costs. 13/08

listening Colombian songs inspired me today to write new post. I am so glad receiving all this emails you are writting to me ! it is really nice and make me more and more proud from my blog and work i did, and also push me to work harder on it :) its suuuummmeeer time!!!!!! is anybody in Colombia now?? if at least one tourist is reading it, write a comment ! i would like to hear your opinion about this country.
today i've received email from one future polish exchange student to Colombia in 2014-2015. I am so glad that another Polish girl is going to spend the best year of her life and I will promise her to be her help when she get there. according to the topic COSTS in COLOMBIA. if you compare living in Poland and in Colombia i can say that Peso Colombiano is little bit more expensive than Polish Zloty. when somebody ask me how much money its needed and how much are trips etc i cannot be really honest, cause .. (un)fortunately i didnt economize money, i tried to live there full of life, full of parties and full of goods, trips then i cannot say the minimum money you should take. At the beginning is always different. you wont go out everyday, you have to meet your new family, you have to just adaptize yourself ( what you arleady guys know i did extremely fast) every month from Rotary you should get 75$ ( its pocket money for .. "ice cream" haha ) so changing it to COP its about 150.000 Colombian Peso. but its up to the family. i got every month 100$ ( 200.000 COP) + money from my parents from Poland for trips, parties etc but if you are calm and you dont like parties.. DONT GO TO COLOMBIA. Colombia is love, kind and FIESTAS. believe me, i am not saying it as a crazy person but its honest. and i am not talking about parties as project x ( the movie well known) but parties with family, friend's family. generally on this kind of parties are invited even 100 people, so you wont be bored. at all. as i wrote before, i really was shocked when i saw all people having fun together. grandma with grandson, mother with great grandmonther etc. i think thats the most beautiful thing in Colombia's culture that everybody is just sticked together. i fall in love.
lets come back to the costs. if you wanna travel around colombia... thats the problem. officially Rotary doesnt allow to travel alone. the rules say that even host sister cannot be with host brother. together under one roof when host parents are not at home. stupid i know, somebody follows rules, somebody knows. but in the other hand its not that stupid cause i know one girl who had a huge problems with her host dad. saying truth, he was touching her. she had to change the host family and then everything was ok but its very hard to say about this situation.
my mom visited me in Colombia and we travel with one polish-colombian travel agency. they speak polish, spanish, english, german so not only polish people can go for this trips. i give you link to check the offer: http://www.kolumbia.travel/

after arriving dont think about traveling and parties, going out. the most important thing is to adapt and get on well with host family. i will repeat you guys hundret times but first days can have influence on your all year. i think this website can be useful if you wanna have somthing well organized.
WHAT IS WORTH TO SEE IN COLOMBIA? the answer is easy. everything.
AMAZON RIVER- full of mosquitos, adrenaline and crocodiles. honesty i was crying being there, i wanted my Cucuta so badly but now its the trip i remember the most. 2 districts from Colombia went there so we were like around 30 exchange students from all over the world. amazing. i got a lot of funny stories sooo one day i will write them here.
EJE CAFETERO- thats a beautiful countryside full of coffee. i went with my mom there, to the village for tourists but it wasnt commercial at all. nature, animals, coffee, sunrises.. it was really great and amazing place to relaxed and get rid of everydays problems.
CARTAGENA & Carribean island- beautiful holidays, beaches, sun, sunburns, coctails, fresh fruits, diving, swimming, tanning. these are words for that. personally i love cartagena, despite of its not that "colombian" city as others. to cartagena all americans are coming, all europenas.. Bogota as much as Cartagena become too commercial cities, of course they keep this climat and culture but its so much differente if you will visit Eje Cafetero/ my city Cucuta and then Bogota or Cartagena.

more questions?
visit my funpage
https://www.facebook.com/Nataliaskotnickablogspotcom
or email me : nskotnicka@wp.pl

i will put some random photos. xx
Natt

  
Eje cafetero- our "hotel"

 me drinking cow's milk, actually this huge bottle was for baby cow, not for me :)

 view from my balkony- Cartagena

 Hacienda Del Cafe- our relax

 Coffee park

 Cartagena

 me milking :)

 Amazon river and .. a house :)

 my mom with Amazon girl

 fooling around my children :)

 me in Bogota, my favourite place- la candelaria

me diving- Isla Grande

 sunset in Cartagena

typical for cartagena- women with candies

my best Rotary group.

gifts

uuppssiii I havent been written here from 2 months ! wow, time flies and so did my exchange ! can you believe that exactly one year ago i came back ? and exactly year ago, at the same time ( almost midnight) i was chatting/talking with Colombia !? Unbelievable, one year after i am doing the same thing- thinking about Colombia and doing action ! what i have done today? i wrote to the Rotaract in Warsaw ! i am very interested if there is anything to do for me ! i would be extremely happy to be with them, meet new people and talk about Colombia and those beautiful stuff Rotaract in Colombia are doing-all clubs.
Well, its been a one year since i am home and almost 2 years to my trip to Colombia. I cannot believe in time and in my love and passion. guys, how is possible to be one year home and think 24 about exchange ? I cannot be back, i cant adapt once again.
did i tell you last year what was my idea to "remember" forever Colombia? i was about to get a tattoo, which i consider now as a studpid idea. in this post i would like to tell you some ideas about goodbye gifts or something with deeper meaning for you and just for you.

