One of my favorite classes here at AC is my political thought class. We just finished reading Machiavelli’s The Prince and we are now moving onto Hobbes. As an introduction to the issue of morality in politics we looked at the prisoners dilemma.
The Prisoners Dilemma
You have just been arrested and put in jail under a number of charges. Your partner in crime is being held in a different prison and you have no means of contacting him. You are both being questioned individuality and are given the option of confessing to your crime, or not confessing. Here are the potential consequences of your answers:
If both of you confess, then you get a 10 year sentence in prison.
If you confess, but your partner does not then you get out free and they are put in jail for life
If you don’t confess and your partner does, then you are imprisoned for life and your partner goes free.
If neither of you confess then you get 3 years in prison
Now, are you going to confess?
We spent my entire class time debating this issue. And here are some potential things to consider:
-You don’t know who your partner is. It could be your best friend or your mother, but it could also be a stranger, a criminal
-You don’t know what your crime is. It could be murder, theft, or anything in between.
-you don’t know if you are innocent or guilty
-If you just look at the numbers it looks like this:
Confess: 10 years or you go free
Don’t Confess: 3 years or life.
-Could you live with the guilt of having put someone in jail for life? How selfish would you feel?
-life is a long time to be in jail
-Should you just try to save your own skin? How much can you really trust your fellow human beings? Do you have faith in humanity?
What the issue really boiled down to in my class was the issue of trust, and how much you were willing to rely on the goodness of man to have faith in you and not confess. After this entire discussion, everyone had to decide. My entire class except for two people decided to confess. I was one of those two people. I chose not to confess for two reasons. First-I couldn't’t live with myself if I put someone in jail for life. Second: I have to believe in the goodness of mankind. I have to believe that I can trust a random stranger with my life because if not, then my world would fall down around me. If we as people can’t believe in each other then what sort of future do we have? How can we continue to build societies assuming that people will do what is best for the society as a whole? That is why I did not confess. I probably would be put in jail for life because I trust too much, but I would be able to accept that with at least a clean conscience.
Now I ask you- would you confess? Would you not confess and accept that you’d probably spend your life in prison? I’m curious to hear your responses to the prisoners dilemma..
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
This is a photo of me and friends from Long Weekend in London. We volunteered at a cancer run.
Last Saturday I did some amnesty international street theatre in order to get people to sign our petitions. It was a great success and tons of fun.
Tons of things have been going on! Here is a quick little summary:
-Shave your head for amnesty ( we raised over $2,000 and now there are lots of bald girls and guys running around campus)
-Street Theatre
-Long Weekend (Exploring the Tate, Eating good food for once, having a blast)
-Not sleeping enough
-Power Shift (Environmental Conference in London- the guy that played lucious malfoy in harry potter came to talk to us!)
-I'm still doing beekeeping and all sorts of activities
-some students gave a concert and nothing is more relaxing than guitar playing and singing
I'm still happy as a clam here, so you won't be hearing any complaints from me. Though I am looking forward to coming home at christmas.
Monday, September 28, 2009
One Month
Once again I am terrible about updating the blog with all the amazing things that have been going on! I’m going to try to post shorter things more often.
This past week.. well classes have been taking over. They weren’t kidding when they said that IB is really hard. I’ve been fighting a pretty nasty cold as well, so it’s been exhausting. With the huge variety of activities going on and interesting people to talk to with coursework, I’ve been having trouble getting enough sleep. Welcome to college!
Activities.. well turns out I didn’t get into MUN. It was a random selection process, and my name didn’t get pulled. So as an alternative.. I am doing beekeeping. This is exciting for two reasons:
1. I am scared of bees. They freak me out, so I am learning all about them (bees are actually so incredible) and getting over my fear
2. Honey is very tasty and not only do I get to work with the bees but also I just used my graphic design knowledge (thank you Mr. Minyard!) to design the label for the honey jars that the college will be selling. I really like the bee keeping so far. I never thought I’d be working with bees in Wales. I’ll post the design up on the blog soon.
Classes have been interesting, some good, some not so much. I adore my Higher Level English class, its a really bright group of kids with a really enthusiastic teacher. We are finishing up reading Lord of the Flies (i think its my 3rd time reading the book..) and it’s been really neat to see the book from a different perspective. I gave my first IB oral presentation, and it went really well! So that was a nice way to start of my grade for this term. Next we will be reading The Collector, which is supposed to be pretty creepy.
