Service Day

Last Thursday, every student and most teachers in UWCCR participated in what is called 'Service Day'. This is a day where we choose out of one of the many volunteering options that we have, to volunteer at a specific location somewhat near the community where we live.
As I mentioned before, my service CAS is working in La Carpio, the poorest part of Costa Rica.  In this CAS, we help to educate young teenagers living there, to make healthy life decisions.  For example, when I visited La Carpio last week with some students, we educated them about the challenges of parenthood. There are many teenage pregnancies in La Carpio, where the father abandons his duty of being a father, and leaves the teenage girl to deal with parenthood all on her own. We hoped to educate the teenage boys on what it means to be a parent-  plenty of love, costs and commitment.  I hope that it has made them more aware of the reality of parenthood, and has delayed their age of becoming a father.

As I am very committed to La Carpio, I decided to volunteer at La Carpio again- this time, painting houses.
Sixteen other students chose to do this option also!
We arrived at La Carpio at around 8:30am, and immediately began painting the tinned houses with all sorts of bright and cheerful colours.  I was assigned to the colour yellow, along with my second year friends, Alice, Lino and Robin.
We painted up until around 2pm, where we were then served a lunch of 'Gallo Pinto' - ( beans and rice).   The lady in charge of the whole La Carpio project- Gale, took us who wanted to go, to the poorest part of La Carpio.  This was such a memorable/haunting experience.  It was so hard to believe that people lived in those so called 'homes'.  The houses were made of scraps of tin, and the walkways to their houses were rotten wooden plants across the garbage-filled sewage river.
I clearly remember the image of an infant crouching in a dirt-stained light pink dress, with garbage all around her.  She stared up at us, her eyes were as lifeless as the two dolls that laid beside her.  At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to take her to a safe, comfortable home, far away from the garbage-lined back alley that she 'played' on.
This is experience was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  All of the hard work that I put in was so worthwhile, seeing the smiles spread at the La Carpio communities faces!  We completely transformed the place!  In the near future, I would love to do much more volunteer work in La Carpio.

                     

 

San Jose

Last weekend, I went to Costa Rica's capital in order to do some early Christmas shopping for my friends and family in Wales and the U.S.  We visited the art market, which was filled with souvenirs- perfect for Christmas presents!  I went a little overboard with shopping, and managed to buy myself a hammock to hang up around campus (which has not yet happened, after a failed attempt resulting in me and my Finnish friend Peppi lying in a heap on the floor!)

Christmas

Christmas is coming soon!  Meaning that we have a month's break, where I will travel to Michigan to visit my family!  I haven't seen them in just short of two years!  So I'm very excited to see them again in exactly 3 weeks today!  It will be nice to be out of campus for a while.  It can sometimes seem like you're trapped in a UWCCR bubble being here- oblivious to everything that's happening outside!

SkyJump

At the moment, this place is the place to be in UWCCR!  Skyjump is a GIANT warehouse, lined with trampolines!  It contains everything you need to have an incredible night out with your friends!  From basketball hoops to a sponge pit.  I have been there five times already, and I'm still not tired of it! 

Keep Reading!

Dilly x

1st Trimester's Almost Over!

Sorry that I haven't posted in such a long time!  It's nearing the end of the trimester, which means only one thing.. lots of tests!  
Over the last 2 weeks, I have spent the majority of my time in the study room in my residence.  I only had one test last week, but this week, I have 6!  I have been doing fine with my academics, although, apparently it gets harder as you have to remember things from the first trimester when studying in the fourth trimester etc.  But I will try to motivate and organize myself to study a little each day, even when there are no tests.

INBio

Although this was a while ago, (around the 8th of October) I thought I'd mention it as I had so much fun.  My E-systems (environmental class) went on a field trip to Costa Rica's National Biodiversity Institute in order to observe (and take note in our field journals) some of Costa Rica's plentiful wildlife. 

I had a great time, and learnt a lot about many species, from the Morpho butterfly (the butterfly associated with Costa Rica)  to the Heliconia plant which produces a white powder under its leaf which acts as sun screen!

E-Systems field trip

October Break

Between the 17th and the 20th of October, me and another 17 'UWCers' rented a villa in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for October Break.  During this period, we went to the beach, visited the National Park/ Nature Reserve and jumped off a beautiful waterfall.

