Universidad de Ibagué

 

Last thursday I had my last day of university here in Ibagué (and maybe even my last day of university ever). So I would like to tell how studying here was like. First, I only took two classes, so one could say I had it pretty easy. But then, everything was in spanish so it took me way more time, especially the first month, to read all the material, prepare for classes (and without preparation I was lost), do the tasks, prepare the presentations and study for the exams.

The grading system is quite different from here. The grades go from 0 to 5, almost like in Austria, but here 5 is the best you can achieve, and also, while you need 50 % to pass in Austria and achieve a grade better than 5, in Colombia the grades are more like points to gain. So if you don't do your task, you get 0. If you do it, but not that well, you get 2,5. And if you do it very well, you get 5. In the end, you need at least 3 to pass the class, therefore 60 %.

The class is seperated in three mostly egual parts of the semester. At the end of each part they tell you your current grade for these part so you know what you need for the following part to pass the class. Like I said, I took two classes and the grading was also different in those two classes. In the first one, there were no exams, just tasks to do in class as well as homework and two presentations. At the end of each part there was an autoevaluation where you could grade yourself as well (which made up 15  % of the final grade).

The other class did have exams, there was an exam with the value of 25 % at the end of each part with questions of the content we learned in those weeks, and the last one had questions from all the semesters. The exams were multiple-joice, so no need to write something, just making your x on the one answer that is right. And, what I thought to be really strange: The questions as well as the answers used exactly the same words as in the texts we had to study. Good for me - I don't think I would have understood the questions if they used different phrases to make it more difficult. But strange for me nevertheless.

The other 10 respectly 5 percent each part were achieved by doing cases in class and preparing presentations. That quite annoyed me. In Austria, we have this one exam in the end that decides your grade. In most classes you don't need to do anything before. Maybe you have do to an additional task like write a paper or do a presentation. But that's it. No cases every class, no two presentations, three exams and two additional quizzes. I guess it's better for the students to always do small pieces of work instead of one huge pile of work once and it makes class easier to pass. But it took me some time to adapt to "there's always something to do for each class".

The professors of my courses were all really nice and helpful, I even got the number of one of them so I could contact him if I had questions, and when I didn't understand, they translated what they said for me to english. The students here do know english, they even told me they have classes in english. But nobody is pretty eager to talk in english and it seems their english classes are more like "the texts are in english, but you can speak spanish in class as well". So, I guess right now my spanish is better than the english of most of them.

Also, what I noticed right away is that all the students tend to dress quite nice for every class. Almost all guys wear button-down shirts or polo shirts, and blouses, dresses and even high-heels are not incommon for girls. I guess that's because it is a private university - at the University of Tolima, same city but public university, punks were a quite common sight. Also, students here are quite young. They are allowed to enter university at 16 and, because it's private, tend to finish it as soon as possible. I met noone my age (except for the other exchange students), which I definitely wasn't used to.

What surprised me was the punctuality. Yes, I knew they wouldn't be as punctual as in an university in Austria. But still, it's not normal to arrive half an hour late to class. And it's quite strange that class finishes an hour early just because.. well most of the time I have no idea why we finished so early. I guess they just didn't want to continue anymore.

And then there were the group works. It was not that bad everytime - but I do remember this one time when we were told to prepare a presentation but noone of our group had time so we ended up meeting 2 hours before class started, therefore almost no preparation time at all, everybody showed up half an hour late and when we at last had some slides half an hour before start of classes, they started discussing if we shouldn't change the whole presentation because another concept would be better. I am not a stressed person, but this quite freaked me out - I had no idea what to present (in spanish!) and saw myself standing infront of the class reading the text on the slides and even then making mistakes because it's the first time I ever see that slide. Fortunately, we didn't have our presentations until three weeks later because after one presentation class finished and we could all go home. I guess I will miss that back in Austria - I got quite used to it until now.

I got to write for a newsletter of the Unibague, you can read it >here<.

San Andrés

San Andrés is an island in the caribbean sea closer to the coast of Nicaragua than Colombia, but is still part of Colombia. When I read about it, I didn't think about going there, because well how special could it be? It's just an island in the middle of nowhere. Sure, the beaches are probably nice, but I have already been on the caribbean coast of Mexico and I actually don't really like beaches because of the sand everywhere. So when I was asked if I want to join, I hesitated at first. But when it turned out almost all of us exchange students are going, I knew there was no way I would miss it.

 And I am really glad I decided so! To tell truth, it impressed me so much I am already thinking about which small island I could visit next. It is totally different being on a small island than being on a typical tourist destination crowded with people. I never in my life saw so many fishes, from as big as one finger to as big as both my hands combined. And in all of the colours and patterns possible. I even saw crabs on the ground, the biggest was as big as my hand. I quickly learned how to dive without alarming all these animals to hide - but they also seemed quite used to having some people swimming here.

