San Antonio de Pereira

On Sunday I went to San Antonio de Pereira with 3 of my friends. San Antonio is about an hour drive outside of Medellín, it's only 38 km away from the city, but because the area is so mountainous it takes longer to drive with the twists and turns in the road.
San Antonio is famous for their desserts, and for good reason... because they are delicious. The dessert store we went into had these cake like squares, where there were about 20 different flavours you could choose from. So naturally I chose one with chocolate.
After eating some dessert... before dinner I might add (sorry mom!) ... we went to a bar and sat outside at one of their many tables. We had a couple of beers, hung out and just chatted for a while. The area where we were sitting was the main plaza (or area) of the town. It was filled with different vendors selling crafts, clothing, hats, food etc. So it was filled with people on a Sunday afternoon. After the beers we headed to a small restaurant that made incredible pizza. The restaurant was open air concept, with a fireplace structure in the middle. When we sat down they served us a small bowl of popcorn as kind of a free appetizer. Strange, but oddly delicious. We ordered a Mixta pizza, which had salami, bacon, mushrooms and peppers on it. It was thin crush and really cheesy, sooo yummy.
After dinner, we headed back to Medellín. The drive there and back was definitely interesting for me... since Im not use to the way South Americans drive... which is a bit scary, especially when they whip around corners, or are passing other cars on tight roads. I definitely had my hand on the handle above the window for the majority of the trip... holding on for dear life lol.

Before heading back down into Medellín, we stopped at Las Palmas, which is a lookout area at the top of the mountain, which oversees the entire city of Medellín. Since it was dark by the time we got back, the entire city was lit up, and was really beautiful to see.

El Salado

This past Saturday I had the chance to climb a mountain, called El Salado, near Envigado. (FYI ... Salado... is not Spanish for Salad lol.... it actually means Salty....). Envigado is a small town connected to the city of Medellín. I met up with some friends (there was 8 of us in total) in Parque Envigado to start our adventure. Before leaving, we stopped at Consumo... a grocery store chain... and picked up some food and plenty of water to take up the mountain.

We walked to the main square in Envigado to take a bus, that would take us to the starting point of our hike. It was the perfect day, we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was warm, around 25 degrees, and sunny! Travelling up the mountain to the starting point was beautiful... you could see all the mountains surrounding the city, and it gave an amazing view of Medellín below.
My friend David was our tour guide for the day. He grew up in Envigado, and has been to El Salado a lot, so he was the one to lead us through the mountain. At times the mountain was pretty steep, but the scenery was well worth the effort. There were many different types of exotic plants, trees, and flowers all around us. When we got to a major look out point, you could see the rolling hills and mountains in the distance, that seemed to go on, and on.

There were many times throughout our journey when we had to cross the river, or do a little rock climbing to get where we needed to go. It definitely wasn't your average walk through the bush. The eight of us worked really well together, to ensure everyone got through each part of the hike easily and most importantly safely. There were a couple of us who got a little wet, by slipping on a rock or misjudging how deep the water was at times while crossing the river (myself included). But we all laughed about it, and soon quickly dried off from the sun's heat.
When we got to a large opening on the mountain we stopped and had some lunch. At Consumo we had bought chorizo sausages, potatoes and marshmellows. So we made a small campfire to cook our food. It tasted pretty good, and it recharged our energy levels for the hike back down the mountain (which was just as hard, as going up it).

When we got back to Envigado we were walking through Parque Envigado and saw this circle made of small containers with numbers on top. Curious... we all walked over to see what it was. We learned that it was a gambling game, where for 200 pesos (about 10 cents) you could bet on which container the guinea pig (which was in the middle covered by another container) would run into. I thought this was hilarious, and had to take part in it. My favourite number is 16, so I bet that the guinea pig would run into that. Once enough people had bet in the game, the guinea pig was released. It ran sooo fast into one of the counters, which unfortunately was not mine. However, it did run into my friend (from Guatemala) Leo's container.


