Project week

Hello people!

Sorry it took me so long to write the next post. I wasn't on campus because I had exeat from 27/10-3/11. So here's a little update of my project week. I don't have all the pictures yet, so I will post a few of them and later on some more. I did so much on project week that I desided that I'll just copy some passages of my diary (translated into English and censured ofcourse (; ).

I hope you guys will have an idea of how project week was for me.

27-10-2012

(16:30) "Hey diary, I'm the train to Bangalore now. We left school at 9am. Everyone was so excited because for us the idea of being on an Indian train is very special. But acctually now I'm here I don't find it that special. It's very similar to the European sleep-trains. My roommates (Sonia and Aishwarya) left yesterday and this morning Minjoo came to drop me of at the bus and she said 'I feel like a mother, I'm so proud of you and I'm gonna miss you!' It was so sweet, I really love my roommates! Anyways

with my European length of course the bed is a little bit to small, but what to do? If I fold my legs a little bit I fit so it's ok. There are 3 beds on 1 wall. I'm so happy that I have the one on top. Otherwise if one of the beds falls down it would be on me. I already start  being bored and we're only here for 5 hours yet so I have another 11hours left..."

(20:30) "We're still on the train en we played card-games and games such as 2truth1lie, the pointing game, never have I ever,... We also got train food which, surprisingly, wasn't that bad and wasn't spicy either. And we all survived the Indian train-tiolet (; It's just a hole in the floor and 2 steps to put your feets on. Actually it's cleaner than the Belgian ones because there isn't pee all over the place.. The only problem is that there's no toiletpaper, but we have tissues (:"

(21:00) "I suddenly had a genious income (This train makes me so weird :d): Life is actually like an Indian train. We don't know anything about the journey except for the destination. Sometimes it's scary, uncomfortable and not how we want it to be, but it can also be fun, emotional and bonding. So we should enjoy this experience because it may only happen once.

28-10-2012

(8:00) "There we go, I survived my first night on an Indian train. Except for a baby that started crying at 4am followed by a girl that caughed until 7am I slept well. In 1 hour we'll arrive in Bangalore."

(23:45) "We arrived and the lady immediatly welcomed us with delicious Dosa

 

We didn't do a lot today because we had free and we were tired from the train adventure. We visited Bangalore a little bit 'til 9pm."

29-10-2012 

(16:00) "Today we went to the children in 'dreamschool' for the first time. They are so cute :o it's really incredible!"

 

 
 

 
 

 

 



"There are 4 classes: The migrants (called chilipilli's because they make so much noice), NCLP (National child labour project), the 7th grade (to compare with the Belgium system: I'm doing 11th and 12th grade) and the 10th grade. All the children come from difficult backgrounds and get an education here so they can proceed with their lives. The nice thing is that you almost don't see that some of them come from bad backgrounds."

(22:20) "We just went to Bangalore city :D We went out eating with Sheila and Pramod in an Italian restaurant (I know, it's very contradictory :d but the food was really good). It was a lot of fun."

30-10-2012

"Today we went shopping in a little market and I bought the best present ever for my parents (I'm not gonna tell what because they read it). We went to the school again and we had presentations about what they do exactly. Tomorrow we'll be able to spend some time with the children. We also went shopping in MG Road. It was nice, but not as nice as MG road in Mumbai. By the way, there are MG roads everywhere because it is Mahadma Ghandi road (:

31-10-2012

"Today we went to a show because it is Kannada Rajvothswa (which is a local festival). De kids all dansed and sang for one of their gods. It was really pretty and they were so talented! At the end they give us a rose. It was so cute!"

2-11-2012

"Today we went to the children. I spent time with the children of 7th grade and with the NCLP-children. I liked the NCLP ones more because they were more energetic and creative. But both of them were very nice."

 

The rest of our project week we just visited Bangalore. It was very nice and I really enjoyed my time there because it really inspired me. When I came back my roommates left me notes because they missed me (they came back 1 day earlier than me). I really realized that although we sometimes complain about the bad things in MUWCI, I really love it and I miss it when I'm not there. I'm starting to feel as if this was my second home. The community as we have it here is something that I got used to now and I wouldn't want to miss it.

