Welcome to CoLoMbiA!

I had the opportunity to spend eleven days in Colombia during June. I was supposed to go down for a wedding, however the wedding was called off. So instead I got to backpack around the country with two of my good friends, Scarlett and Scott, who are also former grad school classmates of mine. We had a really great time and having a Colombian with us (Scarlett), we were really able to experience the best of the country!

As Scott and I sat in the airport in SLC, we kept saying, "who goes to Colombia!?!?" Despite our excitement, we were a bit nervous to venture into a country that is known as the kidnapping capital of the world and genius here booked Scarlett's ticket for the wrong day! Up until a few days before we left, I thought we were all on the same flight. Unfortunately, I got dates mixed up and booked Scarlett for the day after us. Arriving in the country a full 24 hours before the one that knew everything about what we were doing, made both me and Scott a tad bit uneasy.

After arriving in Bogota and snagging a cab into the city, our uneasiness quickly came to rest. It was late...but our cab driver was AWESOME and made us feel at ease about being there. His Spanish was really easy to understand, but I was grateful to have Scott, who is fluent.

We got to our hostel, which might I add, was $5/night (which Scarlett's dad had more than enough to say about) and spectacular! We literally did not hear the end of the $5/night though from ANY of her family the rest of our trip! In fact, when we came back to Bogota, they wouldn't let us stay in that same hostel. We of course were welcome to stay with them, but Scarlett really wanted to experience the different side of Colombia that she doesn't regularly get to while she is there, so she insisted we not stay with them and we stay at the cheap place we'd found. Her family down there are all very well-to-do and treated us wonderfully. We eventually decided to stay with them that last night (something that was finally decided into the wee hours of the night haha)! I must note that Colombians are probably the most AMAZING hosts!! At the drop of a hat, they have everything PERFECT for their unexpected guests. We wined and dined on their tab that night, had an amazing breakfast the next morning, a ride to the airport...and the the best part? Scarlett's aunt is a Goddess! She gave me some cream for my sun spots/melasma, and they are gone! Wow. What an amazing country, amazing people, and above all amazing friend that I was able to share the experience with!

And of course...my pics from Bogota (which I do believe is my new favorite city), with more Colombia photos to come in the next few posts!










BOTERO MUSEUM - How can you not LOVE the work of Botero?!? Isn't it great?? Yes, he is an abstract artist that uses all obese people in his work.



Can you imagine having her hang in your dining room!?!

Monserrate rises to 3,152 metres (10,341 ft) above the sea level, where there is a church (built in the 17th century) with a shrine, devoted to "El Señor Caído" (Fallen Lord). The hill is a pilgrim destination, as well as a tourist attraction. In addition to the church, the summit contains a restaurant and many smaller tourist facilities. Above all, it gave us a beautiful view of Bogota!

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS SCARLETT!

Scarlett's birthday was the day after she got into Bogota, so Scott and I had a little surprise birthday party waiting for her at the hotel after we picked her up from the airport. The best part of the gift we got her...the bracelet that said "Francy" on it. We abused her taxi driver's services before she arrived and enjoyed every time he called her Francee, so we thought the bracelet to be appropriate.

Slowly, updating!

I know it's been 2, maybe even close to 3 months since I was in DC, but I thought I'd still post some of the pictures from my last week or two out there. I had such a great time living there and hope I'll be back before I know it (cause i'm really missing it)...or wherever it is that my next "career" job will take me! haha
And as for those of you that are wondering where I am these days and how long i'll be wherever I am at...her is the latest (since i'm ever so slow at my postings on here): I am in Utah right now, just staying with my parents and friends. It's been nice to catch up with a few friends, but I have yet to actually be in Utah too much yet in the last 7 or 8 months. I have been doing a lot of traveling! I moved my stuff back to Utah and turned around 3 days later and headed to Colombia for a couple weeks, got back for a week, headed to Europe for three and now I am back and will be here till I find a new job. If anyone wants to sponsor any more trips for me, I'd be happy to take that! Or just sponsorship for my life/bills right now since I don't qualify for unemployment...just a poor post-graduated...person? I'm not even student status anymore :(

HERE'S WHAT'S TO COME ON MY BLOG...PICTURES FROM TRIPS!