It reminded me a little of the islands of Greece but way more beautiful. It's like here you can see the sealife that's already dead in the Mediterranean Sea. There were even what seemed to be "sea-flowers" in different colours (yellow, green, purple) and sea grapes. We were told the sea grapes are edible and they eat them in Europe, but I never heard of them before. They are really small and green, smaller than peas.

The people living in San Andres are mainly black and speak a language that's called "creole" and sounds a little bit like a mixture of english and spanish, but not than close I could understand anything. But most of the people speak both english and spanish anyway. And I soon found out that white people (like me) are really rare here and so everybody asked me where I am from and so on. But, fortunately, after I managed to get the worst sunburn I had in years, now they can't call me white anymore. I was already told, as long as I don't open my mouth I seem to be a latina.

But, because almost all of them were black, it was obvious we were not from here. And so, on our first day two officers wanted to profit from that. To get from one point to another on the island we decided to rent a golf car for all of us, they said it's fine and normal if all eight of us sit in the same car (I saw mopeds with four people on them so I thought as well it's fine). So the eight of us drove around all day on the island, and when we didn't know where to go we asked the police officers, because there were actually quite many of them all over the island. They were all really nice and helpful and told us the way. And at night, when driving home, suddenly the police showed up behind us and told us we are too many for the car. And they wanted to see the licence of our driver and even said they would take him to the police station. Then they decided a fine would be enough and we had to pay. And in the end suddenly it was okay that all of us drive home in the same car the same way we drove all day. So because we already paid for it, it's suddenly no problem? And why wasn't it a problem for the other police officers we encountered the whole day? Some might think we didn't really do anything wrong.

The sea was so warm, I always felt like it's the same temperature than outside. Which was fine on the first days because I had to make up for the missing warm water at my home in Ibagué. But still, a little colder would have been nice. But, this also ment we could go swimming in the night and it wasn't cold at all. And there was even a disco almost next to the beach that had the smokers balcony on the seaside with a small runway bridge to enjoy the night. All in all, it was really really beautiful and a new experience. And now I also know why everbody says the sea is more beautiful far from the mainland. If I could, I would go back at once.

Happy days

Now starts the time when we can count down the weeks until the semester ends. We already started planning our last weekend together and it is going to be amazing! But it also means that the time like I am spending it right now is coming to an end which makes me kind of sad. Funny thing: some of my friends here are not really sad about it and already looking forward to going back home. Sure, they said they would like to spend some more time together, but not here. So I was wondering why they experienced the time here so different than me.

 Sure, if you compare it with being at home, comfortable, able to do and eat whatever you want because you are at home and you are used to how it works, life is harder and more complicated here. But I must confess, I never think of it like that. For me, everything is like a huge adventure and also a kind of challenge - how do I manage to live in a country that's so different from home? And that's what I guess is the key to happiness. Because everything that happens that makes life more difficult is like a new challenge to conquer and everything good feels like you earned it. This makes you able to enjoy every single moment.

Even if I do have some trouble enjoying the cold shower on a cold day. Or the disgusting sweet bread they sell as "not sweet" to eat with ham or meat. Or the difficulties to find the post office ("Post office? What's that? No, I have no idea where we have that in Ibagué"). Or doing work for the university entirely in spanish. Or feeling pain in your stomage after trying something new to eat. It's really hard sometimes. But in the end I feel proud I did manage it.

They actually started calling me "la chica feliz", the happy girl, because I am always enjoying my time and find a reason to laugh in most of the situations. Also, I am "experta de chistes", expert of jokes, because I know so many jokes. Unfortunately, not all of them work here, like the one "what's white and disturbs you while eating? - An avalanche" that failed because nobody had ever seen an avalanche. I mean, how could anybody not know an avalanche? Strange world. I won't say poor people because I guess they can actually consider themselves lucky not to be bothered by avalanches.

Nevertheless, time is really great here! I mean I just need to count the times I was in the swimmingpool in the last months or some days ago someone told me I start looking like somebody from here, so no more the gringa that came from Austria. And everybody is impressed how fluently I can speak spanish already (it's not like I had a choice but I do agree now with everybody saying "it's just about the motivation to learn a language") and everybody is even more impressed when finding out I can actually speak german AND english AND spanish. I never mention that it's not that special in Austria because why should I?

And now that my spanish improved that much that I can also participate discussions and understand what's going on around me, life is so much easier. Also, we are going to San Andres tomorrow, so 5 days of caribbean feeling are waiting for me! How can it get any better?

Beautiful Austria

Last week I had a presentation about Austria and while preparing and as well while presenting it, I realized just how beautiful Austria really is and how lucky we can consider ourselves to be born there. So I decided to write something about it for all my fellow Austrians who forgot the beauty of their homecountry. (Also, it might be interesting for those considering to live in Austria some day.)

