I Have Officially Arrived!!

Hola desde Colombia!!! (Hello from Colombia)

I have officially arrived in Medellin, Colombia where I will be living for the next year. After 3 flights, and 2 continents, I am here, and honestly it hasnt really sunk in yet that Im actually in South America... crazy!

The night before I left I was super nervous and a little stressed, as it finally sunk in that I was leaving for a year, to not only a country I had never been to before, but also a new continent. So I didnt really sleep the night before I left, since my mind was racing and wouldnt let me sleep.

The best part of my journey to Colombia was my second flight from Toronto to Bogota (I had three flights in total... Ottawa - Toronto - Bogota - Medellin). The day before I left my mom and I went to my travel agent to pick up my plane ticket and check into my flight to obtain my boarding passes. While she was checking me in, up popped this box that had a special rate for being upgraded to executive class. At first I was like no I dont really need that but then my mom was like you should do it, it's not that expensive and it would be good for your longer flight. So after chatting about it for a couple minutes we decided to do it, and I got upgraded to Executive First Class.... which translates to "ballin flight".

So before boarding my flight, I thought ok Ill have a slightly bigger seat, and better service. However when I actually boarded my flight and saw where I was sitting, my jaw dropped. I had one of those seats that turns into a bed!!!
I had tons of space, controls to move my seat in all kinds of directions, an ACTUAL pillow, blanket, toiletries bag, a bigger tv screen to watch movies on, huge tray table, more storage spaces for my bags or random items, and a foot rest to put my feet up.... it was going to be a GREAT flight. As I sat down, a lady came to greet me with a glass of champagne, in a REAL glass. Sitting there, sipping my champagne I sort of felt bad, because other people started to board the flight who were in business or economy class and they had to pass through Executive First Class, and they were sort of staring... awkward.

While waiting for everyone to get settled, another flight attendant came around, and gave me a menu..... an actual menu where I could select my main course and see all the other food id be getting. We had actual courses for dinner. In addition to that we had real plates, and cutlery, as well as reall glass, glasses. It was like eating in a restaurant. I was also offered a variety of newspapers by the flight attendants, and passed until I learned I could get a Spanish newspaper! So I briefly read some of El Tiempo.

We had an appetizer of smoked salmon with pumpernickle bread slices, cream cheese, and a salad with vinegrette dressing.

Then for my main course I chose to have Butter Chicken, you could also choose Grilled AAA Beef Tenderloin, Seasoned Black Cod, or Cannelloni Pasta. But I felt like having Indian food. It was actually pretty good. When I was done that the lady flight attendant saw that I hadnt touched my cooked broccoli... which to be fair a) im not the biggest fan of cooked veggies, b) they were reaaaaallly over cooked, so I didnt eat them. And she said "and why didnt you eat your veggies???" which we both laughed at, because she was teasing me, and saying things my mom would say. Then I quickly defended myself, and mentioned that I had eaten my salad! So i did have some veggies :P

Then after our main course, we were given a plate of cheese and crackers. Three huge slices of Swiss (my favourite), cheddar and brie.

Then it was time for dessert... we had a choice of fruit or chocolate cake with icecream... obvi I chose the later :P . Little did I know that when I dug into the piece of cake, it was a chocolate lava cake.... mmmmmm sooo good.

During my flight I just chilled in my seat, playing with the controls trying to find the optimial seat position. I also watched a few movies. I saw 127 hours for the first time, which Ive been meaning to watch for a while, and it was pretty good. Then I watched half of Sex and the City 2, then fell asleep for an hour, and then towards the end of my flight watched a bit of Wall Street 2: Money never sleeps (both of which I have seen before).

Once I arrived in Bogota it was a bit confusing, and I immediately started using my Spanish to figure out where I was suppose to go. I went through Customs and two security check points until I got to my final gate and waited for my plane to Medellin, which was an incredibly short flight (only 40 min).

Once I arrived in Medellin, I was greated by 4 Aiesec people, who were VERY excited to see me, and as I was to them! The AIESEC chapter in EAFIT University has a special program for trainees, which is the Godfather and Godmother program. Basically they are like your mentors and your go to people for basically anything. So my godfather David, godmother Sara, her boyfriend and another AIESEC girl Ana, were there to greet me with open arms and drive me into the city.

So last night I stayed at Davids house, and met his mother,father and younger brother. I got settled in, chatted for a couple minutes in Spanish and then passed out because i was exhausted. Since entering into Colombia (so from Bogota onwards) I barely spoken any English, its been one big immersion of Spanish, which is perfect and exactly what I want!

This morning Davids mother made me breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs with mixed with sausage and red pepper, with a warm bun, and a small cinnamon pastry, accompanied with .... COLOMBIAN COFFEE! Now, ive just recently started to sort of drinnk coffee, mostly just Mocha Lattes which is hot chocolate and coffee. So im not a full out coffee drinker. But this morning she made me Cafe con Leche, which is coffee with a lot of milk, so it watered down the coffee more. And I actually really enjoyed it! It tasted reallllllly good. :) So i can officially say, Ive had my first REAL cup of Colombian Coffee!

Later this afternoon I will be heading to EAFIT University, which is where the consulting firm I will be working for is located. I will be meeting my boss as well as my coworkers. Then I will be starting work on Monday!

Just as a last note before I go eat lunch, the weather here is BEAUTIFUL!!! Its around 24 degrees, with the sun shining, and im loving every minute of it, especially since Im wearing flipflops in February!! :) couldnt be happier.