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