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A moment of clarity in a world full of noise

Found in the middle of the city a gift.

Sara Burdick
4 min readApr 9, 2022
Photo by Joel Duncan on Unsplash

Sometimes in life, you have certain moments of clarity; a click represented by a feeling of calm mixed with a wow moment. This weekend I have had a couple of these moments.

Living in Colombia sometimes is surreal, and I usually feel like an outsider. I will always be an outsider in whichever country I live in, whether for a year or longer.

An essential aspect of living in a country is getting to know the culture, the people, the food, the language. Living in the countryside, I have very little interaction with foreigners. I am surrounded by locals, and you learn by observing, speaking with them, and just being in the environment.

When you are around the same people, you get comfortable. Your once unfamiliar environment becomes familiar; we humans are very adaptable to change. We don’t always want change, but once it happens, we adapt.

So, being entirely immersed in Colombia’s culture and language has become customary to me. I never forget that I am a visitor, yet I maintain a curiosity without stepping over boundaries within the culture and remain respectful.

This weekend I have been in Medellin staying with a friend. I was a little intimidated coming to the city, as I felt…

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Sara Burdick
Sara Burdick

Written by Sara Burdick

I quit the rat race after working as a nurse for 16 years. Travel and Storyteller. I live in Colombia. https://substack.com/@saraburdick

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