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