Nearing the End

With only seven weeks left until graduation, it seems that I have so many things left to tick off my bucket list, with not enough time to do them!
Exams are just around the corner, and just about everything has become more interesting than reading an IB textbook- even cleaning my room is appealing!

Here are some of the adventures that I have been on, over the past few weeks:

This is a photo from project week approximately a month ago.  I went alongside 20 other students to Hitoy Cerere national park- one of the least explored parks in Costa Rica.  Here, we spent most of our volunteering hours maintaining trails that weaved throughout the forest.  On our second day here, we went for a 2 hour hike up the river in this picture which eventually lead to beautiful, 40ft waterfall.  It was one of the most pretty sights I had ever seen!

It was not long after project week that ten of us went on a hike up to the nearby landslide in the central valley area, which took approximately 4 hours to hike up.  As you can see in the photo-by looking at the wind turbines on the distant mountains- Costa Rica produces most of its energy through renewable resources- mainly hydropower which fuels 70% of the country's energy!  Costa Rica is also attempting to go carbon neutral by 2021!  All countries should follow Costa Rica's example of creating a  more sustainable environment!

This is a photo of another hike that I went on, upon visiting Arenal Volcano 2 weeks ago, during Semana Santa- the national holiday!
We camped beside this lake, which was icy cold, but very refreshing to wash the dirt and sweat off after a hard day's hike!

Arenal Volcano towers above anything else in this picture, at almost 5500 feet high!
It was magnificent to see it, but even better to walk the trails which ran next to it!

Surprisingly, this waterfall is located 30 minutes by foot away from the school.  Although it's difficult to get to, the journey was definitely worth it,  As I sat down on the rocks where I am seen standing in this picture, I saw a large black vulture swoop down the cliff face, and land about half way down.  It appeared to have gone into some large crevice, and did not appear for quite some time, before it eventually flew away.  I wanted to know what was so interesting to the vulture, and so I climbed up the face of the wall until I eventually found the spot where the vulture vanished.  It stank of putrid meat and feces.  I had to refrain from my instinct to gag, as I had no idea what was going to be in the crevice once I peered in.  So I held my breath and looked inside.  It was pitch black in there at first.  But after my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found that there was a a vulture chick the size of a baby monkey in there- it was all fluffy and seemed well built.  It then all made sense.  The crevice in the cliff was the vulture's nest, and the smell was rotten meat that the mother had fed to her chick!  Overall, it was a really insightful experience.  I hope to visit this waterfall and the chick once more!

In this picture, Hempitera larvae are closely grouped together, on Costa Rica's national tree- the Guanacaste tree.  They are waiting for their wings to fully develop in the midday day sun in order to venture out into a world of mystery and endless possibilities.

Keep reading!

Dilly x

A New Year

I must admit, it has been a long, hard start to the year, with many complications and adaptations, but I feel that I'm finally beginning to settle down once more.

The first years all arrived safely and were welcomed warmly, and it's hard to think of this place as  UWCCR without them!  They're so adventurous and seem to radiate energy, which is exactly what we need as stressed second years!

Trimester four is over- the most important trimester for those applying to study in the U.S or Canada (like me.)  It has been an exhausting term, full of surprises on the way.  Nonetheless, I managed to trudge through it, with only the thought of what exciting adventures were to come ahead once work levels subsided. 

I will fill you in on what's happened so far this year..

Roblealto

Each year, all of the students and many of the staff attend camp 'Roblealto'.  It gives us time off campus to reflect on our decisions so far, and to create a bond with those around us.  The camp is located high up in the mountains, and so it's very cloudy and gets rather cold during the nights!

I must admit, it's one of my favourite times of the year, because it gives me a chance to get down in the dirt (quite literally) and have fun.

The camp only lasts for two days, but we make the most out of it!  Each day is jammed full with fun activities, as seen in the pictures below! 

Generations 15'-16'

Big Fat Pony!