 

So that was it about Project Week. I'll keep you guys updatet when new things happen, but it's very busy right now so I can't promise when exactly I'll write again. I know that for those of you that are applicate for UWC it is almost time, so good luck and don't worry; just be yourself (:

 

xoxo,

Pauline

Extra Information

Hey guys,

I told you all about first and second year show, about wada concert (maybe I didn't, but it was just a concert in wada2, nothing important) and about MUWCI Fest (I didn't yet, but my next post will explain that (; )
But to give you all a better idea I'll give you all the links of the videos made in those events. That way you can see the talent from MUWCI!

First year show:
- Indian group dance - MUWCI 1st year show 2012 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPOvd54cac&feature=youtu.be)
- Men's Performance - MUWCI 1st year show 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8e2AfoI8tY&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI 1st year show - fashion show dance party  
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTdGpGtBA98&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI 1st year show - girls dancing :) 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApsCJeoyOnw&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI 1st year show - Korean dance 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekvIUsy_AXE&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI 1st year show - Never Go to Med Centre Band performing "Mamma mia!" 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cji2DkY6W0&feature=youtu.be)
 
Second year show:
- Boys' acrobatics - MUWCI 2nd year show 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ROSflDdWPQ&feature=youtu.be)
- Shanina's bellydance - MUWCI 2nd year show 2012 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZL8iu_FSM&feature=youtu.be)
- Leo & The Band - MUWCI 2nd year show 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFcIfM1a3iY&feature=youtu.be)
- Paud's drummers performance - MUWCI 2nd year show 2012 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xq3hTQkzQA&feature=youtu.be)
 
Wada Concert:
- Anyone else but you - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTyGnrSPf4&feature=youtu.be)
- Hotel California - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXR_klMrA8&feature=youtu.be)
- Keep Holding On - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUogxYT6rIw&feature=youtu.be)
- Korean song - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HebgXKmnFag&feature=youtu.be)
- Lauren's song - MUWCI Wada Concert 2012 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANbU_DAqNP0&feature=youtu.be)
- Ludo's sexy and he knows it - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiO_dGxzTo&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI boys have problems too - Wada Concert 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiWIjpxfB5M&feature=youtu.be)
- Will's thing - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSYOuMd67wA&feature=youtu.be)
- Wish You Were Here - MUWCI 2012 Wada Concert
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcIK0WTOP0&feature=youtu.be)
 
MUWCI Fest:
- Chasing Pavements - Padya - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEh4YWqt_Xk&feature=youtu.be)
- Junesoo and Azyan - MUWCI Fest 2012 
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X02yOYhcTVA&feature=youtu.be)
- Lauren&Chantal "Cosmic love" - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsughCApq6g&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI Rhapsody - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MuD1-LJhw4&feature=youtu.be)
- The Cheater's Game - Brenda, Elize & Tristan - "Tired" - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6V9pp3zfyE&feature=youtu.be)
- MUWCI Acapella - Lollipop - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wlfwMjDiA&feature=youtu.be)
- Kanishka's melody - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rev5Ua_dsc&feature=youtu.be)
- Aneesa - "Heartless" acoustic - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0TOz0bgmlk&feature=youtu.be)
- little help from my friends - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kWyZGQv_a0&feature=youtu.be)
- Korean Band - MUWCI Fest 2012
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poqpjdI6yoM&feature=youtu.be)


Hope you guys will enjoy it!
Kisses,
Pauline

Welcome new people (;

Hey everyone,
I heard that this weekend was the information sessions in Belgium. I would like to thank everyone who went! I hope you guys enjoyed it and I heard from my parents that some of you guys read my blog... AWSOME!! I love you guys (;
I wish everyone a lot of GOOD LUCK for the selection rounds, don't hesitate if you're good enough and don't compare yourself to the others, you are all amazing in your own way!
I'll try to come to some of the selection rounds if I'm in Belgium at that time!
Looking forward to meet you all!
Kisses,
Pauline (I'm crossing my fingers for you)