The truth is, we can easily stand competition to the countries all around the world. It starts with some simple facts. Did you know that there are really few countries all over the world that are free from Rabies (Tollwut) and Austria is one of them due to lots of measures that were taken for protection?

Except for maybe in some parts of Vienna which I don't know, you won't experience robbery in Austria. Might be that someone steals your phone or something similar if you are not careful but you won't need to experience somebody holding a knife against your skin to get your cash. Never to mention that there's no war that might take everything you own. You can even walk around at night almost wherever you want and nothing will happen.

Did you know that in many regions all over the world drinking water from the tap will definitely get you sick? Here in Colombia you have to boil your water and afterwards it still has a weird taste. Else, you can of course buy all your water you want to drink or even wash your fruits with, but just think about the amounts of water you have to carry home. This is really annoying!

Also, in Austria everybody has access to education. Actually, it's almost free. You don't have to pay a huge sum to enter a private university because the public ones are fine as well. There are lots of funds to finance your school life, your school books, your school trips, your semester abroad, everything. When I started to explain to the international office of University of Ibague that I get money from the country as a support for doing a semester abroad they just looked at me astonished and asked again if that money is really paid by like the government and not the university. So, well, if you want financial support over here you have to ask your university.

And then there's also what we learn: It is not common all over the world that people learn to swim when they are children. It also isn't common to learn a second language that early and even a third one later that you can improve after finishing school. If you want to. The choice is always yours, you can also just start working which is actually a quite unique system, very few countries offer their kids to start working that early.

Another aspect: we do not have street dogs. They are actually not that bad, but still some kind of health risk especially for children playing outside. As well, people do not need to sleep on the street. There are various places where they can seek help, get food, sleep for a night. To tell the truth, beggars in Austria look more healthy than some people here that actually have a job.

Which leads to my next point: If you do want to work, you will find work. You might not like that work but it will be sufficient to live from it (at least if you don't have a family to feed - for which there are family assistance payments). And you can always continue looking for a better job - you can even do paid trainings for another job and receive money for not working (unemployment pay).

And then there's the infrastructure. We have a functioning train sytem that takes you almost everywhere. And the places the train does not reach are connected by bus. As well, our streets are actually really really great. No potholes, you can actually go 100 km/h and even more on the highway and such stuff. Nothing really special, until you do not have it anymore.

Of course, our nature has a lot to offer as well. When I look at the picture above, I can almost feel the sun, hear the crickets and smell the flowers. Because it is just like a typical view you get somewhere in Austria. We have all these beautiful lakes with clear water where you can swim. And in the mountains you can even drink the water directly from the stream because it is so clear. Yes, we also have these beautiful mountains with these nice alpine cabins to stay and eat Kaiserschmarrn.

And not to forget, we know how to enjoy a coffee! We can make cakes, cookies, also the bread here is quite unique all over the world. And never ever forget the wine and the beer and the schnaps! Whatever you need, you can find in Austria, the only thing ever missing is the sea. But fortunately we have really great chocolate to compensate that as well.

It might not get better from now, but we are actually already really really far on our way to perfection, so I guess it's time to start appreciating what we already have, stop complaining all the time and be a little more thankful for that, don't you think?

La Candeleria de Bogotá

After being here for almost two months now, I discovered that I obviously adapted to living here because I started to get bored. So I decided it's the perfect time to do a short trip to Bogotá, and because no one had time/money to accompany me, I went alone.

Bogotá is way colder than Ibagué and I could finally use my long jeans and my scarf I brought from Austria for the first time. Unfortunately, the cold weather also triggered my throat that was already a little scratchy to get even more scratchy and on the first night I felt really unwell. That was also a reason why I didn't use my time to visit anything outside the center and kept my trip shorter than I initially planned. But it also gave me the opportunity to visit some museums I definitely wouldn't have visited while trying to efficiently use all my time to see as much as possible.

The candeleria which is the oldest part of the city is filled with stunning street arts which impressed me instantly. That's not just some drawing somebody thought would be nice, that's defintely art and absolutely beautiful. Also the houses that are not decorated with stunning art are pretty colourful, still with colonial charm.

This particular photo above was taken on the plaza where Bogota was founded. Today, it's a place for young people (mostly punks) to meet and drink but nevertheless it hasn't lost its charm. I just didn't understand how they could just sit there because it was actually raining gently all the weekend but it seemed not to affect the youth here. But I did see some people walking around with winter jackets while we had almost 20 degrees. I just thought "you poor boy, let's hope you never experience real winter".

 

Directly next to the candeleria there's a mountain with a church on it at 3150m altitude where you can get up and look at the church or just enjoy the beautiful view over the city. There are actually pilgrims that walk up all the way on the weekend for the mass but there's also a funicular for those who don't want to do the 1 1/2h climb and I definitely didn't want to, not after a really bad night and especially not in the rain.