Costa Rica's Independence Day:

Shortly after we arrived back on campus, after an exhausting but fantastic time, UWC Costa Rica lead Costa Rica's independence parade around Santa Ana- the town where the school's situated.

It was such a beautiful day full of cultural sharing, as the students paraded the streets holding their flags high, whilst wearing their national costumes with pride!

It's a little unfortunate that my Welsh national costume is made of wool, and so it was rather challenging to walk under the blazing 30+ degree sun, while essentially wearing a sheep!!

Here are a few pictures of the day!

Europe!  (and Sudan haha)

My Buddy Diego (Mexico)

My roomates!
Yifei (China) and Mona (Norway)

Here are the times that weren't listed on the school's calendar, but nonetheless were important to me: 

On this day, we celebrated Diwali with our friend Amiya from India!  It was such an important day for her, as it is considered the biggest and most important holiday of the year in India, which signifies the victory of light of darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and victory over despair.

It was really interesting to hear about this wonderful holiday, along with its traditions!

Each year at UWCCR, an event called 'Blind Date' is held.  This entails a second year to go on a 'date' with a randomly selected first year, in order to get to know someone you haven't talked to yet.  This was a fantastic incentive, as the night proved successful, with many students walking away with smiles on their faces after making a new friend.  

The way that this worked, was that second years were given a first year each by drawing from a hat, and the second year had to keep it secret.  The second year would then send the first year an invitation to go, with a dress code and a place and time to meet.  In my case, our dress code was 'masked ball attire'.  My blind date was Cruz from Guatemala and the U.S.  We had a fantastic night full of great conversations and great food.  I hope that there will be another event like this sometime again this year.

Welshies

It's so nice to have someone from the same country as me here.  It's crazy how well we get along!  The best part is the fact that we can speak Welsh to one another, which is a great comfort considering we're both so far away from home.  

Whenever I speak to Morwenna, I feel that I'm in Wales again!  She reminds me of me in my first year a lot, and everybody says so too!  

Here's a picture of us below! 

My Welsh First Year, Morwenna!

Service Day

Tomorrow, on Thursday the 13th of November, I will be volunteering in Poas national park alongside 20 other students.  Our aim is to maintain the paths and rid the area of rubbish, so that the area remains completely natural, causing no disturbance to the biodiversity living in the area.  I am looking forward to doing this, as I will be able to see Poas volcano once more!  

It truly is a wonderful place, and I hope to gain a lot from the experience tomorrow!

Coming Soon..

The students have a break coming up soon, and so many of us are heading to the southern, Caribbean side of Costa Rica, to a place called Puerto Viejo.  I have been there once before, on a short trip at the end of last year with my friends, but did not get to explore all of the white-sanded beaches.  

This time, I hope to snorkel, and see more of the biodiversity that Costa Rica has to offer!

Hasta luego!
  Keep Reading! 

Dilly Hoyt

Project Week

This week, I travelled along with twenty eight other people to Monteverde cloud forest, located in the North of Costa Rica.

We left at 5am monday morning, and travelled around five hours, jumping from minibuses and taxis to public buses.  After all of this travelling, we were dropped off at the beginning of the trail, which we followed by foot until we reached our accommodation for the week.

The walk was absolutely beautiful-it was one of the first times that I had explored a cloud forest.  Throughout the two hour hike, I saw many creatures: monkeys, lizards, frogs and birds.  Some of them I filmed, like the spider monkeys, (although it's refusing to upload!)

Each day, we worked from 8am until 11.45am maintaining the paths weaving through the forests.  Lunch was at 12pm, which should I mention, was delicious!  After lunch, we'd then go out and work again until 4pm.

Maintaining the path involved widening it,  which required many shovels, pickaxes and rakes.  the majority of us ended up with blisters and sores on our hands from all of the hard work, but it was definitely worth it!  The difference between the path before and after was incredible!

Whilst working on the path, we came across many creatures..

We had hundreds of moths each night visit us on the balcony.  The diversity of species that lived in Monteverde was incredible!


