One last time

Hi everyone,

So firstly, don't worry, this is not the last post -which my title might suggest- but it is the last term in MUWCI *sadface*. As promised yesterday is here my blog post :) 

Firstly I want to thank all people who helped us to raise funds for the weelchairs. Here is a personal thank you from Sankar and his family.

It is incredible how fast we raised all the funds needed. However, if you still want to give money, that is still possible. All the money that we get now will be used for therapy for the two boys. I think it is amazing to see that in less than 24 hours we raised enough money. This proves that it is possible to achieve something if you really want it and if all nations and people work together. I would say; an extraordinary example of the effectiveness of UWC :)

Secondly, I would like to apologize (jeez, this blog is like a massive apology about not writing :D). This term I had a lot more of free time, so it's not like work was stopping me from writing. I guess I was just not used to it anymore. So as I said, the workload is now lower than last term (that is not very hard if you would know how much work we had last term). It is not lower than last year, but because last term was so heavy this seems so free. Moreover, I decided to procrastinate less and stop participating in the complain-culture of MUWCI. What do I mean by that? Well, people here tend to complain a lot about the work they have. This, together with the endless procrastination in MUWCI, leads to the feeling that you are working all the time. I decided to not do this anymore and enjoy my free time by having fun (without laptop) and meeting people. I must say that I have been enjoying of my MUWC-experience a lot this term. It is crazy that it is already the last term and that time goes so fast. Especially now that I'm enjoying more than before I really don't want to see May coming... 

So what happened this term? Waw, so much, I will again not be able to tell you ALL the details. However, I will try to show videos and pictures which should show you my time here... 

So during winterbreak I went home for 10 days and then travelled in India with my parents. We visited Delhi, Agra, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Chittorgarh, Ajmer, Pushkar, Amritsar and MUWCI (not in this order but whatevz). It was such an amazing experience. To be honest, I liked it way more than travelling with MUWCI-people because it was a little more comfortable. Obviously, MUWCI-holidays is also different as in that it is less cultural and more 'chilling' in Goa etc. I could tell you so much about my summer, but I think if you want to know more about that, you should just ask my parents back home or me when you see me :) I will show some pictures so you can get an idea of how it was. 

 So moving on, a few days ago there was American regional evening. I forgot to tell about African regional evening last term, so here are two videos; One of African regional evening and one of American regional evening. I think it reflects the basis of the evenings :) 

Well well :) That was nice no? Next up: THEATRE SEASON!!! 

So each year in February, MUWCI has a theatre season in which several plays are performed. This year I will be directing on that will be on 13 and 14 of February. It is a lot of work and it is pretty exhausting, but in the end it is worth it (I hope ;) ). Last year I performed in Information For Foreigners, and our play was together with Proof (the faculty-play) the best play of the whole season. I am still trying to get the video for that play... Once I have it I will upload it... :) For those of you who are interested in coming (or just want to know which plays will be performed), here is the poster: Theatre Season Poster (click here)

Another big event this year was the Masquerade Ball. Because Theatre Season falls on Valentine this year, we will not have a Valentine soirrée. That is why this year, we had a Masquerade Ball instead. It was very nice. Here are some pictures. 

Me and Aishwarya (Bangalore)

Me, Aishwarya (Bangalore) and Disket (Ladakh)

Aishwarya (Bangalore), Phuntsho (Buthan) and me

Sonia (Poland), Himaansu (Mauritius) and me

Me, Neel (Delhi) and Patricia (Portugal) 

 

Me and Shruti (Delhi)

Sonia (Poland), Himaansu (Mauritius) and me

Alvaro (Guatemala), Sonia (Poland) and me

Me, Shruti (Delhi) and Sonia (Poland)

Wardah (Pakistan) and me

Me, Aishwarya (Bangalore) and Disket (Ladakh)

 Finally, I would like to wish the best of luck to all new applicants. I believe the process of selection will start soon. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask me, I will (try to) answer. I won't give my email because of privacy reasons, but you can find me on facebook or just react on the blog. Here is a last video that gives an idea of what a  UWC is like :) 

Waw, this was a long post! :D 

See you soon,

XOXO,

Pauline

URGENT

Hi everyone,

I KNOW I haven't been writing and I PROMISE I'll do it soon, but this is an urgent ask for your help!

