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TOURISM TODAY
Events trek
We both come from Normandy, France. Our university (in the city of Le Havre) has many partnerships with other universities in the world. So, we had the choice among Spain, Canada, Germany, England, Colombia, and other countries. We wanted to leave to improve our level in a language: English or Spanish? We opted for Spanish because this choice assured us a warm country with a great cultural difference. It was time to know another way of living and thinking.
Unicolombo offers a bachelor in Tourism, so much better that we wanted! Administrative procedures are long, but we had two friends who were in Bucaramanga the year before, so they informed us for obtaining visas, for example. Being young and positive, we immediately saw ourselves coming here in Cartagena. After a long period of negotiations, we were able to convince our parents: "We are young if we want to travel now, after we have responsibilities!"
It is now more than 7 months since we arrived here, and the cultural differences quickly manifested! First, the food is very rich, everything is fried. Second, human relations are not the same: here, vital space doesn't exist. In class we don't have to raise our hands to talk or to ask permission to go out. The university has a dress code to respect (no skirts too short, no shorts, no style too obvious). In France, everyone has the right to come dressed as desired.
But we are not going to lie, the biggest change has been the climate. When we arrived the first time, it was in July. When we leaved France it was summer but the heat is not the same. There, the heat is dry whereas here the air is very wet, as we came out of the plane it was like a curtain of hot air that we fell on us! So imagine our heads when the university taught us that here we had to come in pants at classes.
This experience, which soon arrive to the end, is memorable. Each of us made some acquaintances but also forged real relationships. At the same time, how to resist the charms of the population of the coast?
The hardest thing is to arrive in a completely unknown world and so far away from our home, to try to speak and understand a language we don't speak. But people knew how to put us at ease. Today, we feel completely at ease here. We have our favorite places, our good plans and our friends.
Mélanie Mahieu et Léa Cany, French students from Le Havre Univesity.
From Normandy to Cartagena de Indias