For maths (yes, it is called maths, not math here. Strange Brits) its been a bit of an adventure. Long story short, I got kicked out my maths class because I knew too much and I am now in a different class. I like my new class better because I have some good friends in the class and the teacher is Hungarian. So he talks like this “With ze x and se vhy on ze axis, you move zhem like dis so that zhey..”. A bit hard to understand
Spanish is pretty miserable.. I am doing the IB Spanish in one year so I am with second years in my class. I don’t particularly like the teacher, and I’m glad I only have to be with him for one year. He is from Spain, and his accent is incredibly strong!
Design Technology is still really interesting. Right now we are using software to construct desk tidies, and its just really interesting. Plus the teacher is a real crack up, and I look forward to that class. Politics is also really interesting, and we just finished an essay criticizing democracy, and I am discovering my political thoughts more and more. Democracy isn’t always so grand..
West Asian history still hasn’t really taken off yet. We spent the last class discussing nationalism, and we listened to lots of national anthems.
I will confess that when the American national anthem was played I got a big smile on my face and felt really proud. Funny how I have to travel halfway across the world to develop any form of patriotism. I also find myself defending the US quite a bit.. in almost all of my humanities classes people tend to pick on the US and I am becoming more proud of the good things the US has done even though we have messed up a fair bit.
My service (MEMS-Marine Environmental Monitoring Service) has been good. Last week we did a big beach clean up and recorded the disgusting amount of trash. On Wednesdays we get to go scuba diving in the pool (most students don’t have their diving licences yet) and practice the basics. MEMS is another thing I look forward to every week.
Life here is never boring, I go to different things every night! For example, on Saturday I went to see a speaker who talked about psychology and the effect that trauma has on learning and the best ways to treat trauma. It was really interesting. Last night was the Middle Eastern National evening. Every region gets to put on a show about their culture, jokes and anything they want. Last weekend was the British national evening. Anywho, the Middle Eastern national evening was a laugh. Lots of amusing terrorist jokes with some really cool cultural dances. I think the American National evening isn’t until November, so we have a bit of time to plan things out.
Some of my friends from my house, Powys, have been sitting in on the student council and hearing about all the issues that our second years are facing. Speaking of which, all my second years are extremely stressed and I am vowing right now to get lots of my college stuff done over the summer so I won’t be as overwhelmed as they are.
Oh, I almost forgot to add that my friends and I went to Cardiff (the big city in Wales, about an hour and a half away) last weekend and we had a truly amazing moment. I know it sounds cheesy, but it should have come straight out of a movie. There was a band playing the street and we all started dancing and having a ball. Then they played a slower song, and everybody stood with their arms around each other singing, swaying, laughing. People in Cardiff starting coming up and taking pictures of us, and I guess it makes sense. Here we were, a bunch of people from every different ethnic background all holding and hands, smiling and really getting along. I think that’s what AC is really about, finding that you can have that sort of connection with anyone from anywhere. It’s hard to describe how happy we all were and the bond it formed.
On that note, I've been making some really amazing friends here and even though I've just been here one month (hard to believe, right?) I feel so incredibly close to them.
I promise to post again soon with some pictures so you all can see whats been going on!
This past week.. well classes have been taking over. They weren’t kidding when they said that IB is really hard. I’ve been fighting a pretty nasty cold as well, so it’s been exhausting. With the huge variety of activities going on and interesting people to talk to with coursework, I’ve been having trouble getting enough sleep. Welcome to college!
Activities.. well turns out I didn’t get into MUN. It was a random selection process, and my name didn’t get pulled. So as an alternative.. I am doing beekeeping. This is exciting for two reasons:
1. I am scared of bees. They freak me out, so I am learning all about them (bees are actually so incredible) and getting over my fear
2. Honey is very tasty and not only do I get to work with the bees but also I just used my graphic design knowledge (thank you Mr. Minyard!) to design the label for the honey jars that the college will be selling. I really like the bee keeping so far. I never thought I’d be working with bees in Wales. I’ll post the design up on the blog soon.
Classes have been interesting, some good, some not so much. I adore my Higher Level English class, its a really bright group of kids with a really enthusiastic teacher. We are finishing up reading Lord of the Flies (i think its my 3rd time reading the book..) and it’s been really neat to see the book from a different perspective. I gave my first IB oral presentation, and it went really well! So that was a nice way to start of my grade for this term. Next we will be reading The Collector, which is supposed to be pretty creepy.