This project week was perfect, as not only did we give to the community, but we also had plenty of time to ourselves, which enabled me to read- a thing that I hadn't done since arriving here six months ago!
Each morning I'd get up to sit on the hammock and read my book, whilst occasionally watching the cloud's shadows pass by on volcano Aronal.
It became quite chilly at night, which was a lovely change from the radiating sunshine and still, humid air back on campus.  It amazed me, the contrast between the environment there, and a few miles away up the path.  Mark, a scientist who worked to protect El Bosque Eterno los niños, spoke to us about how different the biodiversity is from one side of a mountain in Monteverde to another.  The difference between biodiversity was so vast that you could have easily assumed that he was talking about another country when looking at the species list of both areas.
Mark gave an interesting presentation about the mysterious decline of amphibians in the 1980's (not only in Costa Rica, but around the world!)  We discussed several possibilities of factors that could have affected the amphibians, and came to the conclusion that it was not only one factor that affected them, that many factors had played an active role in the declination of amphibians.  These being things like climate change, the depletion of the ozone and disease.
He then gave interesting statistics about Monteverde.  It turns out that although Monteverde is 0.0048% of the Earth's surface, there are over 100 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, and 1,200 species of amphibians and reptiles living within its bounds.  It's one of the few remaining habitats that support all six species of the cat family- jaguars, ocelots, pumas, oncillas, margays and jaguarundis-as well as the endangered three-wattled bellbird and resplendent quetzal.
Overall, I had an absolutely incredible time with awesome people-many of whom I got to know a lot better.  I hope to do many more activities like this over the next year and a half, as it has just made me realise that there is so much more of Costa Rica to see that I haven't explored.. YET!

Keep Reading! 

       Dilly x

Sorry it's been so long!

The Turtle Expedition to Cameronal Beach

From the 30th of December to the 5th of January, I went on an expedition along with ten other students from UWCCR to Cameronal- a beach on the Pacific side of Costa Rica which is well known for its nesting sea turtles.
Here, we volunteered each day, from beach cleaning, to fixing mountain trails. Whilst each night, we patrolled Cameronal beach in search of Olive Ridley Sea turtles which are most commonly found at early hours of the morning on the shore, laying between 70-100 eggs each time.
We were split into two groups for the night patrols; one group took and earlier shift, whilst the other took the later, and each night, we alternated.  Fortunately, I was in the group which managed to see at least one turtle nest each night, the other group on the other hand only managed to see one turtle the whole time being there, and that was the last night when both groups patrolled the beach together!
When we spotted a nesting Olive Ridley turtle (the most common species in the area,) we allowed it to dig its hole for the turtle eggs, and let it begin the process of laying eggs.  Whilst this happens, the turtle goes into a stage similar to a trance, where it cannot feel or see much, and so carefully, we extracted the eggs from the nest, placed them in a plastic bag, and took them to the nesting ground, which is a fenced off area which gives the baby turtles the best chance of survival.  The reason we did this was because the beach is home to hundreds of racoons; each hungry raccoon wants turtle eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  They were so greedy, that they ate the turtle eggs as they're falling out of turtle!
The only way to stop them from doing this was to spot the turtle before she started laying, so that we could scare off the racoons and reach the eggs before they do.  Once we transported them to the nesting ground, we placed the eggs in a specific area, chronologically, so that the people who worked at the beach full-time knew when the turtles would hatch.

This was a fantastic experience, as not only did I get to continue with my research on sea turtles, but I also got to know many of my co-years a lot better over the five days. 

My December Break

Since the very day I left campus, I was eager to come back!  I missed everything about the place, but mainly the people!  It was weird being in the U.S.A, where none of my friends lived- as one of the most beautiful things about living here is the fact that your friends are literally 3 metres away from you, and so if you ever get lonely, you can pop in to see them and have a great conversation.  Whereas, many of my nights in the U.S (at the beginning of the holiday) were either spent twiddling my thumbs, or watching Breaking Bad (although I do love Breaking Bad..)

