I have officially hit my three month mark here, and I don’t know where the time has gone. Everything is going great! School is ending in the next two weeks, I am pretty excited for a break from school, however, the school year ending means my grade is going to graduate. I am going to be very sad to see them leave because we have become very close, however I am looking forward to getting to know a new grade! Last weekend we had our prom, you would think prom is pretty much the same all over the globe right? Well my prom had a vallonato band, and two reaggaton artist come in to perform live. Pretty much all the music was salsa, which I love to dance to! I can’t dance like a Colombian yet, but I will get there by the end of my exchange!

For Halloween my sister, our friends, and I went to downtown Duitama to go trick or treating.  Many people said we were too old for sweets, however to this I replied, “But it’s my first Halloween in Colombia, I am an exchange student!” And then I sang the trick or treat song in English…… that usually earned us some candy! On Friday our school had our costume party, and on Saturday my family participated in a parade of horses and all the riders were in costume. It was only my second time ever riding a horse in my life so it was a little rough, however I assured my family that I will be a cowgirl by the end of my exchange.

Two weekends ago all my family on my host mom’s side drove about five hours through the mountains to a small town, to get there we drove through what looked like an issue of national geographic, the mountains were incredible, and with a ton of waterfalls! Once we got to the town we went to a tiple festival, tiple is an instrument native to Colombia, it is similar to a guitar, however it has only three strings.  Along the way we stopped at a national park which was very cool, there I got to try some of the local dishes, which included fried ants. Surprisingly to me it tastes exactly like sunflower seeds!

In the first two weeks of summer I am going to work with the English teacher from my school and some of the student’s and their family in a language camp. It also will include lessons in dancing and field trips to amusement parks. My rotary club has started working with an organization here that assists financially and emotionally families with kids who have cancer. We are collecting bottle caps for the next two weeks to donate, which the charity can sell to recycling companies for a small amount. 

Last weekend I went with a rotarian and his family to Yopal at town about three hours from my town that has a very nice tropical climate. I learned that Colombian roads are on a level of their own, above roller coasters in the U.S., I am not one to get motion sick but I was happy to get out of the car. We stayed in cabanas with thatched roofs, well kind of it had concrete underneath it and air conditioning. We had a very nice pool so we relaxed, swam, and a local band came and played some of the traditional music of the region. 

This week is our finals week here. While I don't have to stress about it like I do in the U.S. I take all the tests. I have taken five tests in comprehension and was very excited that I passed three! I also found out the my comprehension level for reading is at a 7th grade level, not too bad! 

So everything is going great, my Spanish is coming along nicely. The other day my friend was making fun of the fact that I can't roll my r's I called it even by telling him to say, "the thing." I won that argument! So all is going great! I will get you guys some pictures when I have a chance! Hasta luego amigos!

~La Gringa