After gambling on guinea pigs, we went to a shop and bought some fresh empanadas, which I love. Empanadas for those of you who dont know what they are... they are sort of like the Spanish version of peorgies or chinese dumplings. They are half moon shaped pastry like things, filled with meat, sometimes potatoes, cheese, veggies etc. All you need to know is that they are delicious. :)
A year ago I was in Barcelona, Spain studying, and now I am hiking through Colombian forests on my weekends from work. Never in a million years did I think I would be doing this in 2011. That's what I love about travelling, you get to do so many amazing things you'd never think you'd be able to do, in some pretty incredible countries. :)

Not Lost in Translation Pt 2.

So the day after I helped my coworkers and a client with the translating a powerpoint presentation into English for a big meeting with American investors, I had the chance to actually attend that presetention. However, there was one big hiccup prior to that presentation. We were scheduled to leave CICE (the office where I work) at 330, but at 3pm, the client came racing into the office and specfically to my desk because all the changes I made yesterday to the ppt somehow did not save. So I had less than 30 minutes to retranslate everything and make the ppt look professional... it was an intense 25 minutes. During the taxi ride over, our one client was very nervous about speaking in English to the American investors, since English is not his first language. So he was reading his speech in the taxi to me, and I would help correct him along the way.

Our clients were presenting at Proantioquia, which is a business connected with the government of Antioquia (the region where I am living), to help promote business within the area. We were having two clients present to American investors that day, one within the Nanotechnology field and the other within the Implants and Prosthetics industry. Something that was thrown at me right before our clients were about to present, was that I was asked to sit at the front with our clients while they presented, to act as a translator incase our client forgot a word, or was asked a question in English they didnt understand. It was definitely intense sitting in the hot seat, and a little intimidating, however it was amazing experience. There I was in South America, with real businesses, seeing presentations being made infront of international investors. Crazy, but so awesome.

Unfortunately, I personally wasnt too impressed with how the American investors acted during both of our clients´ presentations. I found them to be rude, ignorant, and disrespectful. First they would frequently interrupt our clients during their presentations, which I think disturbed the flow of their speech. Secondly the investors would talk (loudly) to one another and make inappropriate comments while the presentations were going on... which was 1. unprofessional and 2. disrespectful to the person presenting. Next the investors really just didnt having understanding for our clients, as English was not their first language. So they didnt ask questions slowly, or give them any time to think about a question and its answer before responding. I wasn't too impressed, but I bit my tongue, kept my cool and remained professional.

At the end of the presentations we had a brief moment to speak with the American investors, and thank them for their time. When they spoke to me they asked why my accent was different than my coworkers. I explained that I am Canadian and am working in Colombia for a year... they seemed to be pretty impressed by that. They also asked me where I attended university in Canada... I (proudly) answered, Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. The one American had heard of it, and was familiar with their business program. :)

The next day I attended a conference about Innovation with my coworkers in Plaza Mayor in Medellín. The conference had over 3,000 people attend, and we were able to hear from 3 speakers about open innovation, how to encourage innovation within business models, and corporate venturing. 2 of the 3 speakers happened to be 2 of the American investors we dealt with the day before. The presentations were pretty good, and also interesting. I couldn't over how many people were there! Luckily, the conference was in English, which was a nice break. So I was one of the only people not to have translation headphones on.

Fun Facts About Colombia #1: Geographic & Bio Diversity

Did you know that Colombia holds a position in the 17 most mega-diverse countries seen all over the world?

This is because; the Colombian territory consists of highlands as well as rainforests and tropical grasslands! Megadiverse countries are a group of countries that harbor the majority of the Earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse. Some other mega'diverse countries include: Brazil, South Africa, Australia and China.

Colombia can be divided into 5 main regions per climate and geography. These regions can be named as the Pacific, Andes, Amazon, Eastern Plains and the Caribbean. Each region is known for its unique geographical features.

