the tale of my first trip afuera

this weekend was a puente (its pretty much just a 3 day weekend...supposedly there are almost 20 of them throughout the year, 3 in june alone!) and subsequently an aiesec leadership development seminar in cali, a city 8 hours south of medellin. so, of course, i borrowed the 60 bucks from my parents for the registration fee and took advantage of this grand opportunity. i traveled with a bunch of aiesecers by bus on friday night, leaving medellin at 8pm and getting to cali at around 5am. the bus was BALLER, but cold as shit, so i only slept probably a total of 3 hours on and off without completing a rem cycle. needless to say, i was delirious when we got to cali, unable to communicate in spanish NOR in english, making for some great jabs later in the conference from the medellin aiesecers.

from the bus station we took a taxi to a cali aiesecers house, where we bathed and washed up before heading to the university where the conference was to begin at around 9am with registration opening up at 7. we got the university at 8, were greeted by HUNDREDS of aiesecers from all over "zona west" (its a region like north east beast or motexcox in the us), and received official name tags (i didnt know what to do with myself...it was so...organized). then, alas, a laid my eyes upon a familiar face. ruthie had emerged from her faci meeting and i immediately woke up and gave her a HUGE hug. it was SO good to see her i cant even explain. i love medellin but nothing can compare to seeing a familiar face in such unfamiliar territory. then after our "wow, i feel like i saw you yesterday" reunion, i had to return to my lc to teach them our roll call (we did bebot...of course).

the conference started at around 9, surprising the shit out of me because, after all, we are in latin america and my experience with this region is everything either starts 30 minutes late or not at all. we began with dances, introductions and roll calls as per usual, but at this conference EVERYONE had a meticulously perpared roll call, unlike in the us where roll calls are for the most part haphazard (unless your gt...thanks for bebot by the way). then the conference started with a great presentation from an aiesec alum from sab miller about corporate responsibility and how it ties into sab miller´s mission, followed by a presentation by johnson & johnson in colombia, one of the presenters also being an aiesec alum. (the alumni network here in colombia is fantastic. for real.) then there was a small break, which is when i realized how little i would be eating that weekend, everything being either made of meat or wheat. then the conference continued with a presentation from a national bank called bbva, and to me that presentation was a disaster. my spanish is at a point where i understand most of whats going on, and if not the specifics then at least the concept. but this guy spoke SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast i didn´t even know he was pronouncing words. the people sitting next to me saw my face and started laughing because the expression on my face that of complete shock, like a 16 year old being told hes a baby daddy.

after 30 minutes of complete bewilderment, the presentation ended, we had lunch, and got on the bus to head to the hotel. i got to see a bit of cali, seeing as the bus driver got very lost and took us in circles. it was a delightful detour :) after finally reaching our destination and reconvening in a conference room, we began the conference sessions. the sessions as a whole were fantastic, really involving everyone and making you think about yourself as a leader and as a tangible "product" and how to sell yourself to the public. we should have lds´s like this in the us. i think everyone would benefit. the conference was also organized in a way that facilitated networking throughout the region through the use of "home groups", which were comprised of people from all different local communities and used to nurture moral and friendly competition. my home group was so fantastic, with at least one person from every lc from completely different life backgrounds, including one other trainee from holland (there were 4 trainees in total at the conference from holland, slovakia, china, and (obviously) the us). it was such a well put together conference. i was thoroughly impressed.

ok so now that i have described the conference material itself, now onto the socializing :) the aiesecers in colombia are in.cred.i.ble. like some of the most intelligent people ive ever met. not only did i get to meet so many awesome people from around the region, but i really got closer to the fabulous people from my own lc in medellin. they are all so different but the thing they all have in common is compassion and the ability to make me smile from ear to ear. they appreciate my quirky personality complete with touching and hugging at "inappropriate times" by american standards. and supposedly im hilarious. its a combination of them laughing with me and at me as i try and translate my humor from english to spanish...mostly at me though.

as for the parties (rumbas)...o.m.g. supposedly the rumbas that occurred were NOTHING compared to what they could be, but were 348902342380 percent better than the ones ive experienced in terms of the dancing and pure happiness in the room. no girls crying in the corner over guys, no guys standing on the sidelines barely tapping their foot, no one vomitting nor needing to be dragged out because they can barely stand. instead it was EVERYONE dancing, whether with partners or in groups or a combination of both. there were bottles of aguardiente being passed along with beers being purchased and shared, but not everyone was drinking and that was ok. i myself got to practice my salsa (ps arthur thanks for the nights at level b...they really came in handy and i realize now how much you actually dance like a latino) and learn cumbia, vallenato, and merengue. and of course reggaeton, but thats already my specialty :) i still have a lot to learn, but i already have offers from paisas to go out and practice. another aspect of the party that i LOVED was the music and the subsequent sing-a-longs! the music is just SO happy, and during most of the songs the room broke out in unison, singing their hearts out with so much passion, kind of like what we do when we hear livin on a prayer. my favorite song is now this one, and im in the process of teaching myself the words so i too can contribute to the happiness :)

the last day i had to leave early because i had to catch a bus in time to be back for work on tuesday. i got to travel with 2 guys from my lc an 2 girls from the other lc in medellin. the company was great, but unfortunately we had the bad guy from speed driving the bus. i wanted to vomit the entire way home, and 9 hours of nausea is no fun i can tell you. but alas i arrived home safely, with a whole new appreciation for colombia, its people, and alka seltzer.

so to sum up my first trip in colombia: i spent 3 days from 8am til 3am laughing, philosphizing, and conversing with great people from all over colombia (and the world). id say it was a success.