considering a tattoo.. well, that was my first idea- to get a tattoo (of course on invisible part of my body)  and keep all my memories not only in my head but in my body. i dont consider this idea as a stupid one but i am not fan of tattoos. I think that colombian one would be first and last one in my life. and when it will be done my boyfriend will kill me and my mom disinherit me :))) joke.
i dont think i would do one, why? idea sounds cool, even showing friends but my person is the best example of people, who dont need to do/make/paint anything on theirs bodies to remember. I remember every moment, every month. its like obsession, really but it works and on the most frequently questions" how is Colombia" or " how was your exchange" or " is it true about the drugs" I SAY JUST TRUTH " Colombia is passion" and then i tell the stories. its soo cool get a message from your friends with " we missssssing you bitch" or its so cool staring at my colombian map with all signatures. jesus.
coming back to our today topic. i was following our international page on facebook " when you know you're exchange student..." and ive noticed that many of you is getting ready to back home. then what to buy for your friends? what to buy your host family? and what to get for yourself to keep all these memories sticked together? my personal ideas are below.
1. for your friends : if you were in a group of many friends you can make an album with photos, your funny quotes, describing some stories.. OR you can write to letter to each of them. my almost all friends were always together cause its a one small city and bogota-of course capital-huge one and they are still together but its very hard to keep one album for lets say 6 people. thats why i wrote letters to each of them, i remember my goodbye party wasnt so sad. of course i cried next day but i knew that is just for 5 months and of course it happened. i came back to Colombia to seee all of them in Decemeber :)
i guess that this 2 ideas are the most personal and the most memorable.
2. to say thank you and goodbye to your host family is the hardest. i think that there is no gift because its too hard to split. however changing with some personal jewerely or something else is very good idea. its hard to say girl-mom boy-host dad cause its dependent on relationship you've built ( for instance i have better relationship with my host dad than mom but that depends how time you've spent together, in my case my host mom was working out of the city)
try to remember the most funny stuff you've done with the parent or maybe you have some necklace/ring/bracelet etc you can give to the person?
on my last Rotary meeting i wrote a letter to all Rotarians to say huge thank you and to appreciate all they have done for me. by the end, i wrote some words to my dad, who cried after it. and so did I :)
3. what to get/buy for yourself? i made an album with photos of my friends and under it everybody wrote some words and few of them just put the letter to the envelope. you have to idea how awesome is reading it after few months and i am pretty sure its gonna be fun in couple of years.
you may also exchange with necklace/bracelet with your best friend.


but the most important are memories. you will never forget the moments you were happy with those people. and now there is no distance. of course flights are expensive but not that much if you spend 83934 hours before your computer and looking for offers, like i do :))

if there is anybody who would like to contact me and get some knowledge about the exchange- email me ! nskotnicka@wp.pl
i know that now is a special HOT time to leave the home country or come back, thats why as a experienced ex exchange student i can say a lot !

ps. leave your boyfriend/girlfriend/ family/friends in your home city. have an adventure of your life. real friends will stay with you despite of the distance, your family will be always with you so you dont have to worry. you will meet new friends, new people, you will get new experience. if somebody who goes in few days to the Rotary exchange should be happy. I would get everything to come back to this day of 6th august 2011


CU soon !
Natalia

 isla grande- carribean blue

coffee park

sunset in coffee park

amazon river and boats

me-diving :)

me and coral reef

souvenirs from Colombia 

feelings, people.

hey there,
i would like to share with emotions. I think it is a good day to say something warm to my family and best friends. It will be very personal, but here it is the only place where i can write everything to everybody, so it wont be to "show myself" or something, this post will have nothing in common with my description and life in Colombia. or maybe? actually it is. People, who dont know me, people who have never experienced feelings as I do may not understand and judge as "too private" post. BUT people who were exchange students and still have feelings to the people there, will know what i feel now.

so here is a little bit about my second home, second family..