Mumbai exeat

Hey everyone,

This weekend was exeat. Exeat is a weekend in which we can travel around India. My friends and I desided to go to Mumbai. So friday after school, 14:30, we took the bus (of course we left at 15.. This is India..). We were 21 people in a bus for 18 people so 3 had to sit on the ground for the whole trip. (Fortunately I didn't)

As you can see we had a lot of fun! The 20 people were: Amrita (India), Aishwarya (India), Sonia (Polen), Mary (Brunay), Thy (Vietnam), Eunhee (South-Korea), So Hee (South-Korea), Chi (Vietnam), Amelia (Maleisia), Melisa (Maleisia),  Lauren (Africa), Louise (South-Africa), Satsuki (Japan), Haruna (Japan), Marie (Denmark), Clara (Brasil), Eden (Israel), Rhea (India), Ilayda (Turkye), Lan Anh (Vietnam) and me (Belgium (; )

 

 

We arrived at Amrita's house at 9pm. Her parents were so nice and we immediatly felt like home. One of their friends cooked for us. He was a chef in Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, so the food was AMAZING! Her house was very pretty and se even had a pool (a common one), but when we wanted to go it was in construction ):

So the first day we woke up at 7am and we went to Mumbai centre. First we visited a art gallery. I didn't really like it, but when you're with friends everything is fun. So Aishwarya and I made some funny pictures.

So after that we went to Colaba cross road. This is a shopping street with all kind of little shops on the street... You have to bargain to pay less. It was a lot of fun! It is also unfair because I was with Aishwarya and I always had to pay two times more.. I don't have pictures from Colaba cross road, but it looked a little bit like this:

Then we went to Gateway in India and Taj Mahal Hotel. This is the hotel that had a terrorist attack that traumatised whole India. We took a boat to go see Gateway from far. It was very nice and refreshing, because Mumbai was so hot :o

 (Gateway in the background)

(on the boat)



After that we went to Marine drive. That is a sort ocean next to the street but there is no beach and it is very dirty because Indians have the weird habbit to just throw away all their dirt on the ground..

This is how it looks like in most of the Indian streets..

So we got back to Amrita's at 11pm.

The next day we woke up at 6 and we got ready to go to Pogoda temple. This was a big Golden temple that we reached by taking a boat. It was very beautiful from the outside and the inside was very calm and made you lose all your stress. Their were a lot of meditation sessions, we did one. It was very nice to just relax and think about nothing for a moment. After that we went to the supermarket to buy things for MUWCI. It was very nice to see a "normal" shop. It was a very nice, but exhausting day. Here is a picture of Pogoda temple:

The next day we woke up at 9am and we got ready to leave. but first we went to the beach. It was not as clean as the Belgian beach, but it was ok and we had a lot of fun.

That was my exeat.. Here are some more pictures:

 (On the background: Mary and Sonia, in the front: Me and Aishwarya)

 

 (me, Sonia, Marie & Mary taking fun pictures)

 (Aishwarya and I)

 

 

 A man came to Amrita's house for Henna, so all of us got it..

 

 

So I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures, my exeat was really nice.

Kisses,

Pauline

 

50/15

I told you about the 50/15 celebrations, here is a video that was made in our college for the 50/15. a nice quote was:"The world is going to end in.. December 2012.. so, why think 50 years ahead?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7eHEyIp4NM

Enjoy!

And every month there is a 'photo of the month'-contest. The selected picture were: 

 (Azyan)

 

(Alzbeta)

 

(Anish)

 

 (Shanina)

 

 (Angela)

 

(Clara)

 

(Minjoo)

 

(Siddhart)

 

The picture of Azyan won the contest. You can see that there is a lot of talented people on MUWCI :D

Kisses,
Pauline

Already one month at MUWCI

Hey everyone,

Sorry it took me so long to write the next post, but finally.. HERE IT IS (;.