For maths (yes, it is called maths, not math here. Strange Brits) its been a bit of an adventure. Long story short, I got kicked out my maths class because I knew too much and I am now in a different class. I like my new class better because I have some good friends in the class and the teacher is Hungarian. So he talks like this “With ze x and se vhy on ze axis, you move zhem like dis so that zhey..”. A bit hard to understand
Spanish is pretty miserable.. I am doing the IB Spanish in one year so I am with second years in my class. I don’t particularly like the teacher, and I’m glad I only have to be with him for one year. He is from Spain, and his accent is incredibly strong!
Design Technology is still really interesting. Right now we are using software to construct desk tidies, and its just really interesting. Plus the teacher is a real crack up, and I look forward to that class. Politics is also really interesting, and we just finished an essay criticizing democracy, and I am discovering my political thoughts more and more. Democracy isn’t always so grand..
West Asian history still hasn’t really taken off yet. We spent the last class discussing nationalism, and we listened to lots of national anthems.
I will confess that when the American national anthem was played I got a big smile on my face and felt really proud. Funny how I have to travel halfway across the world to develop any form of patriotism. I also find myself defending the US quite a bit.. in almost all of my humanities classes people tend to pick on the US and I am becoming more proud of the good things the US has done even though we have messed up a fair bit.
My service (MEMS-Marine Environmental Monitoring Service) has been good. Last week we did a big beach clean up and recorded the disgusting amount of trash. On Wednesdays we get to go scuba diving in the pool (most students don’t have their diving licences yet) and practice the basics. MEMS is another thing I look forward to every week.
Life here is never boring, I go to different things every night! For example, on Saturday I went to see a speaker who talked about psychology and the effect that trauma has on learning and the best ways to treat trauma. It was really interesting. Last night was the Middle Eastern National evening. Every region gets to put on a show about their culture, jokes and anything they want. Last weekend was the British national evening. Anywho, the Middle Eastern national evening was a laugh. Lots of amusing terrorist jokes with some really cool cultural dances. I think the American National evening isn’t until November, so we have a bit of time to plan things out.
Some of my friends from my house, Powys, have been sitting in on the student council and hearing about all the issues that our second years are facing. Speaking of which, all my second years are extremely stressed and I am vowing right now to get lots of my college stuff done over the summer so I won’t be as overwhelmed as they are.
Oh, I almost forgot to add that my friends and I went to Cardiff (the big city in Wales, about an hour and a half away) last weekend and we had a truly amazing moment. I know it sounds cheesy, but it should have come straight out of a movie. There was a band playing the street and we all started dancing and having a ball. Then they played a slower song, and everybody stood with their arms around each other singing, swaying, laughing. People in Cardiff starting coming up and taking pictures of us, and I guess it makes sense. Here we were, a bunch of people from every different ethnic background all holding and hands, smiling and really getting along. I think that’s what AC is really about, finding that you can have that sort of connection with anyone from anywhere. It’s hard to describe how happy we all were and the bond it formed.
On that note, I've been making some really amazing friends here and even though I've just been here one month (hard to believe, right?) I feel so incredibly close to them.
I promise to post again soon with some pictures so you all can see whats been going on!
Monday, September 14, 2009
After Camp
Once again, it’s been awhile since my last post because life actually has been insanely busy, yet amazing. I’ll start at the very beginning:
Camp. “I say AC you say Camp” “AC!!” “CAMP” “AC!” CAMP!!”. It’s going to be hard to describe how amazing it actually was. They stick 3 out of the seven houses (Powys, Sunley, Morgannwg) on a bus because there were two different camps and not everyone could be at the same camp. Anywho, we are on this bus for about 3 hours until we arrive at this rural little farm in Wales on the coast. We are greeted by some of our second year camp leaders who wow us with their spirit. Instead typing out everything, I am going to make a list of things about camp
-“From east to west, AC first years are the best. From city to city.. AC girls are really pretty. From spick to spot.. AC guys are really hot”
-On my first day we just got to play games like Fuzzy Duck, Splat, Hwa which are shockingly fun.
-One of the most memorable things about camp was that they blasted the same ten songs the entire time we were at camp including Dancing in the Moonlight, ABC 123, Spice Girls, all sorts of classics. Oh yeah, the entire camp dances to these songs on the tables. Fun stuff
-The weather was sunny in Wales, which is a real shocker. And we went on this beautiful hike along the coast for about 6 hours and bonded with the people in our groups. I met this great girl named Hannah who is on the same wavelength as me, and its so nice when you find somebody like that. The only downside of this beautiful hike, I got horrible blisters.
