Time flies

Hello everyone,

I'm so sorry I didn't write for such a long time. Time flies here in MUWCI, I didn't realize i've already been here for 3-4 weeks :o

So anyway. I will give a short overview of what happened. I feel a little akward writing this now as I found out a lot of my now first-years read this blog :D So guys; don't judge (;

Also, I would like to mention that my firstyear (Louise) has a blog now and I really like it, so if you are interested in what happens here, check out her blog as well. She will probably write more than me this year (life of MUWCI/IB second year is tough): http://louisevandamme.blogspot.in/

So the first week was orientation week for firstyears. This year, different from last year, second-years HAD to take part of it. There were all kind of activities.

-Treasure hunt: I dont really know how this was because second-years weren't allowed to take part of this as we know campus too well for it.

- Speeddating: Basically you get 1 minut and a really random question (example: topic is underwear, What is the weirdest body part? etc.) and you get to bond with a person. After one minut you switch to the next person. It is a lot of fun as some questions result in really funny answers and it is a good way to get to know some people as you remember anecdotes as their answers.

My roommate Shreya (Bangalore, India) during speed dating. Credits: Ivan

- Meeting the staf, faculty etc. If you want to get to know them as well, check out this video. It gives a good idea of the faculty, but ALSO of MUWCI atmosphere. (It is hilarious!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JBJ0btv85kg

- Mud-games. This is probably one of the most fun parts of orientation week. Due (or maybe thanks to?)to the rain the grass-parts are very muddy, so MUWCI students are very creative and have plenty of mudgames. It is hard to describe what it is like, but most people enjoy it even though we get very dirty and smell kind of bad (;

(I dont have pictures of myself because no-one took them I think :D And I was too busy with the mud.. But this should give you an idea)

Credits Ivan

Credits Ivan

- The most special part of orientation week was probably the homestay. We were divided in 3 groups and during 3 days every day 1 group went to the villages down the hill (we have a programm with these villages called Akshara which I can explain another time in another post if you want). We stayed in the houses of people there and lived with the for 2 days-1night. It was a very enriching experience. The people were SO nice and the food was really tasteful (But SO spicy :D) I got Hena done by one of the girls and I felt like I really got close to them. I would definately go back to see them. However, for me it was pretty hard to sleep with that many insects. Also, we slept at literally 1 meter from 7 cows which lived in their house. The house was really smal (2 rooms of about 9m^2) and everything was very basic (no kitchen, just fire and pots etc). But I think it was very important to experience this as it made me realize I am living a very luxury life compared to many people. However, I would like to emphasize that this does not mean that these people are "less" than us or are not happy! Sadly, I dont have any pictures of this as we were adviced not to take our camera.

So that was basically orientation week. It was really exhausting, but a lot of fun. After that school started again. Right now, I should actually be writing my EE which is due monday, but I decided to take some time to keep eveyone informed and assure you I'm still living (;

So a new year brings new friends, new roommates,... My roommates this year are: Sonia from Poland (like last year), Shreya from Bangalore in India (firstyear) and Daniella from New-Mexico (firstyear). I will tell more about my Housemates after our first housediner monday. My roommates though are very nice and I'm happy I get on well with them so good because I will have to live with them for 1 year :D We bonded a lot already. I now live in wada 4 and not in wada 2 anymore but I guess that doesnt mean anything to people who havent gone to MUWCI (:

Roompicture : From left to right (and then to the girl above :D): Shreya - me - Daniella - Sonia

. Credits: Shreya

Same order as above (; Credits: Sonia

I will just give some more pictures of MUWCI and new people and stuff and that's it for today. I'll go work on my EE (=Extended Essay = 4000-word essay about a topic we can chose)

View from the tree-house: Mount Wilkinson (I dont know if this is the ight way to write it though) Credits: Ada

Other view from the tree-house. Credits: Ada

Wada 2, my previous wada. Credits: Ada (Poland, Sonia's firstyear)

India (: Credits: Ada

India (: Credits: Daan (The Netherlands)

India (: Credits: Daan

 Oh, this is my advisor. He is basically the person I can go to with all my problems. He has been a great help for me during all this time. He is a very sweet person. I present to you: Douglas :D (Credits: Pema-Tibet)

Chilling during orientation week: Shreya (India), me, Neil (Dubai), Daniella (New Mexico), Indi (UK) Credits: Shreya

Orientation week: me and Neil

The typical first-year picture: view from the tree-house in monsoon (in summer it gets all dry and brown :D) credits: Sreyashi

How we deal with electricity in India. This is something I do all the time here, but back home I realized how weird it actually is. (You need to use the pencil to put the plug in) Credits: Sreyashi

One of the entrances to the Academic Quarter. Credits: Thule (Netherlands/Canada)

I don't immediatly recognize this wada, but it is one of them :D Credits: Thule

Entrance of the Science building. Credits: Thule

There you go. That was it.

XOXO

Pauline