Adventure in South America
Nick Tratz visits the land of coffee, salsa and shopping malls
What were you doing during spring break? Relaxing? Watching movies, reading novels or sleeping in? While most students were doing their best to decompress and taking a much-needed break from studies, Spanish instructor Nick Tratz was in the South American country of Colombia after being invited to give a series of lectures at the University where his friend and former schoolmate Sandra Mina teaches.
It took approximately 16 hours of flight time to reach the city of Cali, the second-most populous city in Colombia
“The trip went very well. I had a great time with my friend Sandra who invited me down there to do a presentation in her English class.” Tratz said.
Tratz gave his presentation at the Universidad Pontificia Javeriana where Mina teaches English. He also had ample opportunities to practice and hone his knowledge of the Spanish language.
“I did a presentation on the education system in the U.S.,” Tratz said. “I compared it with the Colombian system. It was very interactive with her students asking me questions about the system here.”
The trip wasn’t all business. Tratz was also able to enjoy many different aspects of the city and what it had to offer.
“I got to meet a lot of her friends who are also professors and instructors. We spent a lot of time going out on the town. We went to the zoo and saw a lot of the wildlife from Colombia,” Tratz said. “The shopping malls are a big deal down there. They’re more secure than shopping malls here. It’s a relatively safe place for them to go to get away from crime.”
Colombia is not like the United States in many ways. The first issue on many travelers’ minds is crime. There was a time when Colombia was an extremely dangerous place, and western tourists were advised against traveling there. These days, however, the country is reasonably safe, although there are still areas where it would be ill-advised to journey.
“Crime is still an important issue for them. I think there’s still a fairly high level of insecurity. I didn’t personally feel any threats while I was there. There are a few parts of the city that you would never want to go to. The taxi drivers wouldn’t even go there because they’re too afraid to go to it.”
Another major difference between the United States and Colombia is traffic. While vehicular travel in the U.S. is highly regulated and therefore relatively orderly, the same couldn’t be said for traffic in Cali.
“The traffic was crazy. You had people going every which way, nobody paid any attention to the lines or the stop sign.”
Tratz enjoyed learning about the culture of Colombia, enjoying some night life, indulging in some shopping and experiencing the wide diversity of the cuisine. Colombia has a very diverse ethnic population, so he was able to meet people from all walks of life.
“My favorite moments were being able to meet her [Mina’s]friends. They took me around to salsa clubs, took me out to restaurants so I got to experience a lot of the culinary delights. Those were my favorite things, the food and the people I got to meet.”
When Tratz returned, he gave a power point presentation on his trip to his Spanish classes. Criminal Justice student Courtney Evans was impressed.
“I thought it was awesome because it showed how involved he is with Spanish speaking. It shows that no matter what his degrees are he is still looking to better himself in Spanish. He’s somebody you can emulate yourself after when you’re a Spanish student.”
Now that Tratz has experienced what Colombia has to offer, he is eager to return and see other parts of the country.
“I would like to go back. I have a friend in Bogota, and I didn’t get a chance to see him on this trip. I also have a friend in Cartegena, which is on the North Coast. I would like to do a longer trip and see Bogota and Cartegena as well.”
Fellow Spanish instructor Ní Aódagaín also felt Tratz’ trip was good for the school
“I think it’s fantastic,” Ní Aódagaín said, “To be able to go to another culture and interface with other colleagues and to continue to build bi-cultural experiences is a positive for Nick and his students. We don’t have a huge global perspective. There are only positives for his trip.”