-The camp has this tradition where a group of people would yell “Hey [insert name here], shake your booty!” And the person would respond “NO WAY” and then people would yell “ Hey [insert name here] shake your booty!” After which the person would say “okay..”. At this point the entire camp would break out with “Jump shake your booty, jump jump shake your booty, jump shake your booty, jump jump shake your booty” while the person jumps around. Hilarious
-We got to go surfing on the welsh coast, which wasn’t as cold as I thought and actually loads of fun. I must say, I never thought I would be surfing in Wales.
-We also got to do this thing called coasteering, which is everything your parents never let you do. We put on these huge wetsuits, and climbed all over the cliffs, jumped into the tide, swam out too far, explored caves and last but not least we got to jump off these 20 foot cliffs ( i screamed like a little girl) but it was completely worth it.
-Two downsides to camp.. no showers. So on the last day we didn’t look so great. And our second years made our meals, so I can’t say that food was incredibly tasty.
-Did I mention that it was absolutely beautiful?
-We also had bonfires where people had to sing their national anthem, and any other song or talent that wanted to share. Who doesn’t love hearing your peers sit down and sing and play guitar at the camp fire?
-Camp also involved lots of shouting “ We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit how bout you?!” at the top of our lungs until everyone got incredibly horse and lost their voices. Not that that stopped us from shouting
So that my friends, was camp. I honestly had the time of my life, and I hope to be a camp leader again next year so I can go back. This weekend has also been a whirlwind of things...
We found out which service we will be in for the next years.. and I got into my favorite service-MEMS (Marine Environemental Monitoring Service)and we get to start scuba diving on wednesday. I am so thrilled to be in this service, I promise to keep you all about updated about what we are doing.
On Friday it was first Sosh (Sosh is where every Friday and Saturday people can go and dance and play music). It was neat to see everybody looking nice after being with them at camp, and since I have a blast dancing, it was really fun. Then after Sosh I came back to my house and a group of us sat outside with a little fire and told stories and fairytales until about 2am. Some of the stories that people came up with were just hilarious, and it was really fun.
Saturday I got to sleep in for the first time since I’ve been at AC! It was amazing, and I walked into Llantwit Major (the nearest town, about a half hour walk) to get some groceries. Once again, the weather was nice, and we made this amazing stir fry for dinner. Yesterday (Sunday) I escaped to go see the movie the Time Travellers’ Wife in Bridgend (Fun Fact: Bridgend has the highest amount of teen pregnancy and suicide in all of Europe. Depressing, eh?). Then back at the house we had a house debate about the death penalty and whether it was right or wrong. Not only do I love debates, but people on both sides of the debate had such good points and it was really interesting. It also affirmed the fact that I really do not believe in the death penalty. Next weekend we are debating about suicide, and that should be interesting.
Today is Monday, and my first day of codes (codes are classes). So far I have had math and English. I can already tell that I am going to really love my English class, the teacher is new, the students are interesting, and the books we are going to read seem super interesting. I’m on a free code at the moment, and after this I will head to lunch and then to Spanish. Oh, I decided to do something suicidal.. I am doing the IB Spanish in one year instead of two years. So I am going to be the only first year in my class, we will see how this goes. Then this evening I have design technology, and I have no idea what that is going to be like.
Also, this week is sports week. That means that each night of the week all of the houses compete in different sporting events and my house (Powys) has won for the last two years.. pressure is on.
We got to choose some activities, and it looks like I will be participating in operation smile, yoga, MUN, African dance, Italian cooking, amnesty international and the list goes on and on!
Basically.. I am loving my time here. This place is so full of things to do and interesting people to meet. I miss everybody at home, but not to fear, I am making some really great friends from all over the world. I will try to post again sometime this week, but I just get so busy. This is very long.. sorry about that. I love you all!
Camp. “I say AC you say Camp” “AC!!” “CAMP” “AC!” CAMP!!”. It’s going to be hard to describe how amazing it actually was. They stick 3 out of the seven houses (Powys, Sunley, Morgannwg) on a bus because there were two different camps and not everyone could be at the same camp. Anywho, we are on this bus for about 3 hours until we arrive at this rural little farm in Wales on the coast. We are greeted by some of our second year camp leaders who wow us with their spirit. Instead typing out everything, I am going to make a list of things about camp
-“From east to west, AC first years are the best. From city to city.. AC girls are really pretty. From spick to spot.. AC guys are really hot”
-On my first day we just got to play games like Fuzzy Duck, Splat, Hwa which are shockingly fun.