My dear family, friends..
I dont know how to start this post. Maybe from the words that i am crying writting this, or maybe from this how much i love you all...each of you made my life different, because of you i became happier person. Everything has happend so suddenly. I havent realized when i fall in love with Colombia, when I found this happiness, which is totally different than I have in Poland. each of you are and will be very special person for me, forever. its 01.20am, i am laying in my bed, looking around my room, looking at my wall with photos of you all and title " home is whenever i am with you" , looking at Colombian flag, which you all signed, reading all those letters you wrote for me, looking for all those pictures we took together. it is amazing having this kind of people, who keep you happy everyday because of 14 000 km of distance. despite of not everyday talking, even not weekly.. i think of you everyday. everyday i think what my Colombian Siblings are doing, which picture Cristina is taking now, Which crazyness Hugo and Pacho have done, what Mariana has tumbrled, how is Rodizio, how is Juan Martin, what my "locas tias" are doing,what feel new exchange students in Cucuta, if they wanna go home or not...????? there are so many thoughts everyday and so little time to call everybody everyday and ask. During everyday i am trying to concentrate on my school and everyday life. Deeply, inside me I am trying to hide this missing to Colombia, to my grandfathers, Sandra and her family and to everybody which are there for me ! You have no even idea what i can give for at least one dream of you all, to see you all, hug you all and say how much i miss you. i've realized how much saying our feelings is important and now i am dreaming to say mines.
I dont know when i will come to Colombia again. It can be in August, December or even next year June, everything is up to school and my daily things which i can not leave.
I would like to say thank you and I love you,
for Luz Nelly and Jorge, my host parents 2. who were always caring about me, who were always making my days better and better, who showed me theirs family and let me belong to them. I will never forget those Jorge's jokes, my dear 24h working Luz Nelly. I want you to know that you are perfect parents, dont change. I know I should talk with you bit more when I was there, but i trurly believe that we could understand with each other with no words, smile and look was enough to know everything.
for my siblings, Silvia, Sergio, Chiqui- without you guys this family wouldnt be perfect as it is. Silvia, your love with Luis R, love to your 2 children, which one-Juan is bigger and bigger and the second one which you are carring - it is amazing, you are strong, independent woman who will always win, but actually you have arleady won- Luis R and love and I see you happy in it.
Chiqui- I dont have to write much, you arleady now everything, I just feel and compare you to my Polish brother, you did everything for me during our time together. now when i am remembering miami and our "fights"... ouh, i would give everything to get back there. I loved waiting for you 8478 hours or I loved going out school at 7am seeing you in pool still partying.
Sergio: you have this knowledge, you were always very reasonable and funny. what i remember the most about you? watching with you movie" tan fuerte tan cerca" I dont really know why this, but you made a special impression on me. and another one.. our long talking in Cartagena, remember?
all tias and tios locos maybe we havent spent time with each other everyday, but without you all my life in this family wouldnt be as it was (is) its like you all create family.. and without one person it is not the same. you all have to be together, because you are like puzzle. when one piece is missing, then its not whole picture :)

grandma, grandfather, Sandra, Daniela, Laura, Luis E. I started with you my exchange, my first, the most difficult months were with you. You know me the longest and I am grateful to you for everything. You were always available for me, 24h, everything was done immedietaly to help me, to make everything easier. I am very happy you came to Poland and met my family, this meeting was magical for my mom. you did not talk with each other all nights long, but the energy which you gave my family was unforgettable. When my mom came to Colombia, abuela as much as abuelo did enormous thing for her, which she will never fortget. My mom was in Colombia 16 days. She could fall in love, thats why she understands me the most, how i feel. i would like to say thank you, because she does it ( understands me) because of your family and your time which you gave her.

Cristina, Mariana, Hugo, Pacho, Renzo, Gabriela, Diego, Nicolas, Alejandra, Daniela we spent time almost everyday at school or after( besides Renzo and Daniela who left us to discover EU, whatever)we spent the best parties in my life together. we spent sad and happy moments. the day i think the most important of our relationship was during my goodbye party. the day before and day after. during this 3 days, i understood that you are as important as my host families. I remember moments when i was wondering about our friendship. is it friendship? or am i just exchange student, who is fun and after my come back to Poland we wont have any contact, that another, new exchange student fill replace me. i remember when my polish friends were saying that i am just a new "toy" for you because i am european as much as philipine girl in our town. but i remember my conversation with Hugo, when he told me words i will NEVER forget which was " you belong to us, no matter if you are here or in Poland" after Mariana wrote me " together forever never apart, maybe in a distance but not in a heart" i am pretty sure you dont even remember that you said that but those words made me special for you, not only exchange students. Cristina, with you.. I survived roller coaster, really.. i remember my tears, my smiles and crazy stuff. i remember our first "official" go out with Jairo, you exactly know how i felt. remember? Diegito- to sum up my time in Colombia in december and my last year.. i can even say that you and your family could be my third host family, because of my being at your house with you, Sissal almost everyday.. ok, everyday:) you know what was the nicest words you have ever told me? " You are the only one female friend who is really friend" that was the most important words during all my staying in CO in december.
Nicolas- you have changed my exchange dude, like really. we have been talked about it million times so i dont have to describe here anything more. the nicest thing about you? january 2012, after my come back from Cartagena to Bogota, remember? : ) i dont want to add nothing more about you, because you exactly know what i want to say.
Alejandra, Daniela.. with you my girls i didnt spend much time, but enough to see your beautiful personality. Alejandra.. remember my tshirt POLOCA loca? btw, i have to find it and start wearing it because finally in Poland we have SPRING, that means SNOW IS OVER , yay. Daniela- when you will done with reading this, text me on whatsapp, I will send you something.
Pacho, Hugo OMG I FEEL SICK when i am "remembering" our APPLE on Hugo's balcoon. ekhmm remembering??
Renzo and Gabriela & Alejandra: just one word, Bogota. and Renzo's apartament, make up, Renzo and Gabriela are totally the best make up makers. !!!
Mariana Y- remember about TUMBRL :) i am your biggest fan:) and your gift for me from nyc, it very often on me :) the thing with you? I guess the day after my goodbye party. you, me hugo,pacho, cris, jairo, nicolas, mariana S in pizza gourment. during this 2 hours you all showed all this love to me.

and I think these persons are in my "the most important people in my life" group. thank you for everything, i hope we will meet soon and we can all make party as huge as it was during my goodbye party in piso7, but then it wont be recorded by 600 people but by national tv :))))) I love my crazyness with you,  Cant wait to hug you all and smile, feel this cucutenan calor.

