miércoles, 23 de noviembre de 2011

My town(S) part 1: Medellín

The city of Medellín is my current location, since I am actually studying in the Pontifical Bolivarian University. This city is the capital of the department of Antioquia and is located to the middle-north of Colombia and well into the west; in fact it is the northernmost developed city. This city is at about 1550 meters (5085 ft) over the sea level with a population of approx. 2.6 million people. The average temperature is of about 25°C, which is too hot for me, but rain and cold seasons are quite frequent too.
It´s located in the bottom of a narrow valley which is called the Aburrá Valley, with a slender shape and crossed by the Medellín river, from south to north.

At a first glance the city of Medellín is very nice, specially when considering the public infrastructure, there is a metro, lots of modern and functional parks, excellent sport facilities and lots of cultural options such as the Modern Art Museum, the Museum of Antioquia, the University Museum at the University of Antioquia, as well as many theatres.

One of the most interesting places inside the metropolitan area is the down town. The atmosphere is always vibrating, lots of buildings, some of them old and some others modern, what people can find there is a special urban environment with lots of traditional elements. The down town is like a fusion between a modern metropolis and a sample of the traditional small towns of Antioquia. There are lots of stores, bars, cafés, and everything related to commerce. There is a special part of studying and living in Medellín and it's the opportunity to slowly discover the city inside itself, finding new spaces and new views of the city.

One of the most crazy aspects of this city is the changing weather, I guess we are used to it, but it's annoying to walk with a jacket and an umbrella inside your bag all day just in case it starts raining. Luckily my university and my house are really close to each other and I can either take a bus or walk a little to the closest metro station, both of them leave me at less than five minutes from home.


Finally I'd like to point out that this city is certainly one of the greatest of all Colombian cities, soon I'll show you more of this place.

Thanks for reading; I hope you to come back!

Jorge.