-One of the most memorable things about camp was that they blasted the same ten songs the entire time we were at camp including Dancing in the Moonlight, ABC 123, Spice Girls, all sorts of classics. Oh yeah, the entire camp dances to these songs on the tables. Fun stuff
-The weather was sunny in Wales, which is a real shocker. And we went on this beautiful hike along the coast for about 6 hours and bonded with the people in our groups. I met this great girl named Hannah who is on the same wavelength as me, and its so nice when you find somebody like that. The only downside of this beautiful hike, I got horrible blisters.
-The camp has this tradition where a group of people would yell “Hey [insert name here], shake your booty!” And the person would respond “NO WAY” and then people would yell “ Hey [insert name here] shake your booty!” After which the person would say “okay..”. At this point the entire camp would break out with “Jump shake your booty, jump jump shake your booty, jump shake your booty, jump jump shake your booty” while the person jumps around. Hilarious
-We got to go surfing on the welsh coast, which wasn’t as cold as I thought and actually loads of fun. I must say, I never thought I would be surfing in Wales.
-We also got to do this thing called coasteering, which is everything your parents never let you do. We put on these huge wetsuits, and climbed all over the cliffs, jumped into the tide, swam out too far, explored caves and last but not least we got to jump off these 20 foot cliffs ( i screamed like a little girl) but it was completely worth it.
-Two downsides to camp.. no showers. So on the last day we didn’t look so great. And our second years made our meals, so I can’t say that food was incredibly tasty.
-Did I mention that it was absolutely beautiful?
-We also had bonfires where people had to sing their national anthem, and any other song or talent that wanted to share. Who doesn’t love hearing your peers sit down and sing and play guitar at the camp fire?
-Camp also involved lots of shouting “ We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit how bout you?!” at the top of our lungs until everyone got incredibly horse and lost their voices. Not that that stopped us from shouting
So that my friends, was camp. I honestly had the time of my life, and I hope to be a camp leader again next year so I can go back. This weekend has also been a whirlwind of things...
We found out which service we will be in for the next years.. and I got into my favorite service-MEMS (Marine Environemental Monitoring Service)and we get to start scuba diving on wednesday. I am so thrilled to be in this service, I promise to keep you all about updated about what we are doing.
On Friday it was first Sosh (Sosh is where every Friday and Saturday people can go and dance and play music). It was neat to see everybody looking nice after being with them at camp, and since I have a blast dancing, it was really fun. Then after Sosh I came back to my house and a group of us sat outside with a little fire and told stories and fairytales until about 2am. Some of the stories that people came up with were just hilarious, and it was really fun.
Saturday I got to sleep in for the first time since I’ve been at AC! It was amazing, and I walked into Llantwit Major (the nearest town, about a half hour walk) to get some groceries. Once again, the weather was nice, and we made this amazing stir fry for dinner. Yesterday (Sunday) I escaped to go see the movie the Time Travellers’ Wife in Bridgend (Fun Fact: Bridgend has the highest amount of teen pregnancy and suicide in all of Europe. Depressing, eh?). Then back at the house we had a house debate about the death penalty and whether it was right or wrong. Not only do I love debates, but people on both sides of the debate had such good points and it was really interesting. It also affirmed the fact that I really do not believe in the death penalty. Next weekend we are debating about suicide, and that should be interesting.
Today is Monday, and my first day of codes (codes are classes). So far I have had math and English. I can already tell that I am going to really love my English class, the teacher is new, the students are interesting, and the books we are going to read seem super interesting. I’m on a free code at the moment, and after this I will head to lunch and then to Spanish. Oh, I decided to do something suicidal.. I am doing the IB Spanish in one year instead of two years. So I am going to be the only first year in my class, we will see how this goes. Then this evening I have design technology, and I have no idea what that is going to be like.
Also, this week is sports week. That means that each night of the week all of the houses compete in different sporting events and my house (Powys) has won for the last two years.. pressure is on.
We got to choose some activities, and it looks like I will be participating in operation smile, yoga, MUN, African dance, Italian cooking, amnesty international and the list goes on and on!
Basically.. I am loving my time here. This place is so full of things to do and interesting people to meet. I miss everybody at home, but not to fear, I am making some really great friends from all over the world. I will try to post again sometime this week, but I just get so busy. This is very long.. sorry about that. I love you all!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Off to Camp
Once again, these last couple of days have been amazing. This weekend we had service induction where we got to try out all of the services. We got to go out on the life boats (i got to drive one!) with the ILB service, we got to chop wood with the estate service, swim with the lifegaurds, archery with the EMC, sing with social service and it goes on and on. My favorite service at the moment is MEMS (Marine Environemental Monitoring Service) and this service not only gets certified as rescue level divers, but they also are wokring on cleaning up beaches, starting a lobster hatchery, and all sorts of environmental things. I will find out next monday which service I am in.