COLOMBIA (above)...
and of course, some EUROPEAN lovin'!!



CARE CONFERENCE
I was able to attend the CARE conference and hear some of the most remarkable people speak! I really admire people that do such great work in this world, especially for women/girls and the work that goes into empowerment of women and girls in developing countries! I LOVE CARE's work and hope that one day I can work with them (yup, it's my end career goal...I'll be satisfied once I can say I work with CARE).

Yes, the pictures below are of exactly who you think! Yes, I DID indeed meet Richard Gere in person and YES, he is just as sexy in person as he is on screen and in the magazines! And he's nice too! I really admire the work he does in this world. As most people don't know, Richard Gere is a full time philanthropist and has his own organization (http://www.thetibetcenter.org/gere.html). Anyway, he won CARE's award for person of the year...or something to that effect, because of the philanthropy work he is involved in.



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Hands down, the most beautiful building I've set foot in! At least in the States and it definitely competes with all the beautiful building in Europe too! I could not believe how beautiful it is!! I absolutely LOVED it!!





One of my last days in DC (at least for now), I had my friend Hilary set up a little somethin'-somethin' for me :) She got me my own personal tour of the White House (haha, okay it's not the White House, I realize this...but for some reason I ALWAYS call the Capitol building the White House! It's really weird...everytime though!) It was really interesting though to get the history of it. I should go do this tour whenever my pride in America begins to lack! It was so great and really made me want to dive into my history books!






A visit from Michelle! I worked with Michelle at the hospital awhile ago, and she just finished her Nurse Practitioner program through GWU, so she was out for graduation. We got together with Hailey (another nurse we worked with at LDS Hospital) and all went to dinner and sat, chatting at Starbucks the rest of the night. It was so great to see these lovely ladies!!


I love this cemetery by my old townhouse! It's pretty big, so I used to go running around the windy roads of it. It's so old and has got some of the coolest headstones! Not going to lie though, kinda would get creeped out walking by it late at night on my way home from the metro!



This was at the National Botanical Gardens...thought it was kinda cool :)

My wrap-up with PAHO

Bacon Flu, I HATE YOU! That is right. This exactly how we, at PAHO, felt when the Swine Flu first broke out. Meetings around the clock (literally...when you are coordinating between Atlanta, DC, Geneva and Mexico...had to be on multiple times) and work 7-days-a-week! However, because of this beautiful H1N1 Flu outbreak, I had a job following my internship with the Pan American Health Organization. Never thought I would have an official contract with the U.N.! It's kinda one of those dreams that sits in the back of your mind and doesn't seem like reality, even when it is. I worked with such a incredible team of people during my internship and while I was on a short-term contract.
I just wanted to post a few pictures of our team during that time...we were all under incredible amounts of stress, little sleep, and long hours, but still functioned amazingly and had a great time along the way! I am no longer with the team, since I was only on a short-term contract, however, I am sure they are working just as hard...just missing me! :)

Pretty sweet view from my old office window...view of all the planes flying in plus the Pentagon!


This was at a bday party we had during lunch for a few of the team members


Second day into the outbreak...we got a visit from the one and only...Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of the W.H.O!! I feel very lucky to have gotten to meet such a neat, sassy woman and work with her for the day!



LONG, hot weekends...love the picture of my boss (kinda portrays all the insanity that was going on!)



More and more meetings, including informing the rest of PAHO of the work going on in the EOC (Emergency Operation Center)


Awkward posed photo for the PAHO website :)


My last day, my crew threw me a goodbye party...a surprise goodbye party. They are so fantastic!


And of course...one last weekend with some of the PAHO crew Salsa dancing at Citron!



After all the goodbyes at the office were all said and done...we had the informal, fun party! Working with a bunch of foreigners, means good food and great parties! My favorite Spaniard that I worked with threw me a goodbye party, aka 'Tapas Night", inviting everyone from work and all the Spanish people he knew in DC! It was a good time till everyone from work left and I was left listening to Spanish being spoken a million miles an hour...which i tried really hard, but failed to keep up with on the conversation! Nonetheless, I had a fantastic time!

Pretty EXCITED about this one!