From Ajmer to Bogotá

Buenos Dias. This was probably the first thing that I learnt in the language which was going to be the means of my communication for the next one month. The language was Spanish and the term meant ‘Good morning’. Manvardhan Singh and I went to Bogotá, Colombia to a school named Colegio Anglo Colombiano. This was the first time that Mayo College had an exchange with a Latin American school. Before going to Colombia, our principal Mr Pramod Sharma told us that we would find only four things in Colombia — Drugs, Violence, Coffee and Girls!

The thirty-five hour journey was very tiring. Going to another part of the world and a 100% Spanish speaking country was of course, a different experience. The school had an International Board and we were sent to Class 9, but gradually they understood our Indian standard of education and shifted us to Class 11 which was a great relief for us. We also had the company of another exchange student, Tasmin, from Alice Springs, Australia.

The school was a day-boarding British school with students from different parts of the world. There was a proper dress code in the school. The ratio was approximately 1:2, but a matter of luck in my Maths class there were 16 girls and 2 boys which made it 1:8! The system was very flexible as we had to take 3 higher levels and 4 standard levels, which means if you are weak in Maths you could choose Maths as your standard level with basic as your option. I opted for Economics, English and Maths as my higher levels and Geography, Fine Arts and Theory of Knowledge as my standard levels.

Bogotá being a hilly region, the weather of was very unpredictable. Every morning we had to get up at 5.00 a.m. because the bus would arrive at sharp 6.00. Imagine having breakfast at 5:35 a.m. in the morning! School would start at 7.00 a.m. We had three lessons then a break, then another three lessons followed by lunch and finally the last lesson. Unlike in India, school worked from Monday to Friday. Since everybody was taught English in the school, there was not much of a communication problem.

We had to give presentation on India and Mayo College. People over there had a very bad image about India as they thought India was what they saw in Slumdog Millionaire, thanks to Danny Boyle. We had four presentations of ninety minutes each with different groups and everyday three 20-minute sessions with the junior classes.

We cooked Indian food in the school cafeteria for staff members as Miss Sarah, the vice rector and the Round Square coordinator of the school, had requested us to do so. In Bogotá there is a system that whenever there is a water problem or no water in the school, students are sent home. This happened once while we were there, too. Whenever there was a free lesson we went to the Anglo Library, something that is often seen in Mayo. A musical play “Beauty and the Beast” put up by the Anglo Drama Club was a pleasure to watch. We had a unique farewell breakfast for the outgoing Class 12 students. The dress code was very “interesting”. All the boys wore skirts and the girls wore trousers, as it was the tradition!

Cathedral de Sal

Every weekend we were taken to some place or the other. The first weekend I was taken to Cathedral De Sal, set inside a mountain. It was cave-like and was covered with natural salt all around. Manvardhan was taken to Monseratte which was again a cathedral on top of a mountain where his host brother Phelepe was doing his second profession. From here one could get the best view of Bogotá city.

My host brother Alejandro Rueda, as he had a private sailboat, took me for sailing and water skiing. We were taken to the old part of the country which was called Downtown where we saw the Gold Museum among other places.

We visited the town of Villa De Levya, a typical Spanish colonial town. We saw the typical orchestra players, story-tellers and magicians in the square which was the centre of the town.

All in all it was a great learning experience, enabling both of us to broaden our perspectives and vision of life.