Colombia has the world’s greatest diversity of orchid species (3,500) and birds (1,754 species). It ranks second in amphibians and third in reptile species. Out of the 14,000 species of butterfly in the world, about 3,000 of them, or 20%, are found in Colombia.

Finally, Colombia is also the only country in South America to border both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It has a total landmass of roughly 1,140,000 square kilometers, which is slightly less than twice the size of Texas, or about the same size of Spain, Portugal and France combined.

Why Canada shouldnt discredit Latin America, specifically Mexico, so quickly...

I wasnt too impressed with Canada after reading this article. However it brings up some good points regarding how North America doesnt really see the huge potential of Latin America in the near future. I personally think that people are focusing too much on China and India, and are forgetting our closer neighbours for which huge economic development/prosperity can and most likely will occur in the near future.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/neil-reynolds/canadas-disrespect-for-mexico-a-bad-bet-on-future/article1934471/

I ♥ Google Chat

Im just going to put it out there... I love Google. Everything from its search engine, to its email system and especially now because of its calling feature through Gmail Chat.

Before leaving Canada, Google had a special promotion that you could make any call in Canada and the USA for free through your computer using the Gmail calling feature, no matter if it was local or long distance (before the end of 2010). This new feature through Gmail chat is a definite attempt to try and compete with Skype. But I guess due to high usage of the product, they extended the deal into 2011.

So the other day I had to call my bank, and my home phone in Colombia wasn´t working. So I decided to try and see if i could still make a call through Gchat like i could when I was in Canada. And voilia, apparently it still works, even though Im not in Canada. I dont want to question why it still works, but its awesome, as I can call any landline in Canada or the USA from my computer... FOR FREE. So I encourage everyone reading this to try it, if they have gmail, because its an awesome feature of Gmail chat.

El Colombiano

This morning I had the chance to visit El Colombiano with my coworker for a meeting. El Colombiano is the main newspaper of Medellín. We were there to hear a presentation about the development of education within the city. They explained different initiatives they are working towards from children as early as 4 years, to University/Master/Doctorate Students. They have built these beautiful preschools around the city, to encourage early childhood development, as well as increase the amount of spending on technology within elementary schools.

I got to see a bit of the office where the newspaper is run. We all got a copy of todays copy of El Colombiano, which I had a chance to read while waiting for the presetnation to start. Sara told me that there are several main newspapers in the country. El Tiempo is the national newspaper, La Republica is the main newspaper of Bogotá and El País is the main newspaper of Cali.

Ive been able to attend so many different events/presentations within my first two weeks of my job, which is exciting because it definitely helps me learn more, as I have to really actively listen while these presentations are going on - as they speak quite quickly in Spanish. Tomorrow I get to attend a half day conference on Innovation within the city through my job.

Not Lost in Translation

So today I was the key part to an important meeting with my coworkers and a client. Two of our clients are giving a really important presentation to investors tomorrow and it happens to be in English. So my job was to go over their presentation and correct any errors in their powerpoint as well in their speech. It was an interesting and fast paced two hours, as we were having quick and intense discussions about what should be said, written and shown within the powerpoint, back in forth between English and Spanish. I had to review the presentation in English, and then if I thought any changes were needed, had to explain to my coworkers in Spanish what needed to be changed and why.

I made several changes to the presentation with regards to grammar/spelling and word flow. I even suggested a new title for one slide that would sound better in English, and really catch people's attention. The client really liked this idea, and told me that it was an excellent contribution, which made me feel really good. Then at the end of the powerpoint there was one slide that had a fair bit of text still in Spanish which my one coworker hadn't translated yet. So I offered to quickly translate the text for him, which he really appreciated.

It felt really good to contribute to something that was so important and do it in two different languages. I was actively apart of the discussion during the meeting, which is the first time this has happened in my job, because the other meetings Ive had, have been mostly to observe. However this time, I was the one suggesting ideas and communicating back and forth in Spanish with my coworkers. It definitely gave me a huge confidence boost in my job and also my Spanish business language.

Weekend in Girardota!

