#chapinero

Hello and thank you to anyone and everyone who has come across my blog! 💙🧿

In case you aren’t up to speed I moved to Bogotá, Colombia 🇨🇴 a few weeks ago to start my Fulbright English Teaching Assistant fellowship. Many of you that personally know me are probably wondering why I didn’t share this sooner... but honestly I packed my bags the night before and hopped on my flight without much preparation. I knew the day was approaching but with all the uncertainty in my life this past year, I didn’t wanna get my hopes up in case for whatever reason my program was canceled. In addition, for those of you who may not already know, I lost my father very unexpectedly in March of this year, that has left me with this incredibly heavy feeling I carry along everyday. All this trauma has ultimately cost me some of my friendships, made me feel so BITTER and, quite frankly made me dread having to start each day all over again. However, I’m hoping to change this and not allow myself to remain in the mindset of being a victim to all the loss and tragedies I’ve experienced in the past year. Because I believe that if my dad could see me right now, he’d be so proud and brought to tears to know all the love,support, and hard work my mom and him showed me has paid off. And finally understanding that, I know that I will be okay. (I totally cried while typing that 😅)

Anyways- now that I’ve prefaced this with all my emotional baggage 😌 I’ll tell you a little more about me in general.  I’m originally from Houston,Texas and Mexican-American however, I never really spoke Spanish growing up because it was kinda seen taboo in the 90s to do so. So once I began high school I really started gaining more interest in learning more about my culture and the language. Then, I moved to Cedar Rapids,Iowa to begin college where I decided to minor in Spanish. Going to Coe was such a beautiful experience where I had the opportunity to meet some amazing people from all over the world. It also allowed me to go to Spain (my biggest dream at the time come true!), which made me realize “like wow.... I really need to improve my Spanish speaking skills” because 1. it’ll allow me to have a greater connection with my culture  2. it’s super vital if I want to return to the US and begin a career. and 3. I couldn’t communicate with my host brother who was 3 years old at the time (yikes 🙃)

After this experience in Spain, I knew I had to return to a Spanish-speaking country to fully learn the language. This is when I started the application process for Fulbright Colombia and in April of 2020 I got the news that I was a finalist! In May of 2020, I “graduated” from Coe College with my B.A. in Biology & Neuroscience however, my Fulbright was deferred for a full year.  Which now knowing what I know about how 2020/2021 played out was probably a blessing in disguise. 

I’ve now been living in Colombia for a few weeks now, and wow has it been so chaotic! The culture shock is very much a real thing and I can truly say moving here has been one of the most challenging decisions I’ve ever made considering the timing. I have my good days and bad days, especially when I’m less anxious and able to engage in conversations when doing things as simple as ordering food or an Uber. (which are both pretty essential when living here) We also have to remember we are in the middle of a pandemic so doing things like establishing cell phone service or getting a bus card is a huge headache because you need an appointment to do pretty much anything. In addition, safety here is on a decline due to the desperation of many Colombians and Venezuelans trying to figure out where their next meal is coming from amid the economic decline. Thankfully I am safe and living in a great neighborhood known as Chapinero Alto! Yet, there is still lots for me to learn when it comes to navigating life here in Bogotá. 

This is where I’ll end my blog today, thanks again for reading! Hopefully my next post will be more insightful of my day to day life.

Estudio Cultural del fenómeno del Café y las interacciones sociales a lo largo de la Avenida Séptima en Bogotá - Colombia.