My holiday then got a lot more exciting when I took a bus to Chicago, then a train from Union Station to Urbana to visit my friend Mara from UWCCR!  I had a wonderful time!  I met many of her friends back at home, watched her high school play a basketball game, and visited her high school, which was nothing like high school musical should I mention!

It was a very beautiful yet short adventure, which ended with a hug goodbye, and meeting my father for the first time since I left for Costa Rica, at the bus station in Chicago.  It was such a surreal moment, looking out of the bus window to find my dad standing in the snow with his colourful beanie hat on, wearing his well-known, gigantic smile on the slightly pink face of his.

I realized then, how much I missed him.  But the most beautiful moment of all was the fact that just about everything was the same between us.  We still had our same old jokes and he still treated me the way he did before, yet there was a certain something that was different- he understood that I had grown up a lot and was now a lot more independent, so that making decisions came very naturally to me now.  

The whole train ride back to Michigan was spent reading ebooks on our kindles, just as we once did , four months earlier.

But I'm sidetracking now, the whole point of this blog is to describe my experiences in Costa Rica, and so I'll continue with my adventures..

First Year Show

Soon after arriving back on campus, my co-years and I began frantically arranging our meant-to-be-secret first year show which, if you don't know, is a compilation of acts put together in order to entertain our second years.

We went about this by practicing in classrooms at night, or meeting in obscure places during lunch time. Unfortunately, the second-years caught on immediately, which meant that our cover was blown, and our unexpected, spectacular show, became expected, but nonetheless spectacular!

We had altogether around 20 acts, consisting of dancing, singing, poems and mimes- some entertaining, whilst others were emotional.  I  participated in a few acts, a Bollywood dance whom my friends Amiya from India, and Peppi from Finland choreographed, the year-group dance which everyone participated, including the second years who joined in, after watching us dance the routine a couple of times.  My main act was accompanying Mara and Pele (Ghana) to a Les Miserables compilation of three songs which I mashed-up a couple of days beforehand.  

It was silly how we didn't think about the lighting of the room before hand- it was terrible, and so my seven page piece which was relatively easy became a nightmare in the dark!  Although I played awfully, Mara and Pele compensated by singing tunefully!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed performing in the first year show, and I'm sure that the second years enjoyed watching too!

Mal Pais Party

A couple of weeks ago, one of the residences had its annual party.  Where there was chocolate fondue, live D-Jing, and even a fire show!  The majority of the school attended this event.  

The theme was a traffic light party; you wore green if you were single, yellow if it was complicated and red if you were in a relationship.  This was a lot of fun, but I was very tired by the end of it, and so I ended up in bed by 11pm-my earliest night here yet! 

Trimester 2 Ends

It's crazy how time flies by here so quickly, one minute you're counting down the days until you're reunited with your family, whilst the next, you're counting down how many days you have left with your friends at UWCCR!
The months have flown by, and trimester two is already over!  This means only one thing, a very long and grueling trimester three is about to begin, meaning lots of studying and less socialising!
If this means getting into a good university, so be it!

Service Week

This week, I will be heading out to Monte Verde on my service week along with another 20+ students. During this period, we will do many things, such as clearing the mountain trails, hiking and maintaining the National Park.  There is also a beautiful waterfall near the guest house that we'll be staying at, or so I have heard.  You'll hear a lot more about that next week upon my arrival back on campus!

Wild Creatures on Campus

I think that I should do a weekly article on this topic alone, as I have come across so many strange yet wonderful creatures in the small proximity of this campus.

Here captured, a mother scorpion found in Lucas' shoe along with at least another 80+ baby scorpions.  Luckily, no animals (including humans) were harmed during the making of this photograph, eve though the scorpion was awfully close to my feet at this point..

Here, if you look closely, you will see an iguana behind the toilet!!  Haha, apparently, last year, there was one in the showers, but this year they've gone for somewhere with a little more objects to hide behind!  Who can blame the poor soul for wanting to do its business hygienically!

Thanks for reading!Dilly x

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