This past weekend I headed to Girardota, which is about 45 min outside of Medellín, and is somewhat of a small town. I went with a bunch of AIESEC people for their induction weekend for the new members of AIESEC EAFIT. There were 3 other trainees who went as well, one from Guatemala, Australia and Czech Republic. We stayed in a hotel like place, where we had full range of the place. They had a pool, playground, soccer pitch, and conference rooms.

The weekend consisted of various sessions for new members to learn about how AIESEC works in general, and specifically within Colombia. They also had some training sessions, ice breaking games etc. I spent most of the weekend with the trainees, as we were there just to relax and participate in a couple sessions by sharing our AIESEC experiences.

On Friday night we left EAFIT around 8pm, we all took a really nice coach bus up to Giradota. Once we got there we had a special presentation from a guest speaker about confidence in leadership and public speaking. (ps. the entire weekend's sessions were all in Spanish). It was interesting to hear him speak, and he did some fun activities. Then after the speaker, we had a really fun party for all the regular members of AIESEC EAFIT, since the new members didnt arrive until Saturday.

I taught some of the Aiesecers how to play Flip Cup - which for those of you dont know is THE drinking game of choice at Laurier. They all caught on pretty quickly, and we had a lot of fun playing that. I also learned a new game called Flip Pong, which is like beer pong and flip cup combined. This past weekend I was introduced to something called Aquardiente or Guaro... which is a Colombian liquor that tastes like a mix between Sambucca and vodka (its a clear liquid). Its quite strong, and doesnt really taste good, but its really cheap and typical of Colombia - so of course I wanted to try it.

We had music blasting all night, which consisted of mostly reggaeton, but also some salsa, and merengue. One thing that I love about Colombians, and especially Colombian guys is that they love to dance! Also... Colombians, are amazing salsa dancers... omg. Whenever a salsa song would come on, I would just stare in awe and watch everyone else dance.

On Saturday we all welcomed the new members of AIESEC EAFIT to Giradota. Things got really fun in the night, when we had yet another party. More dancing, drinking, and just enjoying each other's company. At one point in the night, people started throwing each other in the pool... with their clothes on. It was hilarious, and one by one people made it into the pool, whether they wanted to be in it or not. Both nights parties went WELL into the night/early morning. On Friday night I didnt make it to bed until 5am, and on Saturday night/Sunday morning I went to bed around 630am. In total I got about 4.5 hrs of sleep the whole weekend. Good times. :)

On Sunday we had a more lazy day, as everyone was pretty tired from the previous nights' festivities. It was a beautiful day, so Kevin and I decided to lay by the pool and soak up some sun. We would like to think that we started the trend of hanging by the pool, because after the sessions were over, all 120 people came and hung out by the pool area, whether it was around it, in it, or on the field playing soccer. I played a game of water basketball with a bunch of guys, and was the only girl to play - I even scored a goal :). After hanging by the water for a while, and participating in the closing ceremonies we all headed back to Medellín. It was a great weekend, I met alot of new people, and had a lot of fun in Giradota.

Blackout!

So on Thursday there was a bit of an electricity problem in Medellín. Im not sure if it affected the whole city, but it did affect the area, El Poblado, that I live in. I first realized there was no power while at work, we were helping out with a guest speaker, and didnt have power to be able to do the talk on time. So we had to wait a bit, but then the power finally came on.

Then when I got home, my roommates informed me that we had no power... and it would be about 2 hours until it would come back on. Which meant, no lights, or landline, refrigerator, and internet. Since I had no plans that night, and nothing really to do without light, I decided to do what a lot of families do while the power is out.... play games. So from the light of my laptop which had about 50% left on it, I taught my roommates how to play different card games.