(For those of you who don't know, as a part of the Atlantic College program you have to choose one of 11 services that you do every week for the next two years)
As a part of induction, we had to pass a swimming test where you would either achieve a gold, silver, or broze depending on your abibility. I achived a silver, and I am still sore.
Today is my roomate, Nicole form Malyasia's birthday, and we really helped her turn 18! At midnight we tied her up, carried her into the showers while singing happy birthday, and then showered her with her clothes on. After which we fed her cake. What a way to turn 18!
In addition to all this, we have been playing so many games to get really comfortable with eachother. I feel amazingly close to the people in my house and its just a lot of fun. We played this wrestling game and got grass stains on all of our pants and my house, Powys, hosted a 'posh' that included lots of music, dancing, and a blacklight. It was a real blast.
Today we got to hear about of a the global concern activities in the college and how we can make a difference. All and all, pretty inspiring and I would like to join all of them from volunteering with amnesty international to raisign money for people in vietnam who suffer from effects of agent organge. I am really looking forward to all of the interesting debates that we are going to have
I leave this afternoon for camp, and wont return until friday. At camp we don't get to shower, and we live in cold wet tents with our co-years. It should be really fun and really bonding. Wish me luck at camp!
(For those of you who don't know, as a part of the Atlantic College program you have to choose one of 11 services that you do every week for the next two years)
As a part of induction, we had to pass a swimming test where you would either achieve a gold, silver, or broze depending on your abibility. I achived a silver, and I am still sore.
Today is my roomate, Nicole form Malyasia's birthday, and we really helped her turn 18! At midnight we tied her up, carried her into the showers while singing happy birthday, and then showered her with her clothes on. After which we fed her cake. What a way to turn 18!
In addition to all this, we have been playing so many games to get really comfortable with eachother. I feel amazingly close to the people in my house and its just a lot of fun. We played this wrestling game and got grass stains on all of our pants and my house, Powys, hosted a 'posh' that included lots of music, dancing, and a blacklight. It was a real blast.
Today we got to hear about of a the global concern activities in the college and how we can make a difference. All and all, pretty inspiring and I would like to join all of them from volunteering with amnesty international to raisign money for people in vietnam who suffer from effects of agent organge. I am really looking forward to all of the interesting debates that we are going to have
I leave this afternoon for camp, and wont return until friday. At camp we don't get to shower, and we live in cold wet tents with our co-years. It should be really fun and really bonding. Wish me luck at camp!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Arrival at AC
It’s been awhile since my last post, and so much has happened! This is going to be a long one…
First off, we finished up our family trip with a visit to the city of Bath to see the roman baths (truly amazing) and then a quick stop at stone henge before we headed off to UWC Atlantic College.
Arriving at AC (Atlantic College) was really exciting. Our car was greeted by screaming 2nd years in face paint banging pots and pans and my housemates shouting “Powys, united will never be defeated!” a thousand times over. My first day was just a whirlwind of events. I greeted the other first years coming on buses, and spent tons of time getting to know the other students in Powys (One of seven dormitories on campus) by playing all sorts of silly games. I also got to meet my roommates who are just lovely girls. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with my malyasian co-year (Nicole) who is a real sweetheart and I have no complaints.
The second day started out with a really scary ordeal: communal showers. It’s my first morning at my new home and I go to take a shower then realize that it is just a room with shower heads. No privacy at all. So I just had to suck it up and get over it if I wanted to be clean. Then the rest of the day was all sorts of castle orientation, swimming test, math test, and lots of lectures. Oh yeah, it poured buckets the entire time. I finally unpacked into my new tiny space, but I really like it. I promise I’ll put up a picture soon. Also that evening was the American national meeting, where all the Americans go and meet one another and talk. It was a real blast, because the Americans here at AC are a real crack up, but also incredibly smart. They had a debate and while it was really fascinating, it was also a bit intimidating. But overall a really great day besides the rain.
Yesterday was my third day here at AC. We have been hearing about all of the different classes you can take and all that jazz. It was a real problem choosing codes (classes) because they cancelled the Spanish class I was going to take so everything got mixed up but this is what I ended up with:
Higher Level:
English
History-West Asia
Design Technology
Standard Level:
Math Studies
Political Thought
Beginning French
The food here isn’t as horrible as everyone told me it would be. I have been finding all sorts of things to eat, and I always grab some extra fruit. Also, I am learning to really love my house, Powys. It is know to have the most spirit and be the most united house and so far all of that seems very true. It still shocks me at how friendly and welcoming everybody is. Oh, and apparently I pick up on accents really quick and I already am saying ‘sorry’ differently. So that’s a bit funny. Oh, and last night two of my dorm mates made sushi to share and we went to my houseparents house to eat more food and just hang out. A very good night..