" together forever, never apart, maybe in the distance but not in the heart"
Luz Nelly, Jorge, Abuelita, Abuelito, Sandra, Daniela, Laura, Luis E, Silvia, Chiqui, Sergio, Luis R, Cristina, Mariana, Hugo, Pacho, Renzo, Gabriela, Diego, Nicolas, Alejandra, Daniela.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK MY SIBLINGS  SILVIA, CHIQUI, SERIGIO, DANIELA, LAURA TO TRANSLATE ALL THIS TO YOUR PARENTS AND GRANDFATHERS. PLEASE,  IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME TO KNOW THAT THEY KNOW WHAT I WROTE :) thank you.
I love you all,
NS



I wrote it, it took me hour and i wanted to delete all this after i felt better.. but then i thought why the world shouldnt know about ex exchange student, who is not careless of the people which met there?


I would like to tell you in next post about some very famous painter. Colombian of course. his pictures are even on my notebooks and wallpapers. Fernando Botero- you know?

september and half october

Hello everybody !

its so good to have few moments for myself and write something here. I love being at home, my lovely room, my parents, EXTREMLY good food and my friends. Unfortunately I have to write 4 huge  essays, which take a lot of time, thats why the only one entertainment for now its updating my blog :)

So as I promised you, I will keep writing about my first days/months/feelings in Colombia. I arleady described you August. My arriving to Colombia, My new family, new school, new friends etc. It was extremly hard for me. Now I realized that I left home at the age of 16. Regret? maybe leaving home, but Colombia and memories will stay in my minds forever.  believe me that was extremely hard leaving my family and friends in Poland, because if you are going on your exchange, you cannot live on facebook with all news and gossips. You can not be in touch with your friends and family everyday on skype. that is waste of time being there. what is the best, leave your life in your home city, start new life  abroad. if you have boyfriend/girlfriend- sorry, but the best decision is to split up before your exchange. What people really dont understant is that being one year abroad it is a HUGE chance and possibility. this year can open doors for EVERYTHING you want, or it can close if you will loose the time. maybe its cruel but to sum up, if you will make this decision to grow up, make new friendships, know new culture you should leave your present life in your home city, go on your exchange and then spend the best year in your life with totally new people and on totally new rules with different conditions. it wont be always colorful, but you cant give up, never.

I cannot say when was the hardest part of my exchange. it was almost everyday hard. little problems were changing to bigger one, homesick, strange situations in school or home, i couldnt speak in my mother tongue language cause.. who speaks polish in Colombia? exactly, nobody. But you know what? I always tried to have fun from every situation. Of course there were millions that i couldnt do anything and the perspectives that i was there alone, without anybody who i can 100% trust ... yeah.. i dont have to finish this sentence. just imagine if you were me.
Maybe the hardest was like in april ? when i had to make the most serious decision, TO STAY OR TO GO. yeah.. i had this possibility to stay in Colombia forever. I could finish there my school with IB Program, then go to university but the only thing which kept me away from this decision was my family. if i stayed there, i dont know which relationship i would have with them after more years. ( i will tell you the story someday)

lets come back to SEPTEMBER.

when i found out that my host mom(grandma) is ill and we have to go to Bogota i got extremely happy because i could visit new place in Colombia ( but understanding that i am going to bogota took my mom like 20 min to explain me in spanish. it was really funny.. she was pretending plane, she showed me photos YOU-BOGOTA-MANANA, it really was funny) and we got there. we stayed there almost MONTH. it was enough long time to know the capital. we stayed at my host mom's daughter, whose daughter went to Warsaw ( it was exchange with me, i should stayed in Bogota, but my district to who i belong in Colombia didnt agree and they sent me to Cucuta ) we spent all together beautiful weeks. they showed me all monumets, shopping centers, cool restaurants... but despite of theirs trying to make me feel home i needed something else. it was a friend. or friends. i needed people in my age to talk, to spend time, to do stuff which i couldnt do with my hosts. So i met Sergio ( Hi, if you are reading this) we hanged out, it was awesome. He was one from not many friends who speaks english.  And actually we stayed friends untill now.
during this trip to Bogota i fall in love with my hosts. really, i felt like i am living with grandmother and grandfather but my second family is in Bogota( theirs daughter with her family) so from the beginning i knew thats gonna be perfect exchange. and it was.
Unfortunately one day i woke up and during the breakfast i found out that i have to switch my host family because my host mom is ill and she needs to stay longer in Bogota. Well, I cried and everybody did. during 2 months we sticked to each other so much. I didnt know what i should expect from my second family, who it will be, where i will live...i exactly remember this situation when my grandfather was calling to my another host dad to ask him if he can take me earlier ( the plan was to stay with second family from december) so they made a deal. during the same week i've met my sister, Silvia. she was 25, married, in pregnant. the hottest sis ever i could had :))) we have met, she speaks english cause she was an exchange student(twice) in england and usa. she was sooo relaxed, she was telling me about my future host family, about mom and dad and i couldnt believe when she said" my parents are soooo relaxed, you can going out, partying etc" I HAD STARS IN MY EYES. and it actually was as she said.
after 4 days i came back to Cucuta. to my new exchange students friends, to my school, to my rotary club and to my NEW FAMILY. I fall in love in house immediataly. my second family owns restaurants, beauty saloons so in 3 words i can say " heaven for me.
We were soooo good to each other. my host dad was laughing at me everytime, because of my punctuality. everytime when he was saying the hour i was ready, but in Colombia it doesnt happen at all.
for instance, if somebody invites you to the party at 8pm you should come like 9.30pm or even later.
Once when my friend told me to pick me up at 7.. of course i was ready at this time and he arrived at almost 10 !!!!!! what i was doing? sitting on stairs with phone in my hand.
hahaha but after short time i became really colombian and i knew how to act in different situations :)