The villa that we stayed in was called 'The Jungle Villa', which was a deluxe wooden shack.  The second floor (which you entered the building on) was completely open.  You could see the sea from this floor!  The bottom floor (where I slept)  mainly consisted of bedrooms and bathrooms- all of the rooms had at least two beds in each, and so I ended up sleeping with my two good friends, Chesca from Costa Rica/UK and Mara from the U.S.

We were fortunate enough to have three pools!!  The water was cool, but very refreshing in the hot weather- it didn't rain once when we were there, this is very rare, as it's still the wet season here.

As I swam in the pool and floated on my back, looking up at the sky, the dense canopy above acted as not only a shelter from the blazing sun, but as a jungle gym for the three types of monkeys living in the area!  I could only identify two unfortunately, one was the Titi monkey and the other was a howler monkey.  I also was fortunate enough to see a sloth in a tree next to the other UWC villa nearby, although I did not manage to see its face, as it has its head hidden underneath its arm!  But nonetheless, it was very exciting!

Manuel Antonio Beach at Sunset

The Jungle Villa at Night

Overall, I had a wonderful time, and became closer to many people, both first years and second years. 

My Birthday

On October the 28th, it was my first birthday away from home.  This was a very strange prospect to me, a part of me was very excited to experienced the UWC birthday traditions here on campus, and to celebrate with people from all corners of the world, but another part of me wished to be home on my birthday, and to celebrate with my friends and family back at home.

But, I managed to Skype my Welsh friends on the eve of my birthday, and as the clock struck midnight back at home, they sang and celebrated my 17th Birthday.  I really appreciated it, and hope to Skype them again soon!

I was kidnapped at around 11:15pm as I was walking into my room, my legs we taken out from under me, and a blindfold was tied or rather thrown on my face, as I was hauled away like a wooden plank.

During this kidnapping, I was tickled, pinched and pocked until I squirmed like a worm and squealed with laughter!

After a good ten minutes of carrying me around campus, I was eventually put down on the ground, and had the blindfold taken off me to find 50 people around me wishing me a happy birthday!  It was so wonderful!  I had a giant amount of birthday hugs and wishes!

Upon returning to my room, hand in hand with my friend Amiya from India, there were around twenty people in my room with 2 birthday cakes and around 55 cards wishing me a great birthday!  It was the nicest surprise I have ever received!  Honestly, I was very worried that nobody would remember that it was my birthday, this was a huge contrast to what I had pictured would go on in my head!

So, I'd just like to say a huge thanks to everyone who made my birthday as special as it was, I really do appreciate it! :) 

I just thought I'd end this post with a fantastic photo that I forgot to put up, of me and my fellow first years at camp!

Keep Reading!

Dilly x

School's Out for October!

It has now reached the time where school's finished and October break starts!  I feel that all of us students really need this long-awaited break, the second years especially, with their EE's to write and university applications to be sent off etc.
I am very excited to be staying in a villa in Manuel Antonio (the Pacific side of Costa Rica) along with 17 other first and second year students.  There are another few houses in the area which also house UWCCR students- it seems that the whole of the campus is going to the same location for holidays!
Unfortunately, our stay in Manuel Antonio will only consist of three nights (4 days).  But, the week after that, us first years are missing another few days of school- we have an MUN (Model United Nations) event from the 24-26th of October.
I am in the Security Council, representing the country of Morocco.  In this council, we will be discussing Syria and the Western Saharas.  Therefore, a lot of research needs to be done about the involvement of Morocco in both of the topics.  I also have to come up with a resolution to these topics which then needs to be approved by other countries in the security council, such as Russia, France, the UK.