Now my roommates dont really speak English so I had to teach them in Spanish. I started with a game that I could explain easily.... GO FISH! They caught on pretty quickly, and had never played it before. After playing two rounds of that.... I moved onto a more complex game.... Crazy Eights, which I translated to them as OCHOS LOCOS.... lol. We had a lot of fun and it ate up about an hour of time. After playing cards, I headed to Santa Fe mall with my roommate, where we got some ice cream, she bought guitar strings, and I stopped at the Carrefour to get some milk. A very fun, yet random night. :)

Project Colombia Lesson #1: HOW TO SPELL

So the first step in learning more about the country Im living and working in for a year, is how to spell it.

A lot of my friends, family and family friends love to spell it Columbia. Which is incorrect. The country which I am living in is spelt: Colombia... with an "O" after the L. Officially, its full name is the Republic of Colombia.

Some examples of the correct use of Columbia:
- Columbia University
- British Columbia
- Columbia Street in Waterloo


So the next time you go to spell Colombia... please spell it with an O... and NOT a U!

COLOMBIA

I think Im really going to enjoy my job here...

So it´s official... I have successfully survived my first week of work here in Medellín. My first week of work has consisted of a lot of training, reading, meetings, and some cool sessions Ive been able to attend. From what insights Ive had this past week into what my job is going to be like, I think Im really going to enjoy my working experience here in Medellín and at CICE.

For example on Tuesday I was able to attend two meetings with clients with some of my coworkers, where I got to see a proposal presentation. On Wednesday, I went to go see a speaker talk about the Telecommunication industry in Colombia and about their company, UNE, and how they are expanding to the USA, Canada and Europe. Then on Thursday I was able to participate with a focus group for a client. All these things I didnt think Id be able to do with my job, so its very exciting to be able to experience all of this, especially in an all Spanish environment! I´ve been able to do and learn so much in one week. I cant wait to see what happens over the next year!

Observed Colombian Business Etiquette

Something I love about travelling to other countries is noticing differences between the country I am visiting and my own country. It's what makes each country unique in their own right and so interesting to me, by having different customs, behaviours, and attitudes towards different subjects.

So on Wednesday during one of my many meetings my coworkers and bosses, I took some time to observe their behaviours during a client meeting. It was interesting to see how their business etiquette differs from ours in Canada. For example, here in Colombia when people greet each other they will kiss one cheek and embrace one another .... which is similar to Spain where they lean in and kiss both cheeks. So I was curious if this is common to do during business meetings when meeting/greeting clients. When the new clients (who were 3 females) came in today, my boss just shook each of their hands, however at the end of the meeting he shook their hands and then kissed one cheek. The whole kissing clients thing is a bit strange to me, because I feel like the Canadian business environment is much more formal and strict than South American practices. However, Im interested to see how male clients are greeted. Im guessing just a hand shake... ?

Another thing I noticed, which many Canadians can relate to, is that almost everyone here has a Blackberry. However in Canada, it is customary to turn off your phone or at least put your phone on vibrate during a meeting or while in the office. But here in Colombia everyone has their ringers on, and will answer their phone via text or call during a meeting...... even with clients. Now I don't want to generalize, because this is something I noticed today during a meeting with clients, however over the past couple days this has been the case while working in the office (without clients).

The working environment here I find is a lot more relaxed and social than in Canada. Though we work long days 8-6, we take many breaks throughout the day (around 10am and 4pm), and have a 2 hour lunch (which I have no complaints about).

First days of work

So I have officially started my job here in Medellín. My first day of work was yesterday, Monday Feb 28th. It definitely feels a little weird to be working and not in university anymore :( I definitely miss the student life, but my time here in Colombia working is going to be really exciting, and I can tell Im going to learn a lot.

My job is with El Centro para la Innovación, Consultoría y Empresarismo (CICE), which is a consulting firm within EAFIT University. EAFIT is a private university, and one the best in Colombia. Essentially I will be working in teams on different consulting projects for small/medium companies, and entrepreneurs. For these companies I will be doing a lot of research to complete different market analysis, business plans, exportation plans etc. My job is also all in Spanish, which is awesome but also challenging, as Im still adjusting to an all Spanish environment after 2 months of no Spanish while in Brockville, waiting for my visa. So Im slowly getting back into the swing of things, and learning a lot of new technical business vocabulary.

