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!
Monday, September 28, 2009
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.
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