So the last two weeks a lot happened because it was 50/15 celebration and Ganesh festival. 50/15 celebration was a celebration for 50 years UWC and 15 years MUWCI. There were a lot of activities, live skypes with other colleges and discussion. One day all the classrooms were designed as one of the colleges. Aishwarya, Basil and I had UWC-USA. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

In the same weekend as the 50/15 celebrations there was Ganesh festival. Ganesh is one of the biggest Gods in India (you know, the “elephant-god”) and they celebrate his birth with Ganesh festival. So they put a statue of Ganesh on a sort of truck and brought it to the river to let it go. While we were walking towards the river there was music and everyone was singing and dancing and people threw with colored powder (that is part of the tradition). Afterwards I had to wash my hair 5 times to get it all out (;

 

 

 

(Aishwarya, me, Bianca)

We had so much fun and it’s a pity that we don’t have events like those in Belgium, because it is a lot of fun and it brings people together.

 

(Sonia, Satsuki, Sisi, me and someone who I forgot the name of :s)

Yesterday there was a presentation about economics hold by Mr. Rahul Bajaj (for those who don’t know him: he is the man of the riksjas and ven’s and much more in India) and Mr. Jack Trout (also very famous in the economic world). It was very interesting and even though I’m not an economic person I understood it and I learned something from it. In the presentation there was a beautiful quote: “It is the life force which cures diseases because a dead man needs no more medicines” – Samuel Hahnemann.

For focus weekend (a weekend to help us improve our skills for the Off-campus CE) we watched a movie/documentary called ‘Blindsight’. It is a documentary about a group of Tibetan blind children who climb a mountain. It was very inspiring and I would recommend everyone to watch it. It is the kind of movies that makes you think about your life and what you want to do with it.

The last thing I want to tell you guys about is my ‘house dessert’. There is a kind of tradition in MUWCI that you have house dinners sometimes (it’s something you organize with your house so it’s not compulsory and there is no rules of how or how often it should happen). We desided to do a house dinner but everyone wanted to make desserts so we had a house dessert. It was very nice because it helps to bond with your housemates. We had a lot of fun and ate a lot of yummie desserts.

 My housemates are: Sonia-Poland, Aishwarya-India, Minjoo-South-Korea, Ranne-Brasil, Eeshta-India, Lucia-Luxemburg and Ilayda-Turkey) The first 3 are my roommates.

 (The coolest house: WADA 2 H10)

 (Ilayda from Turkey and me)

(Aishwarya-India, Ilayda-Turkey, Sonia-Poland, me-Belgium, Eeshta-India)

So, that was it for this time, byebye

Pauline

 

Just MUWCI

Hey everyone,

I all previous posts I realized how difficult it was to give you an idea of how MUWCI is really like.. A co-year of me (from Portugal) made a video of orientation week (the first week of MUWCI) and I think it will give you an idea of MUWCI.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=algKKPqw7QE

let the school begin!

Hey everyone,

So since 7 days the school has started in MUWCI. As I already explained in another post, it's a different system here. We work in cycles of seven days so if for example we start with monday = day 1, then teusday=day 2, wednesday= day 3, thursday= day4, friday = day 5 and the next monday is day 6 etc. It's a little bit confusing at the moment because we have to remember which 'day' we are. every day contains 5 blocks. As you can see on the picture below.

 

Every block is a different subject. For example my shedule is:
A-block = free block (so I don't have any class)
B-block = English Literature and Language (Higher Level)
C-block = Philosophy (Higher Level)
D-block = Mathematics (Standard Level)
E-block = Theatre (Higher Level)
F-block = Self taught Dutch (Standard Level)
G-block = Environmentel systems (Standaard Level)
Since we are still in trial period (=one month were we can try all the subjects and activities) these subjects are not fixed yet. The idea is that we choose 7 subjects, one from each category. We can choose between the following subjects:
FIRST LANGUAGE:
- English Literature
- English Literature and Language
- Self Taught from a random language
- English B
- French
- Spanish
- German
SECOND LANGUAGE:
- French
- English
- Spanish
- Hindi
EXACT SCIENCES:
- Environmentel systems (ESS)
- Physics
-Chemistry
- Biology
HUMANITIES:
- Economy
- Psychology
- History
- Philosophy
- World religions
MATHEMATICS:
- Math studies (1 or 2 year course)
- Mathematics (Standard or Higher level)
- Furter Math (Higher level only)
ARTS:
- Theatre
- Visual arts
- Dance
- Film
OR a subject of the other groups (art is not compulsary).