my second and actually last family was really crazy. specially my THE BEST brother ever- Chiqui. oh my god, i love him so much. i really had the best siblings from the second family : Sergio, Chiqui, Silvia. I miss you guys.
just after 2 weeks i went to RETIROS. its like school trip, which takes 3 days. but it wasnt just school trip but trip with values. We talked about family and love. it moved me, i cried everyday, everybody cried.
The trip was in other, bigger city- Bucaramanga. it is well known, big city in Colombia. the first what we were doing was accomodation, food etc. after we really started our trip with emotional exercises. we had to lay down on a floor with closed eyes. teacher was reading some part of the life: mom giving birth, first birthday, christmas and generally happy moments... then he came to the bad ones like somebody's death, accidents etc. it was hard.
also during this trip we talked much about our feelings. everybody wrote list to somebody who hurted during life. people wrote about parents/boyfriends/friends. i wrote it too, but in polish to keep it only for myself. I remember when during our last night everybody got letters from theirs parents. everybody cried and i was looking at them and i realized how family and love is important in our lifes, no matter what. then my teacher came to me and gave me the letter, from MY parents, from Poland. it was amazing... i opened the envelope and i saw photos.. my parents keeping my little sister, my brother, my house, my room.. i couldnt stop crying. i missed them so much. that was probably the best experience and the biggest value. this trip showed me WHO ARE COLOMBIANS??? they are lovely people who love and respect each other. who always are ready to help. COLOMBIANS taught me loving and respecting my family, they showed me the importance of friends. I can say that this trip was one from few factors, which changed my life.

in this post i described you even half of october. another part will be about my crazy ALONE trip to bogota. actually.. when Chiqui ( my host bro) left me there and during "amazing" weekend i got robbed from my mobile phone and money. and i survived without speaking spanish. understanting YES, but no speaking :)

See you later, a l i g a t o r : )

typical, Colombian(fatty)meal

school, physical education

Bogota, from the left: Sandra, me, Sergio in museo del oro. amazing museum!

me, in "Candelaria" and main, the most famous place in Bogota

Monseratte. it is a church, very important and well know

RETIROS! and all my friends

retiros, and "funeral" -playing with our emotions

retiros, with  my friend David

my first family, aiport, cucuta.07.08.2013

Me in pyjama(sorry) and my second house

first month, August 2011

Hello everybody,
this is such a pleasure for me to share with all my memories with you all. Polish people can read everything from first impression, because I started writting this blog almost 2 years ago but now I would like to introduce everything without fresh emotions. From the beginning I underline that everything what I will write here is mine, my expressions, emotions, feelings. I do not judge Colombia, nor Poland. I dont want anybody to feel uncomfortable, if any of my impressions will be different.

Starting with the basic question. WHY COLOMBIA? well, honestly it wasnt my first choice. I always wanted to go to USA, spend one year of american dream, speak english fluency as my mother tongue and become a cheerleader. But.. as life is going on, everybody knows that sometimes you get something totally different than you suspected. and I am the person, who became the happiest one, just because ... knowing Shakira? sounds funny, but I guess that is the answer... BECAUSE SHAKIRA COMES FROM COLOMBIA. but I am explaining what exactly was going on. When I found out that Rotary 2230 didnt accept me to USA then I started to panic. It was my dream, which never will come true. Suddenly, I got another 5 offers :) Germany, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Indonesia. And what is worth to add, I had only 2 hours to make up my mind where I want to spend my year abroad. Shakira was on the top, with her song " rabiosa" ... I thought, WHY NOT COLOMBIA, I WILL MEET SHAKIRA. !!!!
and I went there, spent the most beautiful year of my life. People, which I've met are not only friends, but some of them became my family. I can even say that they helped me to grow up, somehow.