Piano

I have recently been playing a lot of piano here.  I think it's due to the academic stress and pressure that I have turned to the piano.  At home I did the same- whenever I'd worry about something, I'd play the piano.   I feel it helps me a lot!  Even a ten minute session helps to relieve my stress.  I also find that many nostalgic memories of home return, as I played so frequently in Llanelli, Wales.  I hope to soon begin writing my own music again.  Although the lack of time here can be a problem to do such things! :(

The Great Gatsby

Last Friday, my Irish second-year friend organised a Great Gatsby party, where everyone dressed up glamorously and attended the party in Porto Viejo (the social centre).  A week before the party, we watched 'The Great Gatsby' movie, which gave us an idea of what 1920's clothes looked like.  I then went out to buy my costume from the 'thrift store'/charity shop in Santa Ana, as I knew I didn't want to spend much on an outfit that I'd never wear again!  The day of the party arrived; everyone was busy running around trying to borrow heels and red-lipstick!  It was strange seeing everyone so dressed up, but everyone looked incredible!  Overall it was a fantastic night with wonderful people and great music!

First Year Camp

On Sunday, all of the first years went on a camp in the forest for two days and one night.  It's sole purpose was to get us to bond more and to have fun.  Both of these things were achieved, as I feel so much closer to my year!  Many personal things were shared around a candlelit room where we all sat in a circle expressing the way we felt.  It will stay with me forever, the openness and trust required to say the things that were said that night will forever be with me.  I decided to start the reflection circle off, as there was a 3-4 minute silence where nobody volunteered to begin this exercise, and so I stood up and walked into the middle of the giant circle, and expressed what was on my mind.  It was such a relief to get things off of my chest- everyone was so supportive.  I really do feel that we are like family now, although there are so many people that I have still yet to know more about.  I'd like to thank all of the people who helped run the camp, without you it wouldn't have been possible to achieve such closeness between us first years.

Another Fantastic Second Year Show!

Upon returning from first year camp, we were told that we had a mandatory meeting at 8pm about the rules during October break.  Leila, our residential director told us about it, and so of course we believed that we had a meeting.  At 8pm, we turned up at the social centre to find that our second years were putting on a surprise show for us instead of a meeting!  It was so thoughtful of them to do so, and such a wonderful way to end the past couple of incredible days spent with my co-years!

Florence, Me and Amiya at the Great Gatsby Party

The Candlelit room at first year camp

Keep Reading!

Dilly x

Hatchet!

Hicking Pico Blanco

On the Saturday the 28th of September, I was fortunate enough to participate in a hiking trip which involved exploring Costa Rica's mountains nearby.  Forty people applied to go on the hike, but only seventeen lucky students were selected out of a hat!

We were asked to bring all sorts of items, such as: raincoats, head torches and marshmallows.  All of these things became useful on this expedition.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday in order to be at our meeting point (Montezuma Residence) by 5:45am for pancakes and food supplies for the trip.  We were then divided into groups, six of us at a time would get chauffeured to the start of the hiking trail in one of the teacher's 4x4's.   Whilst the other's waited for him to return to pick them up and take them.  This required three trips. 

1st Bend in the Road

 But on the second trip,  the teacher was returning to pick up another six students, when another vehicle hit his car from behind.  Of course, the driver who'd hit him did not have insurance, nor did he claim that he was to blame for a crash that was completely his fault. 

This resulted in the teacher having to stay with his car and wait for the police to come, which would take more than an hour.  So, the rest of the students waiting for a lift had to take a 1.5 hour trek to the start of the trail to meet the six that were there already, and they hadn't even started the real hike yet!

I was in the first group who were chauffeured to the mountain and so we waited a long time for the 2nd and 3rd group to hike to the meeting point.  We were eager to go, whilst the others who had just arrived were exhausted from all of the hiking that we hadn't done.  This is when we split the group in half.

Ten of us began the hike to the campsite that we were going to stay in that night.  It was supposed to take half an hour, roughly a 1 kilometer hike up rocky terrain, but we took the wrong trail, and ended up walking in between two very tall walls of earth, weaved with tree roots and covered in moss.  On top of the 10ft soil walls were giant trees blocking the sunlight from reaching the damp ground.  It looked like a scene out of Robin Hood, where his men would jump from the wall and carry us away!

After some figuring out, we retraced our footsteps and took another trail, which eventually lead us to the campsite; a 10m x 10m open ground surrounded by tropical trees.  The only way you could tell this was a campsite was by the the iron structure used for bonfires in the middle of the open ground.

The group was re-united, and camp began to feel a little more like camp.  Tents were put up, the flames of the fire were dancing and food was being served.