So now I'm trying out a lot of courses to see which one I like the most. After trial period we have to decide, but if we really want to change afterwards we can.
A few days ago there was the first and second year show. These shows are organised by the first and second years. The first one was the first year show. We did a lot of dances, performances and some people sang etc. I performed an ABBA dance with a few other first years. We were dressed up in toga's made of our bedsheets.

 

We had a lot of fun and the second years liked our show. The next day it was the second years show. Their show was really amazing! We didn't have to do anything except dressing up. The theme was "class or swag" I went as class and most of my friends did aswell.

 

 (me, David, Mary) 

(Mary, me, Himaanshu, Sonia, Ivan, Jairo)

 

 

Last saturday I went to Pune. Pune is the city that is 40km from MUWCI. We went to the SGS Mall (a sort of shopping center), but I was kind of dissapointed because it was really European. So next time we will go to the market, which is typical Indian. But we had a lot of fun in Pune and we had the opportunity to buy we we needed. Here are some pictures from our trip to Pune (you can see the stores and the European look)

 

 

I think that's it for this time. MUWCI is very very very busy, so I'm so sorry I don't write a lot! But I'll try to post something at least once a week..

 

kisses,

Pauline





 

 

 

 

 

 

First week at MUWCI

Hey everyone,
So I've been in MUWCI for 5 days now and if I had to describe it in 1 word it would be AWESOME! It's really hard to explain how MUWCI is like. I arrived Sunday in Mumbai and then we took a bus during 7 hours to get at MUWCI. When I got there I found out I was sleeping in wada 2 house 10L. A wada is basically a kind of big building with houses in. In the middle of the wada you have a open place where you can sit down and there's a common room where you can just sit, relax, talk with other people and do you laundry. So after I arrived Sunday I didn't do a lot. At MUWCI you're really "free" so I had nothing to dothe first day and I just checked out the place. MUWCI is so big that at the beginning I got lost a few times but there was always a second year to help my find my way back. So the next days we had a lot to do but don't have any classes yet. We just meet new people and try to learn everything about MUWCI. We had a academic and triveni fair where we just saw all the different courses and CAS-activities you can do. CAS-activities are the activities you do after school in the afternoon. You have to take one on-campus triveni, one off-campus triveni and one student initiative. The first month at MUWCI is a trial period so you can just try all the courses and trivenis and then you can deside which you want to take. The atmosphere at MUWCI is really relax and fun but also busy. We have a lot of things to do but we can do it like we want to so we're really free. That is nice but for some people it can be hard because you have to manage your time on your own. There is also a advisor (who in my case is an English teacher called Douglas). In a group of about 10 people you see your advisor every week to discuss a lot of things and ask things and talk about your problems.. In the advisor group you have basically 1 buddy -but I have 2- that help you aswell. Yesterday there was a buddy bal where you had to go dressed up with your buddy. It was a lot of fun. I can't tell everything because that would be too much but if you have a question just ask and I'll answer it! 
Kisses,
Pauline

Byebye Belgium!

I've been in the newspaper yesterday and today. (De Standaard & Het Nieuwsblad) here are the pictures ;)

So today is officially my last day in Belgium! At 11:15 tomorrow I will take the plane to India.. I'm gonna miss everyone a lot, but it will be so amazing! If you want to sent me a letter, you can do it at the following adress:

Pauline Stas

UWC Mahindra college

Village Khubavali, Po Paud, 412108 India

So byebye Belgium! My next message will be from India!