The church itself is not as spectacular as you would expect from a church that has its own funicular but the panorama was really stunning. I did not realize how big Bogota really is. And I didn't see all of it. of course, but I guess as an Austrian that's not living in Vienna, you get stunned by big cities pretty easily.

Afterwards I went to the museum of gold and it was absolutely surprising how old the tradition of using gold actually is here in Colombia. Some rooms looked more like a scene of a horror movie but there were also sculptures and jewelry. And since it was my day of museums I also visited the museum of Botero that was for free.

Fernando Boterois an artist from Medellín that specialized on fat people, animals and even fruits. There are lots of his sculptures in Medellín (like the picture above from Medellín where I - of course - found the cat to take a picture with) and so in Bogota I could discover the paintings he also made. It was really weird to look at.

For me the trip was quite interesting because it was the first time since arriving to Colombia that I actually did something just on my own. After arriving, I kind of missed having company while walking around. Also, there was this great nightclub I read about and wanted to go to on saturday night but I didn't want to do it alone. But after a really bad night of feeling completely sick, I rearranged my priorities and started to enjoy being just by myself. I had some gread insights and even started to think about what will be when I come back home (except for that I will probably bake a chocolate cake everyday because I really miss selfmade cakes and I miss delicious chocolate even more!).

Also, my friends seemed to really miss me which made it easier to convince them to go on the next trip with me which will be the Tatacoa desert in two weeks (except if I get bored earlier or need some new insights.. who knows?)

Daily Life

More than a week ago it was Easter and, as I found out, the traditions here are nothing like Easter traditions in Austria. They almost didn't believe that there's actually a tradition to eat something green on "Gründonnerstag" (Holy Thursday). And why would someone paint boiled eggs in different colours? And put sweets and even presents in a basket, call it easter nest and hide it for the kids? Must be strange for people from a country where Easter is a highly religous celebration only for as highly religous people at the church. Also, it is common not to eat any meat or drink any alcohol in the Semana Santa, the Holy Week. It's like a shorter period of fasting than we have (in Austria: from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday). Also, Easter Monday does not exist here in Colombia. But, on the contrary, almost all people have holidays in the whole Holy Week except from those working in restaurants, shopping centers and such places.

Living in Ibagué, we already established some kind of routine. Everytime we meet at someone's home or at least every weekend, somebody else cooks something typical for their home country. Until now we had Argentinian Tortillas, Mexican Tacos, Brazilian Risotto and of course Wiener Schnitzel mit Kartoffelsalat (Potato Salad / Ensalada de Papas) and Kaiserschmarrn. It's really hard cooking something here because nobody has a functioning oven and there's no mixer. I always have to evaluate if what I am trying to make is even possible.

Everything tastes so good I really started to enjoy those cooking nights and I already learned some new receipts that I will definitely use sooner or later. And sunny, hot days we spend at the pool playing Uno. And, well, since everyday it's hot, we just have to wait for a little sun. Some days ago we had a really cold day. It was so cold, I had to wear a thin west over my shirt at night because else I would have felt a little cold.

Since the easter-trip to Medellin I haven't left Ibagué and I already get a little jumpy because, to tell the truth, not much happens in Ibagué, the capital of music of Colombia, that, to tell some more truth, doesn't have music. It's kind of located perfectly to get to most places in Colombia quickly (in less than 10 hours) but the only choice you have to do something in Ibagué is to go hiking and even that's kind of complicated because the only interesting route is to hike around at the Nevados but there's no bus there. And if you just walk up you need almost the first day just to reach the National Park.

Therefore, I am already planning to leave again this weekend, let's see how this works out. Because when trying to leave with my friends, they seem just not used to make up their mind if they really want to go until the last possible moment and then it's quite hard to find a bus, someplace to sleep and everything necessary. I really have to surpress my reflex to just say "if you don't want to go then just don't go and don't wait for us to convince you" or something like that and just be patient with however it turns out in the end. Really, how do anybody ever achieves anything like that? But also, it's totally worth being patient because it's just more fun with friends!

Considering the food, I really miss baking something. I started making Palatschinken (~pancakes) almost every day because without oven there's no way to bake anything else. I even thought about adding some chocolate to the receipt and just put some chocolate pieces on the hot Palatschinken and folded it for the chocolate to melt - but it turned out to be quite bad because while the chocolate tasted quite okay when cold, the molten taste was nothing I would like on my Palatschinken. How do Colombians even survive without good chocolate? So I am back to Palatschinken - I might try it with ice cream next time or maybe consider some arm training so next time when trying to make Eischnee (beaten egg whites) for Kaiserschmarrn my arm does not feel like dropping off.