Any hiker nearby would hear not-so-traditional  campfire songs sung and see such happy, young people having a lot of fun.  It was incredible to think that each face I looked at around the fire was from a different country; Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Denmark, Scotland, USA, Brazil and so on.  

As the fire began to die down, we made our way to our sleeping bags.

The next morning was a late start to hiking in comparison with the first day.  We started our journey at around 9:30am to Pico Blanco (the tallest mountain in the area).  Little did we know that a three hour fun hike, would turn into a 8.5 hour strenuous struggle!

Last Bend in the Road

It all began after walking along the correct trail for 2 hours, we missed a turning that was not marked very clearly, and so continued on along the trail that we were on.  Soon, the trail became narrower and narrower and narrower.  Before long, no trail was evident; we were having to crawl in-between trees, plants and branches.  The non-existent 'trail' became steeper and steeper, which resorted in me and many others having to slide down on our bums (which was really fun!!)

  After an hour or two of doing this, slowly making our way down the mountain, we were at a dead end.  There was a drop off that was too big for any of us to jump, and so this is where we all really pulled together and worked as a team to come to a decision on what to do.

Whilst deciding upon what to do, a giant thunderstorm came and drenched us and the path uphill that we were to take, leaving it like a giant mud bath.  It then took three times as long to go up the mountain as it did to hike down it, as we were forced to crawl up it on our hands and knees at some points!  But we kept the team morale up, and sung 'If  you're happy and you know it' until we safely reached the point where there was a clear path!  We decided that it was not a good idea to take the trail that we were supposed to take, as we were not prepared to potentially get lost again!  So, with a spoonful of peanut butter to help us on our way, we made it back to the start of the trail, where we got a bus back to the school! 

All in all, it was THE BEST EXPERIENCE I have had so far in Costa Rica!  Whenever I pass someone on the 'hatchet' trip in the corridor in school, we always exchange mischievous glances!  I feel like I have bonded so much more with the people on hatchet and feel that I have explored a little more of the beautiful country of Costa Rica.  A big thank you to Emma, Julian, Steven and Evan for organizing such an incredible expedition!

Also thank you to Alice and Evan for being the best second years ever!

Hatchet Expedition Warriors

Keep Reading!

Dilly x

UWC Life So Far

School

I am now on my 3rd week of school and I've got to say that it's pretty tiring!  I have 6 subjects, plus TOK (theory of knowledge).  Usually, there are 6 classes a day which are between  7:30am and 1:15pm.  But occasionally there are free lessons (where I usually take siestas!)

  I find it very challenging being back in school, as I have been out of the routine of 'school-life' for a couple of  months. But as the weeks progress, I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable with my surroundings.

CAS

This week, we found out what CAS' we're doing.  CAS means: creativity, action and service.  In order to complete the IB, we are required to do one of each CAS.

For creativity, I am working with the musical that will be performed during February/March next year.  This requires painting sets, making costumes and helping in general with the musical.  We have not yet found out what the musical will be; but nonetheless I'm extremely excited about it!

For action, I am doing climbing, where each semester, I will have the opportunity to explore the cliffs of Costa Rica, but that's after having plenty of training before hand.  I decided to do this, as I thought that it would be the perfect time to try something new and to integrate a little more with my co-years and second years.
I have already begun my service CAS.  I was lucky enough to have two service CAS'.  One of them involves an hour and a half car trip to volunteer at an animal shelter; I cleaned many animal cages, sheds and got to explore a part of the forest with a blind dog as company!
My other service CAS is 'La Carpio'; this service involves working with other teenagers between the ages of 11-17 who have come from Nicaragua but now live in the slums just outside of San Jose.   Last Saturday, 15 of them visited the school; we prepared many fun activities for them, such as games, arts and crafts and football.  It was so inspiring learning about the teenager's aspirations, some wanted to be doctors, others wanted to be eco-tourism guides; it was great seeing that they wanted to completely transform their lives.

