Jack Duke: Colombia

Two days after school had gotten out for the summer, before graduation, Drew Benson,

Great view from monserrate

Fred Harwell. Wilson Vaughn and myself set off for Bogota Colombia to a school called Colegio Claustro Moderno. When we arrived, after a very full day of flying, Drew and I were taken to the school campus' cabin by the Medellin family. My first impression of Bogota was that it was enormous, and their roads are not in the best shape. Since we arrived at night, we were not able to see much of the city, but the next time we went out, I was even more blown away by the sheer size of the city.

Lake outside of the cabin where I stayed

Cabin where I stayed

As my trip was an exchange I went to school starting just a few hours after we arrived. I was extremely nervous As not only would I have to speak spanish all day, but attend classes as well.  As the day and weeks progressed however, I soon realized that everyone wanted to help me with Spanish and with whatever I needed.  The school itself was completely different from MBA. Their campus is up on a hill, almost in a forest, and its beautiful, the family that owns the school all live on the campus in their own houses, this really makes it seem like a very tight knit family. This family environment was very welcoming and I felt that after the first day that I was part of it. The classes there were not too difficult after I got over the language barrier after a few days, also we helped a lot with their English classes.  The school was also very relaxed, which probably was helped by the family environment.  During the school day we played basketball most days, and since Bogota is 8,000 feet above sea level we were all out of breath after just a few minutes.   The school work we did ranged from our helping out with English classes to sciences to private Spanish lessons with their English teachers, these different approaches really helped me with my Spanish. However what helped the most was just being around the other students there because not only did they help me, but I could help them too with English.

Out on the lake

The first weekend all four of us went with Pablo Gaitan, who hosted WIlson and Fred for most of the trip to his lake house about an hour outside of Bogota. The lake house was part of an almost country club, and was incredibly nice and offered amazing views. While there we went tubing in the 65 degree weather, which needless to say made the water frigid. The rest of the day we watched sone of Pablo's friends wakeboard and then went to the cabin where we were going to stay.

Lakehouse

From the lakehouse

This landscape was probably the prettiest I have ever seen, and i was literally blown away. The next day we went to lunch with the Medellin Family and then to a movie with two other students, Mario and Jorge, the weird thing about the movie was that it was in english, and their explanation was that they enjoy listening and hearing the original movie and are fine reading the spanish. This concluded our first weekend and then we headed back to school.

Beautiful church in the countryside

The following thursday I moved off campus and to the house of Camillo Escobar for the long weekend.  This weekend alone improved my spanish probably the most of any time on the trip as I was communicating with him and his parents and I was completely submersed in the language.  That friday we went to Monsurratte, a church on top of a mountain 12,000 feet above sea level. This offered the best view of the city and was an incredible experience. That night we were introduced to the obsession with soccer, or futbol, that they have there, as there was a game against Argentina, a powerhouse team.  The game was so exciting and ended in a tie. The following day we all went to an indoor go kart track, which make all go karts I have seen in America seem so slow. Camillo and I went with his parents to a very nice lunch the following day which was very nice, as I got a lot of practice with my spanish and his family was so welcoming and helpful and nice. We also had that monday off of school because it was a holiday.  On all holidays and sundays in bogota they shut down city streets and open them to bikers, skater and runners.  We then went biking for most of the morning in this, called ciclovia.

Town center

Museo de Oro-Gold museum

The last week of school flew by as we did not attend as many classes because they were in exams, we learned how to dance merengue and salsa which we then used at a dance marathon they had the last day of school.  The last weekend was when we did a lot of the sightseeing things. Each day a different english teacher took us to different sights. Friday we went with Fernando and he took us to the Museo de Oro, or gold museum and to the town center. Saturday we went to Sopo, a small town outside of Bogota, where I ate the best meal of the trip, a simple grilled chicken on a skillet.   

Pollo a la parilla- grilled chicken

We then went shopping for gifts and souvenirs.  The last day we were there we went on a bike tour of downtown Bogota which was both tiring but also very interesting and informative. 

Overall this was probably the best trip of my life, as it helped me improve something I love, I made very good friends and had an amazing time. I want to thank everyone who made it possible. I want to thank MBA for offering a program like this and for allowing me to travel abroad for study.  I want to thank Sr. Kamm and Dra. Zimmerman for teaching me in spanish the past two years and to Sr. Paolicchi and MR Gaither for heading up our the language department. Of course I need to thank the Medellin family for hosting me at their school as well as taking care of me while I was on campus. I want to thank Camilo and his family graciously for hosting me on such a short notice as well.  And of course I want to thank the Wilson family who made this whole trip possible. This experience will remain with me my whole life, as I furthered my language skills, made some very good friends and had an incredible time.