Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone...

Tiffany's dad brought us Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from the States. Our entire apartment is on Cloud 9. It's amazing the things that you miss from home...it doesn't take much to make me happy.

“La música no es simplemente algo que nos agrada, o que nos distrae, sino que además de eso, es una ideología. Se conoce a la gente por el tipo de música que escucha.”
-PAULO COELHO

newbie blogger headed to the City of Eternal Spring...

Shout-out to Molly, who hasn't even left the country yet, but rocks because 1) her blog is hilarious 2) she was one of my first matches to our Experience Social Entrepreneurship program 3) she's going to have a kick-ass summer in Medellin, and 4) she thinks that I have magical powers.

Keep an eye on her blog for some crazy Colombian adventures this summer...

2600 meters closer to the stars...

Este fin de semana ha representado todo de lo que quiero de Colombia. Fuimos a Andres Carne de Res viernes, un lugar full chevere afuera de Bogotá en un pueblo que se llama Chia. El ambiente y el grupo con quien fui, además cada tipo de música que puedes imaginar, eran una combinación perfecta. Bailé mapalé y cumbia como una Barranquillera verdadera y rumbeamos hasta las 4 de la mañana con una energía que solo puede encontrar en Colombia.
El padre y el hermano de Tiffany están visitando ahora y aunque no sean mis familiares, es super chevere verlos disfrutando de la vida acá. Es que ambos en Bogotá como en Barranquilla tenemos un grupo de extranjeros bastante grande a todos les aman este país, esta cultura, y más de todo, la gente Colombiana. Nosotros hemos aprendido la realidad de Colombia y sentimos en nuestra casa acá, a veces más que en nuestros países. Pero es una oportunidad full rara que podemos compartir esta vida acá con los familiares o los amigos que no estén en Colombia en una manera más que fotos o historias de email. Entonces, cuando algunos de ellos vengan de los EEUU con ninguna idea de Colombia pero con ojos abiertos y discubran la belleza y la pasión y nos digan que por fin entienden por qué estamos tan flices aquí, no hace sonreír más que todo. Aunque no soy Colombiana, tengo un gran orgullo por este país; por una parte, Colombia será siempre mi país.
Como no sé cuanto tiempo más me quedo, estoy disfrutando Bogotá lo maximo cada día. Anoche fuimos a Lobby, un barsitio chevere que ya conocí hace algunos meses, por la fiesta de MC transition. Bailamos, bailamos toda la noche. Yo voy a extrañar la música y el baile más que todo cuando no esté en Colombia. Lo siento en mi corazón, es una gran parte de quien soy. Tocaron un poquito demasiado vallenato, pero de toda manera, que ahora conozco todas las canciones que toocan, y hay algo que decir por esto…que sé bailar cada genre de música como una costeña, que puedo compartir una risa con JuanK, Patricia, y Lore cuando escuchamos cualquier cancion de una artista Barranquilla. Y por supuesto que todos bailamos uno o dos roll calls en el centro del club; es inevitable cuando salgas con un montón de AIESECos :)
Un mensaje a todos del MC Colombia, sea saliente o entrante: yo he tenido la oportunidad a trabajar mucho con algunos de Uds, otros solo conocí pocas veces, pero todos son gente increíble con una pasión que me inspiraba muchisima. Yo les deso suerte, alegría, y felicidad, lo mejor de la vida en todo lo que hacen.

Setting the pace...

I have always found solitude in running. Not to race, but just for the escape that it brings from the rest of my life. Not running toward, not running away, just running. After 4 years of having the Lakeshore paths only moments away whenever I had a free moment to escape down to the trails around Monona or Mendota, my running routine was put on pause since I moved to Colombia. Between dangerously high temperatures, insane traffic, and broken sidewalks that almost guarenteed a twisted ankle, running outside in Barranquilla was out of the question. Granted, I went to the gym often, but I detest treadmills with a passion, spinning round and round and never really going anywhere. Since I arrived to Bogota last weekend, I have quickly settled into a different daily routine, one that I have instantly grown accustomed to. Yesterday morning, Steve pointed me in the direction of Parque Simon Bolivar, the equivalent of Bogota's Central Park. From the moment my running shoes hit the path, the crisp mountain air filled my lungs, and I turned on my iPod, I felt my muscles spring to life and I was off. Pushing through the altitude difference that made it difficult to catch my breath, I found an energy reawakened inside of me that had been missing for far too long. I may never win the race, but may I never be forced to stop running...

