Morad Wiesbaden Exchange

First Impressions:

On my first day, we visited a fort on the Rhine

I did not know what to expect going to Germany for four weeks with a host family. Since my exchange partner went to MLK, I did not to what to expect of my family either. Once I arrived, I bonded very well with my family from the start. Just the drive into the Wiesbaden from Frankfurt was an informative and cultural lesson. They described Wiesbaden as a whole and asked me more questions than I was prepared for considering the long flight. The family was very welcoming and engaging with me when it came to comparisons between the USA and Germany. In the first few days, we often sat around a table after dinner and talked extensively about the two cultures. On day two of being in Germany, I told my host family I needed to run every day for the cross country season. Florentin, my exchange partner, decided to join me on my first day of running. After a bit, he decided to get his bike. From that day on, Florentin kindly led me around his city atop his bike while I ran my cross country miles.

Wiesbaden as a City:

Weilburg Schloss Garten

To say that Wiesbaden is different than Nashville is an understatement. Although smaller than Nashville, it is just as vibrant and even more close knit. One time, I went to the park with Mickey Kelley and his exchange partner Linus. On the way, Linus stopped multiple times in the span of ten blocks in order to talk to everyone he knew. I asked Linus how he knew so many people to which he replied, "I have no idea.".  City squares and parks are something that I will miss. Having expansive parks in the middle of the city was something I found interesting because the city seemed to open up into a social environment. On my runs, I saw a majority of the city especially near the Rhine. One day, I tried to run from Wiesbaden to Mainz which was roughly eight miles round trip. I remember running through the factory district and seeing so much of an industrial setting. The grandparents also lived in the house with us. They both grew up in Wiesbaden and provided interesting insight into Germany during the Cold War. The grandmother was constantly worrying about me in a good way. She deemed me to be too skinny and always told me to eat more. She consistently asked how long I ran each day. After converting it to kilometers, she would always repeat it a couple of times and become worried that I would overheat and that I needed more to eat. 

Cultural Differences:

My new favorite fruit- Ground Cherries

What I gained from this trip was not only stronger language skills but also a world perspective. I often found myself discussing culture with my friends and host family.  I remember going to a school function with Florentin and seeing how casual they are with their teachers.  They even have cookouts together. Relationships and interactions between genders are also different in Germany. In Germany, all of the guys give handshakes and girls hug everyone no matter how well they know each other. Overall, I observed that more people date in Germany and there are more co-ed friend groups. 

My new found favorite fruit is ground cherries. They look like cherry tomatoes, have the paper-like shell of a tomatillo, and taste like sweet oranges. I found then for the first time when I ordered a coffee. With the coffee came this strange fruit. After trying it, I bought half a kilogram of them at a street market. Since then, I have scavenged farmers markets and supermarkets searching for this fruit. Simply the difference in fruits and juices amazes me. One of the things I will miss most is having coffee after every meal. Although, I continue to make coffee at my home, after lunch on weekends when it works out.  It is a nice memory.

The School:

Seeing the Humboldt school's classes interested me a lot. What stood out to me the most was their Latin class. Contrary to MBA's teaching style for Latin, it was entirely immersion and used a completely different form. It was interesting to see the difference. At the school, every class had taken their exams before the school year had finished. This meant that a lot of our class time was spent in discussion and films. The high school culminates with the Abiball which is their graduation. This experience was especially intriguing because of how much it differed from graduations in America. For starters, it is a catered banquet for only the graduating seniors and their family. As each student walks on, they are allowed to play music to walk on to. After some seemingly inappropriate songs, I asked Florentin if there were any rules on what songs could be played to which he responded, "no, none."  Fascinating.

Munich:

Hofbrauhaus Pretzel

After three weeks with the host family, we met the other exchange students at the train station and departed. Seeing the Neuschwanstein Castle has been one of my goals in life since I was little. Before I even knew its name or was able pronounce it, I had already made a complex model of it out of miniature Legos named Nanoblocks. Munich had very lively atmosphere. During our nightly free-times, I really enjoyed just walking around the city and talking to my friends. One night, I really wanted a pretzel. Since we had no plans for the nightly free-time, I went with the others to the Hofbrauhaus and bought the largest pretzel. I also ran my cross country miles through the English Gardens every morning where I saw people surfing in the river just after sunrise on some days. Seeing the BMW museum was also of great interest to me. I like cars a lot and enjoyed learning about the various models and the history of BMW. One of my favorite museums is the Deutsches Museum. It was a huge six or seven floor building that contained every section of science from smelting to astronomy. The sheer breadth of material amazed me and I think it would have taken me days to explore the whole museum. The food was so good, I took a picture of one of the restaurants in case I ever return. I ate German specialties every day because it is too difficult to find schnitzel and bratwurst in Nashville.

Vienna:

Seal at the zoo

The first thing I noticed of Vienna was that all of the buildings look the same. I loved the white facade of every building. After a long climb up 343 steps, we got an amazing view from the Stephansdom church. The city was very flat and uniform. Seeing the Vienna zoo was also interesting. I like to visit zoos in different cities because they are always very different. On the last day in Vienna, we went to the famous amusement park with the Ferris Wheel. They had a ride that gave an amazing overview of the park, and then we got another view from the Ferris Wheel.

