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