SO I GOT THERE !!!!! to Colombia. The country which is surrounded by rumors about drugs.  Before landing, when the plane was above the city I thought " you have one year  for having fun, know the culture and to make friendship forever" that was the only one what I was thinking about from the first step in Cucuta- Norte de Santander. It was like 50 people around me. 49 non english speaker, the only one person, Mardi from Namibia could talk with me. ( did i mention that i went to Colombia without knowing a word in spanish???? ) I met my first host family, I call them now grandmother and grandfather.
NOTE:  First family are always the most important. why? because they will say everybody who you are. its very important to understand, that exchange year ( lets say in South America) its not partying year. if you wanna party, then make a gap year and go to Ibiza. Exchange Year, its time in your life for grow up and after one year know what you want to achieve, its important to understand familiar values and to know who you really are.

first moments with my host family were really hard. I was homesick, as crazy. Almost nobody could speak english, during my period in school i was praying for having english and at least talk with teacher. it was really hard. going to LEDC, without knowing a language, without anyone. but who can do it better than you will do ???? thats my motto after my year there.

by the end of august another 10 exchange students came to Cucuta, so I didnt feel alone, but it didnt change the fact that i could come back home. I was closed home almost all the time, of course now i understand why my host parents didnt allow me to go out, but by that time i didnt. everything was about security, NATALIA IT IS NOT SAVE. i heard that thousand times. lets say, i spend almost one month on facebook/skype. and then came september, and my first trip to the capital of Colombia- BOGOTA. I will tell you everything about September in my next post. :)

What is important for you to know its something about ROTARY.
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubslocated all over the world. It is a secular organization open to all persons regardless of race, color, creed or political preference. There are more than 32,000 clubs and over 1.2 million members world-wide. The members of Rotary Clubs are known as Rotarians. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Members usually meet weekly for breakfast, lunch or dinner, which is a social event as well as an opportunity to organize work on their service goals.

Rotary's best-known motto is "Service above Self", and its secondary motto is "They profit most who serve best."

The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

1. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
2. High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
3. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;
4. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

This objective is further set against the "Rotarian four-way test", used to see if a planned action is compatible with the Rotarian spirit. The test was developed by Rotarian and entrepreneur Herbert J. Taylor during the Great Depression as a set of guidelines for restoring faltering businesses and was adopted as the standard of ethics by Rotary in 1942. It is still seen as a standard for ethics in business management:

* Is it the truth?
* Is it fair to all concerned?
* Will it build good will and better friendships?
* Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The programs of Rotary are so diverse as to all but defy categorization.

In addition, there are the programs of The Rotary Foundation, which include educational, humanitarian and fellowship and vocational exchanges.

Some of Rotary's most visible programs include Rotary Youth Exchange, a student exchange program for students in secondary education, and the Rotary Foundation's oldest program, Ambassadorial Scholarships. 

Lotnisko Warszawa-6.08.2011

Bogota-Cucuta 6.08.2011

Cucuta-everywhere in Colombia 2012/2012/20...

From today I decided to continue this blog in English. Not because I want to improve something but for (future) exchange students from all over the world. Another reason is my friends and family in Colombia. Despide of not having lot freetime i would like to describe everything in english, for them to Understand.

As some of you could notice, this blog is about my life in Colombia, which still lasts. Maybe not for the presence but in my mind. 

Everything has started on 6august2011 when I was a the Warsaw Chopin airport saying goodbye to my parents. With thus date my life had changed Like totally ..WHOLE life. I know I was describing my year in Colombia for last 2 years but now I will start with English. I meet too many people around who are not polish and who really want to know something about Colombia. There you are !! You are most than welcome to read all this knowledge I would like to give you. Because Colombia is passion, passion for the love. <br>

According to my memories, I would like to say to everybody who was presented during my time in Colombia H U G E THANK YOU. People are amazing, they really are. Beginning with my family, friends, further friends, people who were accompanying me... To everyone. Because YOU made me love Colombia, each of you.  By the end or maybe I should mention this in the beginning ... I would like to say how grateful I am for my parents .. If you are reading this now, I can say I LOVE YOU, without you I couldn't have this opportunity to be there and fall in love with everybody there, make new friendships, and having new family and o become the most happy person in the world. <br>

So, I will go with everything from the beginning, in English , with my deeply memories. 

So if you're planning to be next exchange student, then you should save this address and read it particulary. I will give you advices how to become good host kid, how to make new friendships  and what's the most important during all your year abroad, HOW TO NOT LOOSE TIME ON YOUR EXCHANGE YEAR.  How do I know? I survived everything, from the most boring family party to the most crazy MY goodbye party, which was recorded by at least 600 people.  <br> 

Ps sorry for my English, it's not my mother tongue <br>

Hasty luego!!! <br>

 Natalia Skotnicka ( la Poloca) 

newsy, marzec

witajcie ! 

