My life in Colombia sometimes feels like a mirror image of my life in the Czech Republic — only turned in a different direction. It is as if everything I know from home has been given new colours, louder sounds, and more intense emotions here. When I look back, I realise just how much this exchange year has changed me. Whether it is because I now speak Spanish fluently, or because my school works completely differently from the one in the Czech Republic. One thing I do know for certain: I am enjoying it enormously.

When I arrived in Colombia, I was full of expectations as well as worries. A new country, a new language, new people. But now Spanish is no longer an obstacle — it has become part of me. I think in it, I laugh in it, and sometimes I even dream in it. The language has opened doors for me to people, their stories, and the culture. Thanks to that, I have been able to discover the real Colombia — not the one from textbooks or stereotypes, but the everyday, vibrant, and warm-hearted one.