U de C

Through my Fulbright grant I worked within El Programa de Lenguas Extranjeras at La Universidad de Cartagena, U de C, and it was such a wonderful experience. The University of Cartagena is the oldest and most prestigious public university on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with notable alumni such as Colombian president Rafael Núñez and Colombian writer and Nobel Prize recipient Gabriel García Márquez. The students and faculty that I worked with there were super kind, inspiring, driven, and the experiences I had at the university were some of the most beautiful and enriching of those I had in Cartagena.

Project done by some of my first semester students comparing French and US culture

Every single day I was amazed by and super proud of my students. Coming from the States where foreign language education is a requirement for graduation but is often not taken very seriously, it was so amazing to see students developing their language skills with such passion and focus. In the foreign language program at U de C the students study both English and French simultaneously, and this is something that blew my mind. At the beginning of my time in Cartagena I would sometimes feel so exhausted in my process of learning and using Spanish every day, so it was remarkable to witness my students continuously grow in their abilities to switch between 3 languages with such ease.

During my time in Cartagena I worked at campus San Pablo, one of U de C’s five campuses, which was located adjacent to the health sciences campus. The medical, dental, nursing, and pharmacy schools were housed at that campus, the university hospital was also next to our campus, and after expressing the irony of me being so close to the health campus (with my background of Biology, chemistry, and Pre-Medicine studies), I soon found out that San Pablo actually used to be a psychiatric hospital. This helped explain the architecture and aesthetic of the university, with its breezy indoor/outdoor corridors, water fountains, and stark-white walls contrasted by mango and palm trees along with many other flowers and plants.

The campus was beautiful, and from the classrooms you could see both mangos and iguanas in the trees! There were also a handful of cute dogs that lived on campus that everyone took part in caring for, offering them treats and leftovers from lunches. Other things that I enjoyed about the campus were the breeze that would come through the hallways, the mototaxi station conveniently located just outside the gates of our campus, the deditos de queso sold in our campus’ cafeteria, and all the phenomenal students, professors, and staff of course.

This cute dog has been living on campus for years. He’s blind and everyone takes care of him <3

An Iguana!

At the University I played a couple different roles; tutor, co-teacher, voice actress for online courses, dance club instructor, MC and speaker for different events, and throughout it all I learned just as much from my students as they learned from me. My students and co-workers taught me about Spanish and Costeñol culture as I taught English and shared about my culture and experiences as a Caribbean-American Black woman in the United States. Every week my students were recommending new foods to try, music to listen to, places to go, cultural activities to partake in, and they taught me so much Costeñol. It really was a really beautiful cultural exchange. They were patient with me, encouraged me, and congratulated me on my growth as I did theirs. I felt such love and kindness from the foreign language department that I will never forget, and it was sad to say goodbye! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share time and space with such wonderful people, and I know that the best is yet to come for the students and the program!

Introducing myself to the new cohort of students at our orientation

The dark-green-leaved tree behind the palm tree is a HUGE mango tree

DISCLAIMER: This site (octaviachristopher.com) is not an official Fulbright Program site. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State or any of its partner organizations.

Costeñol 102

Cook with me!