On my first day of work I met with my boss, Angela, her bosses, and the rest of my coworkers in CICE. Everyone is really nice and also relatively young. I'd say the average age of the office is probably 28-30. On my first day of work, my boss explained to me how CICE works, and who they work with, and the sort of things I can expect to be doing for different Colombian companies. Then I had a meeting with Angela, and two of my coworkers Lady and Sara. We had about an hour long meeting (all in Spanish), about why I chose the job, what interests me about the job, what sort of things I like to do, and then what kinds of projects are going on right now. It looks like the first couple of projects I will be working with are in the technology sector, which should be pretty interesting.

Here's what my days are like: I work from 8am - 12noon, then 2-6pm. Yes, that's right, I have 2 hours for lunch. Which is quite different from any job Ive had in Canada. Since I live so close to campus (right across the street), I come home, make myself some lunch and then have an hour long nap. It's wonderful. During the day with my coworkers we go to one of the many cafeterias for a 15-20min break around 10am to get a coffee or some kind of beverage and possibly food. Then around 4pm we go again. haha. My work environment is pretty relaxed, and social. Everyone is also super helpful, and very excited for me to be there. If I ever have trouble understanding anything they always break it down for me in Spanish, or tell me the word in English.

So far I've been doing a lot of reading. On Monday I read a large project proposal for a Colombian company which was written completely in Spanish. It took me a while to go through the document, since while I was reading it, I'd make a list of new technical words I was unfamiliar with. Then today (Tuesday) I was given a book to read (in english, yay), about new age business models that includes a bunch of case studies. Tomorrow I have 2 meetings with my coworkers, and the big bosses of CICE. One of the meetings is over lunch, so we have that provided. yummy.

So far Im really enjoying my job and the people I work with. They have great sense of humours, and are really friendly. So here I am ... I have officially joined the working world. Im very lucky to have a job right out of university that has so many qualities of my "perfect" job - for example: a) ability to work abroad, b) ability to use my Spanish everyday, c) job revolves around International business and d) is research intensive

:)

My New Apartment!

Here are some photos from my new apartment!

My apartment complex:

Swimming Pool:

Walkway to get to my apartment:

One of the many open and outdoor seating areas:

My room!

My room pt 2:

Living Room:

Kitchen:

1st Weekend in Medellín!

My first weekend in Medellín has been a busy one. On Saturday I helped out with the AIESEC EAFIT Chapter during the day. They were doing evaluations for new members. Over 100 people would show up over 2 days to be evaluated and possibly allowed to join their AIESEC Chapter... it was very intense. The potential new members had to go through various activities and games where their social, leadership, communication and problem solving skills were evaluated. I also met a lot of new people along with a guy from Australia who is working with an NGO in Evigado (town next to Medellín) and guy from Czech Republic who is teaching English within the university.

At night, I moved into my new apartment! I met my new roommates, who are called Alexa, Alexandra and Viviana. Alexa and Alexandra are both students, and Viviana works. They are all so nice, and we speak only Spanish to each other. When I arrived into my room they had Welcome signs made, which was so cute.


My room is a pretty decent size, I have a bed, desk, chair and a pretty good sized closet. The living room in my apartment is fairly large with sofas and tables. The kitchen is a bit smaller, but not too small. The best part about my apartment are the following things: 1. It´s right across the street from where I work, so it literally takes me one minute to walk to work. The longest part of my journey is waiting for the traffic to stop so I can cross the road lol. 2. It has a swimming pool, sauna, beautiful exotic trees/flowers, and terrace seating areas. 3. It has 24/7 security with large gates. So its very safe. 4. There is a supermarket and a large mall right across the street from my apartment as well, so everything is incredibly close!

