What an experience!

The course itself was brilliant and of such a high standard. Each lecturer brought something new to the conversation, covering a variety of fields such as politics, history, economics, law, geography, sociology and my personal favorite- psychology. By the end of the course you felt like you yourself were a specialist in the Colombian conflict and its peace resolution. Of course, we aren't, far from it, but the lecturers made us feel so, and really seemed to value our contributions and conversations about the issues and that's something i really appreciated.

The afternoon field trips gave us opportunities that we would never have experienced otherwise. I was definitely the source of envy for some of my university friends having talked to the Presidents team and met with the UN's development agency. The trip's really brought the whole learning experience to life and was a good reminder that the contents we were covering weren't just of academic interest, but is very real and very current and very important to Colombia as a country.

The social activities were hilarious- i loved the bike ride around Bogota when the city shuts out cars once a week, and watching Colombia beat Peru in the America Football Cup was honestly such an experience when you're surrounded by hundreds of Colombians going wild with every goal. In fact, you'd only have to wander round the city for 20 minutes in your spare time to come across some sort of street celebration, or march, or protest- Colombians seem to find any excuse to celebrate!

The RedTree team were incredible! We all had a great laugh with them and I definitely felt them to be helpful and concerned for our well-being throughout the trip, which I definitely appreciated in a hustling bustling city like Bogota. The co-ordinator Alex was brilliant- from day one of my application she was easy to communicate with and answered all my questions via email within the same day. A few of us decided to go to the coastal city of Cartagena for one of the weekends during the three weekends and I really appreciate her taking the time to help us with our planning despite it not being part of her job. Big up to our day to day facilitators too, Tom and Hannah! They were amazing, so much fun to be around but I always felt very safe with them, and they really helped the sometimes exhausting and intense days pass by easily.

All in all a pretty unforgettable three weeks, with outstanding lecturers and really admirable fellow students. With just 14 of us, it was a small group but i couldn’t have enjoyed their company more, and I’ve got to say I found it very refreshing to be surrounded by genuinely interesting people with noble career ambitions and intentions- and I think the three weeks gave each of us in different ways that extra bit of inspiration and determination needed to achieve these.