Thank You Wilson Family:

Thank you very much for making this experience possible. I feel like my language ability improved exponentially throughout my time in Germany. I gained an immense understanding of the culture in Germany. Being fully immersed in German offered a new prospective and allowed me to grow as a person. Thank you to Florentin and the entire Heinrich family for hosting me. You always helped me develop my ability even when I was incoherent.  My parents also thank you for making sure I was well fed with all my running. Thank you to Herr Dougherty for being such an amazing teacher. When students recommend MBA German class, they always mention how great of teacher Herr Dougherty is, and I have found this to be true. He showed us nearly everything in the giant cities and talked to us extensively about German and culture.  This was an experience that I will never forget.

Alex Wang Colombia 2019

The Arrival

Visiting a Latin American country was the experience of a lifetime for me, and while waiting for our flight to Bogota, Colombia, I was filled with excitement and anticipation. We arrived at Bogota around midnight and were greeted by our wonderful host families all eagerly waiting for us behind the glass wall. Once we finished our grueling customs experience, Ben and I went our separate ways and set off with our host families. Lucky enough for me, their house was on the school’s campus because Martin’s, my host, mother was the headmaster. Once we arrived at Martin’s house, it was well past one in the morning. I greeted Martin’s mother, Silvia Medellin, and his sister, Susana. Soon after we went to bed. I was excited to start my first day in Colombia and could hardly sleep that night. 

Claustro Moderno

During my stay in Colombia, I did not need to get up very early unlike the others. Every

morning I would get up around 7:15 because there was no need for me to catch a bus. Silvia and their nanny cooked breakfast which consisted of arepas, eggs, fruits, and cereal. Martin and I walked down to the school after breakfast and began our day. The students at Claustro Moderno, and Colombians in general, were very extroverted and were extremely nice. As soon as I stepped foot into my first class, I was swarmed by a mob of classmates wanting to greet me. The classes in Claustro Moderno were essentially the same as MBA, as they had Chemistry, Math, English, Spanish, Literature, but one class they did have that we do not is Philosophy. In Philosophy we learned about Greek philosophers and read about Greek gods and goddesses. After about three class periods, we had a break. The break was about 15 minutes and I played basketball about every single break. At Claustro Moderno, it seemed that basketball was more popular than soccer which amazed me. The basketball court would be crowded on most days and would be utter chaos. I met a lot of friends playing basketball and won’t ever forget those intense games with crowds of little kids cheering us on. Followed by the break we had about three more classes and then lunch. After lunch was two more classes and then we all headed home. We had no homework while at Claustro Moderno but we did participate in a science fair. Ben and I prepared a 5 minute presentation about sustainability in MBA. At the science fair we learned about many other projects that the other students had been working on such as the dangers of the internet, or how to water plants while being away from home. The science fair was a nice experience because it allowed us to see the innovation of the students at Claustro.

Science Fair

Campus of Claustro Moderno

Excursions

We had multiple excursions during my stay in Colombia. During our first excursion, we travelled to Chicaque National Park. We hiked miles upon miles, but the views we saw were definitely worth it. In Chicaque there were llamas just chilling outside of some campgrounds and seemed unfazed by the tents and people surrounding them. On another excursion Ben’s host family invited me to go to Boyaca where we rode four wheelers and visited the Villa de Leyva. On the four wheelers we were able to ride around Boyaca and see it’s beautiful landscape and also drive through large puddles of mud. After we had tired ourselves out from riding four wheelers, we went to the Villa de Leyva. The Villa de Leyva was breathtaking. The buildings made it seem like we were in the 16th century with their old architecture, and we even saw a traditional cumbia dance. Later on we went to the Catedral de Sal with Martin, Ben and some other classmates. The Catedral de Sal is a cave rich in salt and was dug into a mountain.In the Catedral de Sal we saw the many stages that lead up to Jesus’s crucifixion. 

View from the edge of a ledge in Chicaque

Driving a four wheeler

Weekends

During the weekends, Martin’s friends and I went to the mall, went bowling, played cards, video games, or sports. They all loved to play card games, and often we found ourselves playing the card game ERS for hours. We often went to el Corral, a "Colombian" fast food burger restaurant which is loved by many. Martin's friends often joked around saying that el Corral was the most American restaurant they have been to. El Corral seemed to be everywhere. If we said that we were going to get something typical of Colombia, we would somehow end up in el Corral. A typical weekend in with friends Colombia was very similar to what my weekends are like here in Tennessee. One event that was very exciting is when we were invited to go the a Mercedes Benz car show. There were extremely antique cars and more modern ones. I had no idea that so many people would participate in a show like this. Silvia told me that since most Colombian citizens cannot have large houses due to the lack of space in Colombia, they buy extravagant cars that tell people that they have money. Martin's uncle gave us some money to buy food and we all bought tons of obleas con arequipe which is now one of my favorite desserts.

Mercedes Benz car show

Mall with friends

The Trip of a Lifetime

I had a blast visiting Bogota, Colombia. All the places I visited, the friends I met, the food I had, and the overall experience was something I will never forget. The people in Colombia are unlike anybody else in the world. I am still in touch with many of my friends from Colombia, and we often communicate about how life is in Claustro now that I am gone, or how life is at MBA. One of my good friends that I made in Colombia is actually coming to MBA for his exchange, and I am eagerly awaiting his arrival. Thank you Claustro Moderno being so kind and welcoming, thank you Silvia, Martin, and Susana for looking after me, providing a home for me to stay in, and all the jokes and tricks we played on each other. Thank you Mrs. Victoria for helping us adjust to life in Bogota, and finally thank you Sr. Paolicchi and the Wilson family for giving me the opportunity to travel to Bogota. I had never thought of ever going to Colombia in my lifetime, but after having gone on this exchange, I am eager to see if I can go to Colombia again later in life.