After I moved in, I headed out with my Godmother (Sara), her boyfriend and some other AIESEC people to another AIESECers birthday. We started the night at a bar called Medellín Beer Factory. Where I played pool (the Colombian way, which is way harder than just your standard stripes and solids game of pool), darts, and other drinking games. After drinking a jarra (pitcher) of beer or two with my friends, I went to Parque Lleras which is a popular hang out with many many bars, with Kevin, David and Juliana. We basically went from bar to bar, trying different drinks and checking out different bars. David took us to El Alamo, which gives free Cuba Libres (rum and cokes) to women after 12midnight (gotta love being a girl!).

Then I went to a bar called Chupitos, which has all sorts of shots that can be lit on fire etc. After 4 or 5 bars, we decided to stop and get some food before heading home. I got a gigantic slice of pizza,which had all kinds of meat on it. After pizza we called it a night at 330am. lol

On Sunday I met up with my Madrina (godmother, Sara), to go grocery shopping. She took me to Carrefour which is a huge store that sells everything from groceries, to electronics, home decor, to personal hygiene items.
Basically anything you could need. Going shopping with Sara was super helpful, as when you are in a different country you arent familiar with different brands for food, clothing etc. So you dont really have a (this is going to sound super nerdy) perceptual map for brands in your head, because you havent grown up with them (see business school has paid off lol). So she explained to me the different types of brands, whats good, what´s not, and what´s cheap. I ended up buying a hairdryer and a towel as well as my groceries. The craziest part was my grocery bill came to $230,000 !!! Which is around $100. The Colombian Peso currency symbol is $, just like in Canada. All the prices in Colombia seem really expensive because they have so many zeros, but basically you divide everything by $2,000.

Some items I bought with different packaging:


Something interesting that happens on Sundays in Medellín, is a major road within the city closes so no cars can drive on it. Then people are able to walk, run, bike, and rollarblade on the ride without worrying about cars. It's to promote healthy living, and I think its something they should start doing in Canada!

Later in the afternoon I met up with Andrés, who is the brother of my friend Juan in Canada. We went for a drive around the city, and visited Saboneta which is a small town connected with Medellín. He also taught me how to use the metro, which is very modern, clean and safe.
The metro costs $1,500 pesos, which is about 75 cents. Pretty cheap when comparing it to Toronto's subway system. Attached to the metro is the MetroCable, which is like a giant gondola you can take up the mountain, which connects the poorer "barrios" (neighbourhoods) to the rest of the city. It goes up a steep mountain, and you have an incredible view of the city!

After getting a handle on the public transportation, Andrés took me to a restaurant for Arepas, which is a traditional Paísa food here in Antioquia. Its like a tortilla, but made from corn, and it can be eaten with a variety of different things. Mine was made like a pita, so it had ground beef, chorizo, scrambled eggs, and another kind of meat inside. It was pretty yummy.

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.

Changing Perceptions: Project Colombia

As I mentioned before my job will be in Medellín, Colombia - yes the famous city for which Pablo Escobar ran his cocaine cartel in for over 10 years. Since his death and the crack down on other major cartel leaders, the city and country have changed dramatically - thanks to new democratic leadership of their President Uribe. However, Colombia still has a bad reputation around the world, which has been proven over and over again from all the reactions Ive received when I tell people that I'm moving to Colombia for a year. They all say the same thing "Really?!? Is that safe?!", and contrary to popular belief yes. Be that it may, there are still some areas in the country that aren't safe, but overall the country is safe and doing a lot to promote tourism back into itself.

During my last semester at Laurier, I had the chance to make friends with three Colombians, and started to learn a lot from them about their country - because just like everyone else I had my perceptions about Colombia. As I began to learn more about it from native Colombians, and a lot of research I did while in my interview process for my job, I started to realize that Colombia is not the country I thought it was. Which then got me thinking - if I can change my perceptions about the country then I want to try and change my friends and family's perceptions about it as well. So that's what I want to accomplish over the next year while living and working down there, and is what Im going to call "Project Colombia". I want to show my friends/family that Colombia is different than what people think it is. I want to try and remove that stigma, even if I only do it through my circle of friends at least I'm helping to change some people's thoughts - and really that's all that matters, because if I help to change 10 people's perceptions, and those 10 people pass along their new perceptions to other people then good things can start to happen. If anyone has seen the movie "Pay It Forward", you kind of get the idea of where this is going.