Investing? Colombia may just be the next big thing...

Extreme Investing: Inside Colombia
An improbable journey from crime capital to investment hot spot. Can this boom last?

- Business Week

All these places have their moments, with lovers and friends, I still can recall...

I managed to hold back the tears for the past week until this afternoon. As my plane departed from Barranquilla, destination Bogota, I finally opened the goodbye card that the UNINORTE LC had written for me at the wonderful despedida they threw me on Thursday.

A week of goodbyes and emotions finally caught up with me and the tears started to fall. A year in the life of a trainee is worth a lifetime of memories. I cannot thank all of you enough.

Camilo, Pedro, Luchy - I will never forget meeting all of you at AXLDS and the surreal feeling of seeing all of you again when I arrived in Barranquilla last July, realizing that sometimes people come into your life for what you think will be a short moment and stay much longer than you ever could have hoped for. I will keep practicing my football skills. CHECK.

Ferkho - Yo te entiendo. Por fin. Como me dijeron, parece que hablo Costenol PERFECTO ahora.

JuanKi - mi hermanito. Stay out of trouble. Even if your big sister isn't there to keep an eye on you. I will continue to tease you. siempre.

Alex, Bartira, Adele, Elena, Patrycja - for laughing with me through everything that we put up with in the language institute, from horrible computers to crazy morning classes to entrevistas to lunch at el Tunnel, working with you girls was priceless and I love you all.

Juanca - I will miss our chats outside the office. Muchisimas gracias por todo tus consejos y tu amistad.

Mau & Lorena - my OC, it was a pleasure to work with both of you and put together the best trainee weekend in all of Colombia. Thanks for helping to make CARNAVAL one of my most memorable experiences this year.

Aleja & Marta - my two best recruits. I love you girls so much.

Vanessa - don't go hiking in Tayrona without me...you might get lost!

Newbies - I have enjoyed seeing you grow so much in just a few months and am excited to see what comes out of UNINORTE over the course of the next year. From pre-zonalito when you first met the trainees by surprise to the Zonalito weekend in Pto. Colombia, it has been a pleasure to get to know many of you. You all have so much potential and passion.

You have all made this year so memorable and I am so lucky to have met all of you. I arrived 10 months ago is some crazy Caribbean city and thanks to all of you, I am now happy to call Barranquilla "home". AJA UNINORTE!

Badger Invasion

I just found out that 4 fellow Madtown AIESEC'ers are on their way to Medellin. Brett is on his way next week (!!) to visit, Jess is going to be working at EAFIT as part of the GoinGlobal PBOX, Molly and Jason are both part of the new Experience Social Entrepreneurship initiative - Molly with UNDP and Jason with Corporacion Grupo Vida. I'm grinning like a fool, so excited for all of them to experience the country and culture that I have grown to love as if it were my own over the past year.

Sun-kissed

I think I am the poster child for people who refuse to listen to the warning that even if it is cloudy and overcast, you can still get sunburned.

Back from a much needed weekend of fun in Cartagena, rosy pink, relaxed, but increibly nervous about the week ahead of me.

Home stretch....

casi-colombiana...

Andrew: WHAT
Andrew: for real?
Andrew: where you going to be?
Me: heading back to Madison for a month or two
Andrew: i like forget you're american a lot

not the first time I have heard that...

Trying to put together a puzzle...not sure if I have all the right pieces...

All good things must come to an end. The better they are, inevitably, the faster they fly by. You hold on as tightly as you can, try to live in the present rather than lose yourself in the moments that have already turned into memories or the uncertain future that is rapidly approaching.

I blinked my eyes and suddenly find myself counting down the days that I have left in Colombia. One more weekend excursion to Cartagena...then to Bogota, where I began and to which I always seem to return...et après?

Scared to admit that it is time to leave, time to say goodbye, hoping that I will not be gone long, scared by the thought that I need to make plans gambling on what is still unknown...all I can do is hope that it will work out for the best...scared by the unanswered questions because for once, I know exactly what I want, but I'm not sure if I have what it takes to make it happen.