Mam nadzieje, ze pomimo mojej dlugiej nieobecnosci na tym blogu , nie przestaliscie go dalej sledzic :)  nie pisalam dlugo, ponad dwa miesiace poniewaz zbieralam mysli, a oprocz tego musialam tez zyc codziennoscia co sie rowna szkola. uwierzcie mi, ze bedac 14 godzin poza domem, jedyna czynnoscia jaka wykonuje po powrocie jest robienie jakiejs obiadokolakcji i sen ( jak oczywiscie mi na to szkola pozwoli)
a co z Kolumbia? ostanio bardzo duzo o tym mysle. mysle o tym i egzekwuje po malu moje wszystkie znajomosci tam. jestem osoba sentymentalna i zdarza sie ze czasem nawet caly dzien mysle o jednej osobie, ktora nie odgrywala najwiekszej roli podczas mojej wymiany. Ostatnio zaczelam myslec o mojej pierwszej szkole LA SALLE i mianowicie o naszych rekolekcjach tam tzw" RETIROS". dla niewtajemniczonych powiem, ze jest to "oboz przetrwania psychicznego" mowie doslownie. codzennie skupiamy sie na czyms innym. jednego dnia same "gorzkie" sprawy z zycia, drugiego" bolesne" a trzeciego"same radosne". nie bede wam teraz opisywac tego wszystkiego, bo mozecie to wyczytac rolujac myszka w dol, ale takie wyjazdy, a raczej terapie naprawde ucza i daja mnostwo do myslenia. kazdy dzien byl cudownym doswiadczeniem. ostatniego, slodkiego dnia, po wielkich rozterkach i lzach kazdy dostawal list od rodzicow ze zdjeciami, pluszakami... widzialam jak wszyscy placza i sa szczesliwi otrzymujac cieple slowa od rodzicow. najlepsza niespodzianka bylo to,ze nawet i JA dostalam taki list od moich rodzicow. szkola skontaktowala sie  z moimi rodzicami mailowo wiec uczestniczylam w takich zajeciach w 100%.
boje sie,zeby o tym nie zapomniec, aczkolwiek to wydaje sie niemozliwe gdyz nie ma dnia aby w mojej glowie nie bylo Kolumbii. Zastanawialam sie bardzo powaznie nad napisaniem ksiazki na temat zycia wymienca z rotary. musze to dokladnie przemyslec, bo to zajeloby mi dlugo czasu, a nie wiem czy moge sobie na to pozwolic piszac moj extended essay z biologii- tutaj pozrawiam wszystkich uczniow IB :)

wiecie za czym najbardziej tesknie? za moimi dziadkami. wbrew pozorom beztroskie zycie nad basenami, w podrozy i w clubach jest bardzo fajne i naprawde kazdemu zycze takiej wymiany jaka ja mialam, ale jak tylko w glowie pojawi mi sie slowo Kolumbia... przychodza mi na mysl dziadkowie, moj brat, ogolnie moja rodzina, z ktora moze nie spedzalam tyle czasu ile powinnam, ale sa to naprawde cudowni ludzie.
nie wiem jak to wyjdzie w wakacje, czy bede mogla ich odwiedzic czy nie. chce czy nie chce, przez miesiac bede musiala pracowac w hotelu, aby miec co wlozyc do CV, jednak w tym momencie przyszlosc jest najwazniejsza.. przyjedzie tez moja mala Kolumbia a mianowicie slawny Chiqui, Daniela z mama, nasza mama :))) myslalam aby znowu pojechac  na swieta w grudniu do Kolumbii, albo teraz w wakacje.. wszystko okaze sie pewnie w tym miesiacu to was od razu poinformuje. <br>
wczoraj obchodzilismy wszyscy DZIEN KOBIET, swieto te nie rozni sie niczym specjalnym od tego, jak obchodzimy je w Polsce. Moze tylko jest to swieto bardziej "cieple" ( nie mowie o temperaturze, tylko o relacjach mezczyzna-kobieta, syn-matka, maz-zona itp) kwiatki, czekoladki- to chyba glowne prezenty jakie dostac mozna na to swieto. obchodzi sie je bardzo sympatycznie, czesto konczac w restauracji z cala rodzina na uroczystej kolacji :)
kolejnym Kolumbijskim newsem jest smierc Wenezuelskiego prezydenta HUGO CHAVEZ, ktory zmarl 3 dni temu. mozna powiedziec, ze jest to "radosc" dla Kolumbijczykow, ktorzy jako narod nie byli dobrze traktowani w Wenezueli ( z roznych przyczyn, o ktorych nie bede pisac) kazdy mial swoje powody i zawsze byl szukany chociaz najmniejszy pretekst aby dostac łapówkę, zamknąć Kolumbijczyka w więzieniu czy w jakis inny sposób wymierzyć karę .. a co na to Wenezuela? płacz, smutek, żaloba.. aczkolwiek to sie objawia tylko w "nizszych warstwach spolecznych". Chavez byl dosc specyficznym prezydentem, aczkolwiek bardzo dobrym dla biednych, dlatego go wszyscy kochali. potrafil bogatemu odebrac hotel na wyspie ISLA DE MARGARITA i przekazac go biednym, aby zarzadzali, Nie musze chyba mowic co zostalo z tego hotelu...
Osobiscie podzielam rozumowanie Kolumbijczyków a nawet popieram. Jestem bardzo ciekawa, kto zostanie przyszlym prezydentem Wenezueli.
A teraz juz wszyscy wyczekuja LA SEMANA SANTA, czyli dla nas Wielkanoc. jest to przewaznie tydzien-do 10dni wolnego, kiedy Kolumbijczycy wyjezdzaja wraz z rodzinami na wakacje.

kolejne newsy juz w krotce !!!!

Chcialabym takze zaprosic wszystkie chetne osoby na prywatne lekcje jezyka Hiszpańskiego. Udzielam lekcji w Warszawie oraz w Olsztynie. osoby chetne, prosze o napisanie maila na adres : nskotnicka@wp.pl 

do uslyszenia !!!