So stay tuned, because over the next year through my experiences Im going to share different facts, information and what I personally experience in the country to try and help shed a new light on Colombia.

New Year, New Continent, New Life....

Recently graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University I have officially completed my degree in Business Administration (Co-op), specializing in International Business with a minor in Spanish. My 4.5 years at WLU seemed to fly by, and I was so lucky to do so many things during my time at university, everything from getting real life working experience through the Co-op program (both in and out of province), an international study exchange in Spain, as well as being a Teaching Assistant for a 1st year Business (BU111) and a 2nd year Spanish course (SP201). As my time winded down, it was time to think seriously about what I was going to do starting January 2011. Through my time at Laurier, I really started to figure out what I wanted to do post-university, and that was to live and work abroad, and hopefully incorporate my Spanish language abilities in my job. So i started to apply for jobs in the fall and participate in graduate recruiting. There were some potential jobs, but nothing that really wowed me, or I saw myself seriously doing as they didnt really align with my goals of working abroad. So then I started to seek other options and one of them was AIESEC - an international student organization that I had been involved with since my first year at Laurier.


AIESEC - for those of you that don't know - is the largest student run organization, which facilitates global internships for undergraduate and graduate students. It has been around for over 50 years and is comprised of young individuals from 1,600 universities in over 107 different countries. The global internship program of AIESEC is just part of the overall experience, AIESEC also provides its members with an integrated development experience comprised of leadership opportunities, local and international conferences and the ability to partake in a global learning environment.


So through AIESEC I started applying for international jobs. It was like AIESEC was the gateway to achieving my goal of working and living abroad, and gaining some pretty invaluable experience. I applied to mostly hispanic countries but also other countries that sparked my interest from their job postings. I got 2 interviews for a job in Colombia and for another with Cadbury in London, UK. I made it to the final round of both interviews, and during that time I honestly didnt know which job I was going to choose. On one hand the Colombia job was my dream job, since it dealt with International Business on a consulting side of things, and Id be able to use my Spanish in my job, but Cadbury has such a special meaning to me since my family is all from England and I have fond memories of getting Cadbury chocolates from my relatives, so the chance to work for them would be an amazing job as well. I ended up hearing back from the Colombia job first, and decided to take it after much consideration. I will be working as an International Business Consultant in El Centro Para La Innovación, Consultoría y Empresarismo (CICE) in EAFIT Universidad. EAFIT University is a private university and one of the best in Colombia. Ive been told the campus is absolutely beautiful. My job will be focusing on working with Colombian countries to enhance their international presence, especially that in the Canadian business environment. I will also be working with international business projects, international marketing, market analysis etc etc. My contract is for one year and will be in the city of Medellín, which is north of Bogotá (the capital city of Colombia).

Ive been waiting to get my visa for about two months, and I FINALLY received it yesterday after returning from a weekend of partying in Toronto. So naturally today I booked my plane ticket, and am leaving on Thurs Feb 24th !!! Everything is happening so fast, and my basement looks like a bomb went off in it with the amount of clothes and other items I have spewed on the floor ready to organize and pack tomorrow.

People keep asking me if Im scared about leaving Canada for Colombia, and honestly Im really not. Im more anxious than I am scared, and above all EXCITED! I just want to get there and start the next chapter of my life. I feel confident about travelling there since I speak the language and also my experiences from my two exchanges I did in Mexico in 2008 and Spain in 2010.

So over the course of the next year I will be blogging again about my adventures and experiences while in South America - just like I did while in Spain. It's just a great way for people to keep tabs on me, as well as it allows me to journal my experiences to look back on later.

Colombia here I come.... :)

Change is coming....

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