Russia and Colombia: how can an Exchange Program expand our horizons?

By Lavrinovich Anna, 
Russian – Linguist

My experience in Colombia was amazing and I will never forget it. I must say that if people asked me in my future what changed my life, my mindset and my attitude to life, I would say it was Colombia. This project has a direct connection with my profession, so I had a great opportunity to improve my skills in the sphere where I’m supposed to work.

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Because of my work there, students probably got some new ideas about the importance of the English language in the modern world. They got the opportunity to broaden their horizons, to understand that the education is really important for their future and that modern society needs open-minded people which are aware of what humanity is. As for me, it gave me experience to work with children as I hadn’t worked with them before.

The main knowledge I’ve got with Shape Colombia Project is that the family is one of the main value in our life. Working with children I’ve seen many of them that have not good family background: lack of the attention, poverty and even violence, so I did my best to be not only a simple English teacher but to show these kids some good sides of our life.

Colombia is a beautiful and culturally rich country. It was a challenge of course, but I mean that everywhere you go in this world it’s a challenge, because you should change in some way to live in another environment. As cultures are different, mindsets are different, it does mean that you will find something that you can’t accept because you got used to another attitude, but it’s a great life lesson for you to see how you can behave, even if something is strange for you, you should adapt yourself, respect another culture, overcome cultural shock - if you have it - and become a part of something new.

For me, Colombia is the second home now - sweet home. I appreciate Colombian people because they are the happiest people I have ever met. It’s easy to live with them, work with them. They give you such an amazing feeling of happiness. Colombia changed many things in my life, really.

I strongly recommend all the young people not to doubt, but join this amazing project in one of the best places ever. First of all, it’s a challenge for you to go so far away, to break all the stereotypes mass media made about this diverse country. You need to feel it by yourself. The project itself is a great chance to change the world, when you work with children you teach them not only English, it goes beyond a simple language lesson. You teach them different things, you are making them better, give them reasons to think about the world and their future, you teach them to be human and believe me, they give you back a lot.

You can learn many things from your students, because they still know how to be happy and how to dream. You start to think that this life is wonderful. If you decide to join the project, be sure you will find a big and amazing international family from all over the world. It will be unforgettable and this is your history that you create. I still can’t believe it happened to me, but I feel I was here for many reasons. If you want to find yourself, you will do it for sure. On this stage of my life I found myself and I want to say “THANK YOU, COLOMBIA” for showing me what I can be. Really, welcome to Colombia - everyone!