DEC/ENERO

FELIZ ANO NUEVO PARA TOOOOOODOS !!!!!!!!!!!

czyli Szczesliwego Nowego Roku dla wszystkich ! Mam nadzieje, ze wasze swieta byly tak samo cieple i rodzinne jak moje. mowiac o cieplu, nie mowie doslownie gdyz mialam 42 stopnie tego dnia. topilam sie chodzac po ulicy. Nie przywyklam jeszcze do swiat w Kolumbii i wciaz mimo wszystko preferuje celebrowanie ich w Polsce z pierogami, jednakze mialam tam tyle osob wookolo ze nie brakowalo mi tego dnia rodzicow ani rodzenstwa :)
jak czesc z was wie, od 11 grudnia zaczelam moja przygode z Kolumbia na nowo. juz nie jako wymieniec, osoba podlegajaca zasadom i innym osobom tylko juz jako... mmm osoba najbardziej na swiecie zakochana w Kolumbii. Opowiadac moge wam godzinami o wszystkich i wszystkim co mnie spotkalo, lecz najbardziej chcialabym sie skupic na kolumbijskim slubie, bo jest to najnowsze doswiadczenie ktore moglam tam przezyc
Slub w Kolumbii nie rozni czy niczym niz Polski, moze oprocz atmosfery i muzyki. Kolumbia jak i Polsa to kraj katolicki. Slub zaczal sie msza swieta a skonczyl wielkimi tancami przez dwa dni, z przerwa na 5-6godzin snu. przynajmniej dla mnie, bo inni kontynuowali celebrowanie od godziny 18stej do 21 nastepnego dnia. siostra postarala sie o wszystko. kazda dekoracja byla sprowadzona z Bogoty, z czego mozna wywnioskowac ze wszystko bylo na najwyzszym poziomie ( slub byl w Cucucie, w moim domu) goscie - 270 osob w kazdym wieku. po mszy swietej jak dotarlismy do domu zasiadalismy przy stole. kazdy mial wyznaczone miejsce. podeszlam do kelnera i powiedzialam moje imie i nazwisko. zdenerwowalam sie poniewaz nie bylo go na liscie. podeszlam do cioci i zapytalam czemu mnie nie na liscie.. hahahah podeszla jenny i zapytala kelnera pod moje pseudo POLOCA.. oczywiscie ze bylam. sytuacja byla bardzo smieszna, do dzisiaj jest ona opublikowywana na facebooku i opowiadana wszystkim dookola jak to ja histerycznie sie zdenerwowalam ze nie ma mnie pod moim imieniem i nazwiskiem :) no coz.. nie przyszlo mi do glowy ze nawet na liscie bylam POLOCA loca :) wielkie truskawki w czekoladzie oblane szampanem, owoce morza, wino, salatki, salsa i 42 stopnie. czy mozna chciec czegos wiecej?
moje 18stke urodziny rowniez obchodzilam w Kolumbii, w Bogocie w znanej restayracji ANDRES DC. jest to typowa kolumbijska restauracja ze stekami, muzyka kolumbijska.. nie znajdziecie nawet wolnego centymetra na suficie!!!! WSZYSTKO jest poobwieszane roznymi pierdolkami. serduszka, gwiazdki, aniolki, samochodziki, flagi, breloczki WSZYSTKO jest na scianach !!!!!!! bawilam sie cala noc wraz z moimi przyjaciolmi.


grudzien miesiac tancow i zabaw. dlatego nie zabraklo BAILE DE LOCOS. opisywalam juz wam je rok temu, jest to zabawa dla wszystkich czlonkow klubu sportowego w cucucie. zostal zaproszony najlepszy zespol salsy i merengue z Kolumbii. zabawa trwala do 8smej rano. jak tradycja mowi, po zabawie trzeba zjesc sniadanie czyli.. PUNTO ZERO i zupa CALDO z jajkiem. to jest to co kocham i moglabym pic/jesc codziennie. nastepnie byly swieta i sylwester. JA- LOCA udalo mi sie zmienic moje bilety lotnicze aby zostac jeden dzien dluzej w Cucucie. przyjaznie, ktore dopielam w grudniu byly warte wszystkiego. Kocham tam przebywac, naprawde jestem najszczesliwsza osoba na Ziemii, Kiedy jestem w Kolumbii.

a co teraz ?? szkola szkola szkola szkola. no i planowanie nastepnego tripu do Kolumbii w wakacje. oprocz bycia tam i nie robienia nic, w tym roku chcialabym to zmienic. poniewaz ukonczylam 18lat moge rozpoczac tam wakacyjna prace. juz dzisiaj pisze do ambasady i innych miejsc czy bylaby taka mozliwosc i na jaki czas. wakacyjna praca ? sounds good, w Kolumbii? sounds PERFECT. w koncu bede mogla zobaczyc jak to jest zyc naprawde tam.


za tydzien opowiem wam o KARNAWALE, jako ze to jest teraz bardzo goracy temat w Kolumbii !!!!!!!!!!!!!! los quiero,
la poloca loca