(upbeat music)
- Hola, buenos dias from Bogota, Columbia.
My name is Meghan,
and I will be doing the ITA takeover today, this Wednesday.
First thing's first, we need to make some coffee,
so let's do that.
This is the little coffee shelf I have in my apartment,
and today I'm going to choose my French press,
because I'm tired and I need a lot of coffee.
Okay, I've got my coffee,
and I actually have a class this morning from seven to nine.
I work 100% from home,
so I'm going to head over to my desk and teach.
I'll be back to check in afterwards.
Okay, I finished my first class of the day.
I actually only have one more class
with my company later tonight,
and then one other small conversation class
in the afternoon.
So I have lots of time today to show you around Bogota,
and to answer all of your questions.
So I'm going to leave one of these small boxes here.
You can ask me any question you want about teaching,
about the certification,
about living in Bogota, living in Colombia.
So if you have anything,
go ahead and put it right here in this question box,
and I will answer them as I eat my breakfast this morning.
I also want to do a short introduction.
I forgot to do that this morning,
as I was running to get ready for class.
I'm from Michigan in the US.
I moved to Bogota here in January 2020,
so almost two and a half years ago.
I work part-time with a business English company,
which was able to help me get my work visa.
So I am on that as I stay here in Bogota.
I also work part-time with a conversation platform
called Italki,
and I also have a few private students.
Right now I have two on the side, but that is very flexible.
Sometimes they come and go.
Apart from those three things that I do teaching English,
I'm also studying a master's degree
in education with the University of Michigan State.
I'm going to take you guys with me
to my favorite coffee shop today.
Today's a study day for me.
I have a lot of work to do for finals.
I'm nearing the end of my semester very soon.
So before I do that, I want to give a quick apartment tour.
I do live alone.
This apartment is near downtown, not exactly downtown.
It's 41 square meters.
And I'll give you a quick tour.
Okay, this is what it looks like as we enter,
and then right away we have my kitchen here to the left.
I don't have gas in this apartment.
I only have an electric stove.
It also does not have an oven.
A fun fact about apartments here in Colombia,
if you choose to rent an apartment that is unfurnished,
you need to purchase your own washing machine,
your own microwave, and your own fridge.
So that is something I had to do when I moved
into this apartment.
Then here I have a bar and a dining room table,
my coffee shelves as I showed,
and the small living room area.
This is a very rare view for Bogota.
Normally it's going to be a view of lots of buildings,
and I feel very, very lucky to have a green scenery.
Okay, moving from the living room is the bedroom.
This is a one bedroom apartment.
I have my bed, more plants, a busy road right here.
And this apartment came with a vanity,
which I use as my desk which was nice.
I didn't have to purchase a desk.
And the bathroom.
The bathroom is small, but it's nice and recently remodeled.
And here, I have a very large closet as well.
I will try and get it in the frame here.
And that is my apartment.
(laughing)
- [Meghan] Good girl.
Drop.
Marline?
This is Marla's first time in Plaza de Bolivar.
- Okay, I finally finished my day.
We just got dinner and so I can finally finish
some of the questions that you sent.
So stay tuned.
One of the reasons why I chose ITA for my certification
was all of the resources that it offers.
And that's actually how I applied to
and found my current company that I work for,
was in the resources they give to you after.
Before living in this apartment, I lived with a roommate
in a different apartment and both apartments I found
on a Facebook page called Bogota Short-Term Rentals.
I'm sure many cities have Facebook pages like this,
and I recommend.
Colombia in my opinion is a much more dog-friendly place
than the United States.
Dogs are allowed in restaurants.
They're allowed in a lot of public spaces as you saw today.
And as for restrictions,
only certain breeds are required to wear a muzzle.
For example, pit-bull and a few others on a list.
So, but all dogs are allowed
in all types of public places and spaces.
Here in Bogota, it is not very common
to find people who want to practice English,
or speak with you in English.
Sometimes if you ask, they're willing to switch languages.
However, I do note that in other cities,
for example when I have traveled to Medellin,
a lot more people are willing to speak in English,
and are more open to that type of conversation.
The the other part of that question
was about making friends.
I definitely recommend connecting with locals there.
You can practice your language skills once again,
and it's really hard because sometimes expats leave.
This was a common question I got
especially after posting about translemenu.
Is it safe?
What I will say about Bogota is
it's like any other big city in the US,
at least the ones I've been to.
So what does that mean?
That means situational awareness is very important.
Not showing your expensive belongings on the street,
and following your intuition, how you feel,
and where you are and things like that.
But that being said, don't let something also keep you
from going to a place that you want to visit.
So if you want to go to a place that
maybe has I don't know,
not as great of a reputation as others,
then maybe don't take your cell phone with you.
I do this all the time, so it's a great place.
I love it here.
I've been living here for two and a half years,
as a single woman, so I don't know.
I'm 25.
I arrived here when I was 22.
So take from that what you would like.
This is one of my favorite questions,
and it's the last one I'm going to end on.
What made me choose to live here?
And the people, the people made me want to come.
I have some friends and
I have some friends that I met in university,
who are Columbian and they are just
the most wonderful people,
and really that was why I chose this country.
And since then I've learned so many.
And I'll leave my personal Instagram one more time,
if you're interested in seeing all
of my adventures continue here.
So thank you so much.
(upbeat music)