My Year in Colombia in 100 Photos

I have discovered it's really helpful for me (and quite fun too) to go through my photos in any particular year and choose a sort of 'best of' - the photos that, for me, capture the moments, places and people that made that experience what it was. My time in Colombia has been truly unforgettable, so I wanted to commemorate it with this collection - obviously, not absolutely everything is on there, but I've tried to show the essence of life on the Colombo-Caribbean coast, and also the great variety of cultures and climates that this great country has to offer. As the motto of Colombia Tourism goes, 'el riesgo es que te quieras quedar' - the risk is that you'll want to stay.

1. Arrival at Bogotá - grey skies welcome me to the Colombian capital.

Barranquilla: A Local's Guide

This is a guest blog, written by one of my Colombian students. I was so impressed by her homework, I decided it deserved a spot on the page. This way, you can hear about Barranquilla from a native. It was also Barranquilla's 202nd birthday on Tuesday, so here's to the sandy city!

View from the north of the city at dawn

To the end of the earth: Bocas de Ceniza

Barranquilla is a little-known tourist city. In fact, in the Lonely Planet guide to South America it states that 'there's little to detain the traveller here'. While this may be partly true - it is a mainly industrial city - there are still hidden delights to be found for those who look hard enough. And one of these is the ride out to where the Magdalena River meets with the Atlantic Ocean: Bocas de Ceniza.

Ocean to the left, river to the right:
the contrasting colours of Bocas de Ceniza

Medellín: Land of the Paisas

Medellín, the land of eternal spring

Another week, another city - this time, the sophisticated heights of Medellín. After the intense 30 degree heat of the Caribbean coast, the breezy 20 of this metropolis left me feeling a tad chilly (so not British, I know), but with a freshness that was oh-so-welcome - 80% humidity can get a bit much at times! Even aside from the weather, it felt like we were in another world: gone was the relaxed accent of the coast, gone the endless bargaining for taxi fares, gone the crazy dash across the road and praying you don't get run over (well, almost). In its place, the lilting, sing-song voice of the paisas (local residents); a taxi meter; and actual pedestrian crossings! The existence of a metro system was just the icing on the cake.

10 Things to do in Nottingham

Friends celebrating in Nottingham's Old Market Square

Nottingham no more (these are a few of my favourite things)

After a long period of absence (turns out final year is quite time consuming, who knew?), I thought I would warm up my blog muscles again by dedicating a post to my beloved city of Nottingham! Having now lived three years of my life in this midland metropolis, with this time now sadly coming to an end, I would like to share my knowledge of its quirks and quaintnesses to all who are willing to explore it. Anyone who lives in Nottingham, plans on going, or will mistakenly end up there by boarding the wrong train from London St Pancras, this is for you:

Little Highlights

I was about to start this post by saying that nothing much had happened this week, then I looked back over my diary for the past seven days and discovered that there had been some things going on, after all. Life still continues on much the same vein - (very) quiet weekdays, more to do at the weekends - but these little highlights definitely made things a little bit sunnier.

Firstly (in order of importance, anyway), my sister got accepted into Uni! And to her first choice, nonetheless - Manchester, the London of the North (or so they say). This made me very happy, and I'm very much looking forward to visiting her next year. Congrats, Amy! You deserved it.

Secondly, I managed to go and visit my flatmate from last summer, when I was working at Cap Esterel. As far as unexpected international meet-ups go, this one was quite random - not least for her, seeing me suddenly pop up in her home town and demand a tour! It was good, though. It also gave me a great chance to see some different parts of the city, having more or less only been witness to the train station (five times!!) and the airport, on my way to other locations further afield. Vieux Lyon is beautiful.

On that note, so is Fourvière - the location of this rather stunning photo (if I do say so myself). We went there on Friday, as Isabelle - the mother of the family - had a day off, and decided to aid me in my quest to see more than just the transport hubs of Lyon. We walked up a massive hill to the old church, through the 'Parc des Hauteurs' (Park of the Heights, how apt), and then drove down to the Roman Amphitheatre to test out the acoustics - not as good as they were when it was constructed, I fear.

So, yes. A rather pleasant little collection of sunbeams, I feel. Add to that the fact that I just booked flights to go to a wedding in Madrid in September (woopee!), and things are looking fairly radiant. Fabuleux.