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