Inter-CAS, Poas

Last week, I missed school on Thursday and Friday to go on an 'Inter-CAS', which means that I had the opportunity to meet lots of other IB students in Costa Rica.  Ten of us UWC students first travelled to the IB school in Poas, where we played many 'get-to-know-you' games and ate lunch.  We then travelled by bus to a nearby church where we stayed overnight.  At 5am the next morning, we were awoken by horns in order for us to be out of the church by 6:30am to visit the volano Poas.  

This was my first ever experience of a REAL volcano!!  Upon first sight, you could not see the crater, as there was mist everywhere, but within five minutes, the mist had completely cleared!  Here is a picture I took of the volcano:

There had been a flood at Poas the previous week, and so debris covered all of the paths on the volcano.  Our job as IB students were to work together in teams to clear the debris and build motes on either side of the paths to prevent the debris from getting onto the paths again.  It was extremely rewarding knowing that I was doing something which really did help and make a difference to both the staff and tourists at Poas.

Keep reading!

 Dilly x

I'm here!

I'm sorry I haven't posted since arriving here at Costa Rica!  I had forgotten my e-mail address to log-in! Anyway, I'm sure you'd like to hear about my adventure so far..

Campus Life

Upon arriving here at Santa Ana I was astounded by the beauty of this place.  The campus is surrounded by mountains sheltered by exotic trees (which I have not yet explored.)  Humming birds seem to love the wide variety of flowers that thrive here at campus; I especially enjoy watching them whilst eating my lunch at one of the picnic tables.  But what seems to fascinate me the most are the many species of ants that live here; I have spent a lot of time watching the ants carry leaves at least 20 times their weight to their giant colonies on the Frisbee/football pitch.

Everyone is so welcoming here!  As soon as I arrived on campus, I received a countless amount of hugs in the first few days of my time here at UWCCR.  Although at the beginning, I was struggling to remember everyone's names, it has become a lot easier over the past couple of weeks; I can just about name everyone on campus (including teachers!)  

San Jose

On the 29th of August, the first years went on a trip to visit San Jose.  We took a 20 minute bus ride into the capital city (roughly costing 30p) and walked along the busy streets until finding an entrance to a market.  I had only once experienced such a place before, in Trinidad last summer.  I was taken aback by the amount of poverty seen wherever you looked.   Where there seemed to be vacant cardboard boxes on the streets, there were homeless families sleeping.  It made me truly appreciate how fortunate I am to have been granted such an experience.  Nelson Mandela, a president of UWC once said, that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.   These homeless people's lives would have taken a different path if only they were offered a chance to receive education. 

Roblealto

Each year, the whole school (including teacher's dinner ladies etc) go to the camp Roblealto in the Heredia province in Costa Rica.  the whole point of this is to get to know each other a little better, whilst also reflecting upon your time at Costa Rica so far.

This was a sad time for our second years, as so many memories of their second years (who have now graduated) were at Roblealto.   It was a difficult time for us first years too, seeing the people we look up to the most, become insecure and lonely.  This was the first hurdle I had to jump.  I realised at camp that I really was all alone.  I couldn't run home whenever I pleased, and I'd have to face each problem I'd have independently.  I came to the conclusion that this was a good thing, and so smiled and cheered up.

My time here has been an incredible journey so far. It's so exciting to think that I am only on the first step of the journey and that I still have a long way to go! :) 

Keep reading, 

Dilly x

Roblealto Camp '13

21 Days To Go!

These past few weeks have been so hectic!  Between fundraising, packing and doctor's appointments, I've barely had a chance to think of how close this surreal opportunity really is!  
I have now raised £21,675 of the total £34,000, thanks to all of these wonderful sponsors for turning my dream into a reality! :

• The Waterloo Foundation, 
• The Tuttiett and Clemence Charitable Trusts, 
• Tomorrow's Generation School, 
• The Trevor Kelway and St Teilo lodges, 
• The Lynn Foundation
• The National UWC GB Committee 

  UWC GB Orientation

During the 13-14th of July, I was fortunate enough to meet most of the British representatives attending a UWC college this coming Autumn!  I felt as if I fit in perfectly with their open-minded, adventurous and outgoing qualities.
 I also had a chance to make links between the students of the 12 worldwide UWC colleges which will later on come in handy whilst living the 'UWC Life'.
Here is a picture at orientation in Derbyshire of all the International representatives:

Keep reading! 

Dilly x