"Eastern" update

 Since last time, there have been a lot of things going on. Here are som words to sum up the last weeks: girlfriend, studies (including one week of strike at the uni), biking, salsa, swimming, socialising and wedding planning.

The builidings were physically blocked during the strike

Today I will talk about cycling in Medellín. A project that startet up in 2010, now attracts a group of 500 or more cyclists every wednesday night in the Carlos E. Restrepo neighbourhood, where we start on a different route throughout the city every week, were the purpose is to stimulate to the use of the bike instead of other means of transport which contaminate, suchs as cars and motorbikes. Yesterday, wednesday, it was a special night, where we reminded the cyclists who tragically had lost their life in traffic. For every place where anyone had deceased, a white angel with a bicycle was painted on the tarmac.  Unfortuantely I did´nt bring any camera. For more information on this project, visit this webpage. Here are some photos from several excursions (sorry for the poor quality).

Update: here is the article from El Colombiano from the night of the conmemoration (in Spansih): El Colombiano: Ciclistas pintaron angelitos

 

Here are som other pictures of things that I have been doing lately.

A poster on whales and hunting

The Iguana

Iguana 2

Road safety

A Finca

Santo Domingo, Medellín

Santo Domingo church

Uni excursion in Santo Domingo

The "metrocable" for public transport

Medellín seen from Santo Domingo

"Dutch" bakery in Bogotá

Unfortunately a common sight in the city

The police have their own airplanes

The uni - faculty of architecture

New year, new exchange in Medellin

Hi everyone.

Like earlier, this blog will be written in English, for obvious reasons. After my stay in Medellin between 2010 and 2011, I went back to Norway to finish my bachelor degree in arts. Since august 2012 I have been busy with my master´s degree in latin-american studies, and that´s why I´m now back in Medellin for another semester. I have now been here for three weeks, time which I have spent on working, doing paperwork, spending time with the girlfriend and looking for a place to stay. I can tell you that I´m renting a room close to the university, where there are four other men living as well, one of them has a hairdresser business here as well. Now I have my second week at uni, and I´m working on sorting out what I´m gonna study for the next months. It looks like that I´m going to take subjects within history and urban and regional studies. I have signed up for swimming classes (butterfly) and will probably start all over again with salsa classes. I have also been given back my bike which a friend of mine was so kindly to store for me since I studied here for two years ago, so things are working out. It´s usually quite sunny here, with 20-25 degrees celsius, but lately it has been raining quite a lot. When it rains, it really gets wet.... The rain is tropical and is called for "aguacero" in Spanish. The equivalent in English would be "it´s raining cats and dogs". Since last time there have been quite some changes in the city, They have extended the metro system, and there are new buildings popping up everywhere in town. This time there are also more foreigners at the uni. I think we actually are four Norwegians there this semester. At least I will have some people with whom to celebrate the Norwegian national day. Enough said. Pictures will be uploaded when they are taken.