I will try to post again soon, but induction period is just really crazy because there is so much to do and there is so much going on! And Monday I will head off to camp for a couple days. I’ve already started to notice that AC has a really friendly feel to it and even though it’s only been a couple days I already feel like this really is the place for me.
For all of you at home, I hope that you got your schedules figured out and that school starts out great for you all. I miss being able to share the little pieces of my day with you.
First off, we finished up our family trip with a visit to the city of Bath to see the roman baths (truly amazing) and then a quick stop at stone henge before we headed off to UWC Atlantic College.
Arriving at AC (Atlantic College) was really exciting. Our car was greeted by screaming 2nd years in face paint banging pots and pans and my housemates shouting “Powys, united will never be defeated!” a thousand times over. My first day was just a whirlwind of events. I greeted the other first years coming on buses, and spent tons of time getting to know the other students in Powys (One of seven dormitories on campus) by playing all sorts of silly games. I also got to meet my roommates who are just lovely girls. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with my malyasian co-year (Nicole) who is a real sweetheart and I have no complaints.
The second day started out with a really scary ordeal: communal showers. It’s my first morning at my new home and I go to take a shower then realize that it is just a room with shower heads. No privacy at all. So I just had to suck it up and get over it if I wanted to be clean. Then the rest of the day was all sorts of castle orientation, swimming test, math test, and lots of lectures. Oh yeah, it poured buckets the entire time. I finally unpacked into my new tiny space, but I really like it. I promise I’ll put up a picture soon. Also that evening was the American national meeting, where all the Americans go and meet one another and talk. It was a real blast, because the Americans here at AC are a real crack up, but also incredibly smart. They had a debate and while it was really fascinating, it was also a bit intimidating. But overall a really great day besides the rain.
Yesterday was my third day here at AC. We have been hearing about all of the different classes you can take and all that jazz. It was a real problem choosing codes (classes) because they cancelled the Spanish class I was going to take so everything got mixed up but this is what I ended up with:
Higher Level:
English
History-West Asia
Design Technology
Standard Level:
Math Studies
Political Thought
Beginning French
The food here isn’t as horrible as everyone told me it would be. I have been finding all sorts of things to eat, and I always grab some extra fruit. Also, I am learning to really love my house, Powys. It is know to have the most spirit and be the most united house and so far all of that seems very true. It still shocks me at how friendly and welcoming everybody is. Oh, and apparently I pick up on accents really quick and I already am saying ‘sorry’ differently. So that’s a bit funny. Oh, and last night two of my dorm mates made sushi to share and we went to my houseparents house to eat more food and just hang out. A very good night..
I will try to post again soon, but induction period is just really crazy because there is so much to do and there is so much going on! And Monday I will head off to camp for a couple days. I’ve already started to notice that AC has a really friendly feel to it and even though it’s only been a couple days I already feel like this really is the place for me.
For all of you at home, I hope that you got your schedules figured out and that school starts out great for you all. I miss being able to share the little pieces of my day with you.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
London: Day Three/Four
It has been another couple of jam-packed days here in London.
London Day 3/4:
-I fell madly in love with the Tower of London. All of the stuff about King Henry VIII, traitors gate, the crown jewels (it looks like somebody went crazy with a bedazzler) and everything was really neat. All the stuff that I had read about in books was right there in front me: incredible. Plus everything is all just so old
-St. Paul's Cathedral was a sight, even if I never actually went inside (Pay $15 to go into a church? No thanks).
-We went on a little walking tour and came upon the church with the steeple that inspired today's modern wedding cake. Funny thing, the church is called "Bride Church" by complete coincidence.
Until Later!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
London: Day Two
Second day in London, and it was a marathon day. Here are the highlights from today:
-For breakfast this morning, they tried to serve us stewed tomatoes. Let's just say, I wasn't feeling so hungry.
-We got to march in with the band for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The best part... the band was playing "Mama Mia" while the guards were marching about. All the tourists starting singing along, and it was completely priceless. Also, I have never seen so many tourists in one place..
-Westminster Abbey blew me away. We were seeped in history. It really lived up to all the expectations. Rick Steves guided us to the best parts including Queen Elizabeth's and Bloody Marys burial chamber, the royal coronation chair, and tributes to Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, and a whole spectrum of poets, scientists, royalty, and all sorts of important British people. Even Martin Luther King, Jr. made an appearance.
-Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament were very impressive and worth the walk.
-In the British Library we saw original Beatles Music lyrics, the first Alice in Wonderland, Da Vinci's notes, the Magna Carta, and the list could go on and on.
-The British Museum (besides being free, a rare thing in London) showed me how much the British pillaged from other countries! We were hard pressed to find something that was British in the British Museum. And most of the statues were headless with signs stating that the heads were in some other European museum. Strange
-Platform 9 and 3/4! Cheesy, but it was a must.
-We ended our long day with a true London meal.. Indian food!
It's still hard to take in all the history and culture that this city has to offer. Not to be cheesy or anything, but it's only been two days and we have barely scratched the surface of this ancient city.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Arrival in London
After about 24 hours of travel, we arrived in London (not without changing planes in Iceland of all places, now there is a cool stamp to have on my passport).
A couple observations about London thus far:
1st: The first accent I heard when I stepped off the plane was not a British accent, but instead an Indian accent. Welcome to London
2nd: On all of their trains a female voice goes "Mind the Gap" as opposed to "Watch your Step". It's all very British.
3rd: People weren't joking when they said that the weather here is pretty miserable. Today started out a little warm, and then got gray, foggy, and rained on us all afternoon. I'm going to have to get used to this weather
4th: Traveling halfway across the world does tire somebody out. We went on a double decker bus tour of London just so we could have something to do, and so we could see the city. It seemed like a good idea in theory. I kept nodding off, and it just so happened that at one point when I was asleep, the bus lurched and I whacked my head on the seat in front of me. This happened twice. Now I have a lovely bump on my forehead and I think I better get some sleep.
A couple more days in London and 5 days until I start at AC!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Hates the Sounds Goodbyes Make
Today was my last day in Corvallis.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) I'd say it was about a 9.5! It's 3am, and I am still packing. But that is me.. always leaving it all to the last minute. I said some really important goodbyes today, but I know that everyone will be here when I come back. So this is it, my last day in Corvallis, in the USA, my last day before life as I know it is turned upside down. Here goes nothing!
ps. thanks to everyone who came to my goodbye party, called me, or just wished me luck. It means a lot.
pps. I will miss you all a ton!
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) I'd say it was about a 9.5! It's 3am, and I am still packing. But that is me.. always leaving it all to the last minute. I said some really important goodbyes today, but I know that everyone will be here when I come back. So this is it, my last day in Corvallis, in the USA, my last day before life as I know it is turned upside down. Here goes nothing!
ps. thanks to everyone who came to my goodbye party, called me, or just wished me luck. It means a lot.
pps. I will miss you all a ton!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Visa
After lots of stress and even a trip down to LA (by my dad) I finally have my Visa! It is such a relief, it seems more and more like I will actually be able to get to the UK. Now that I have my visa, my house, and dorm mates everything is already seeming less like a dream and more like reality.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Ah, Packing
5 days left in Corvallis, and the packing has begun.
Right now, it seems nearly impossible to fit my entire life into two suitcases. But I printed off the packing list and am beginning to make a small dent into the huge list.
I'm also making list of people I need to see before I leave, things I need to do, etc. Here is what I have so far:
-See all my friends, and say goodbye. well more like see you later
-American Dream Pizza
-Gelato
-The Beanery
-Something exciting?
Right now, it seems nearly impossible to fit my entire life into two suitcases. But I printed off the packing list and am beginning to make a small dent into the huge list.
I'm also making list of people I need to see before I leave, things I need to do, etc. Here is what I have so far:
-See all my friends, and say goodbye. well more like see you later
-American Dream Pizza
-Gelato
-The Beanery
-Something exciting?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Dorm mates!
I have discovered that I will be in Powys house (one of 7 dormitories on campus: Dyfed, Gwynedd Morgannwg, Powys, Sunley, Whitaker, and Tice).
Each house has about 48 students, half girls, half boys. Each dorm has about 3 or 4 people. I will be rooming with 2nd year Marieke from Germany, 2nd year Kimberly from Gibraltar and 1st year Nicole from Malaysia. Talk about international.
6 Days Left!
Each house has about 48 students, half girls, half boys. Each dorm has about 3 or 4 people. I will be rooming with 2nd year Marieke from Germany, 2nd year Kimberly from Gibraltar and 1st year Nicole from Malaysia. Talk about international.
6 Days Left!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Leaving
One week left in Corvallis until I move to Wales to attend United World College of the Atlantic.
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