Wheelchairs for Arnav and Sayan is a student initiated fundraiser that helps to raise funds to support the family of our wonderful librarian, Sankar, whose twin boys suffer from cerebral palsy. We are raising enough for two wheelchairs and physiotherapy for the two boys. PLEASE SHARE WIDELY AND GIVE GENEROUSLY! We started yesterday and have already reached $3000 out of our $5000 target! Please keep sharing and giving. Any amount helps. :)

We highly appreciate your contributions and your help in furthering our cause.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wheelchairs-for-arnav-and-sayan

On the link above is a video with more information and a place to donate. 

Thank you so much :) And a post on my MUWCI-life will follow soon 

Let's make it a deal, when our goal (5000dollars) is reached I will post :) 

Love 

October Newsletter

As soon as I published the previous post, the October Newsletter was released :D 

So here it is:

http://issuu.com/uwcmahindracollege/docs/october_2013_newsletter

Do read the previous post aswell (: 

XOXO,

Pauline

Time Flies

Hi everyone,

Here I am again. Since the last post I have had Diwali break. It was a one week break in which we could travel to celebrate Diwali. I went to Goa with Pema (Tibet), Tenzin (Tibet), Thulani (South-Africa) and Aishwarya (Bangalore-India). It was a lot of fun and it gave me the opportunity to relax and detach from MUWCI a bit. I would LOVE to post the pictures, but Pema still has them, so as soon as I get them I will post them (:

Furthermore, I have some exciting news: 

TWO NEW UWC'S WILL BE OPENED. One in Germany and one in Armenia. Here is an overview of all the UWC's now. It is nice to see that the UWC-movement keeps improving and expanding.

Also, I would like to give you more resources where you can see what is happening in MUWCI. I realize I should have done this earlier, but I never really thought of it...

I would like to share with you the September Newsletter (I know, a little late :D). It is interesting and full of pictures:

http://issuu.com/uwcmahindracollege/docs/september_2013_newsletter 

For  people who use facebook, this is the official facebook page of Mahindra United World College of India which is updated very frequently. https://www.facebook.com/uwcmahindracollege?fref=ts

Here is a flickr account (you don't need to be a member of flickr to be able to see the pictures) where pictures of most MUWCI events are posted: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uwcmahindracollege/sets/

Finally, here is a video one of my second years made with images of both his second years and our batch. I come in it a little bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCBYNTnSM7o.

So yeah, currently I have a little less work and I feel like the peek has passed, so Im a little more chilled. It is incredible how fast this term went by. 

In about 3 weeks I will be leaving India knowing that it is the last time in a very long time that I am leaving India knowing that I will be coming back. It is hard to imagine that already 3/4 of my MUWCI-experience is over. It is true what they say: time flies. 

I am coming back to Belgium in Winter Breack for 10 days and then my family and I are going to visit India (mostly Rajastan). This is very exciting, but also sad as I will not be home much this year. 

I hope all the pictures and newsletters etc that I gave you give you new things to discover MUWCI through and good luck to everyone that will start to apply soon!

XOXO,

Pauline

Update... Finally

Hey everyone,

I am so sorry I did not write for this long... Basically, the EE, TOK, SAT, college apps, IA's,... deadlines were too much to combine with my blog. However, I hope you checked out my firstyear's (Louise) blog. It is really good and I think she kept it going while I was dieing of work (;
So we just had Project Week. I was planning on going to Sangama (a NGO for sexual minorities), but due to the work overload I decided to stay on campus. This gave me the opportunity to finish most of my work and get some rest. I have new energy now and I'm ready to face the next assignments. We did do a little bit of project: restoring the community centre in one of the nearby villages. Here are some of the pictures (Credits to Eunhee-Korea)
Oh and I noticed that in most of the pictures of this blogpost im wearing the pink shirt, that cause I wear the same one every time I have to do work that will get my clothes dirty to no ruin my other clothes :D So dont worry, I do change (;

Stanzin(Ladakh) in the front, Eunhee (Korea) on the left and me

Sisi (China) in the background and I

Neel (Delhi), Beryl (Kenia) and I

Eunhee (Korea), Beryl (Kenia) and I

So, euhm, last time was beginning of September if I remember well, so during that time a lot happened. The highlights were probably Ganesh, first and second year show and Satat. So I will just tell you about some of that (: I will try to keep my blog more regular from now on to keep you informed of more things happening on campus. I can't promise because I realize I say this every time :D So yeah..
So Ganesh was celebrated here on September 13. As some of you might remember of last year it is the 'pink' celebration where we dance and throw pink colors at each other. (For more check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi). Here are some pictures and a video of Ganesh this year (pretty similar to last year :D) (pictures credits to Wardah (Pakistan!))

Shruti (Delhi and my housemate) and I

I, Stanzin (ladakh) and Aishwarya (Bangalore)

Me

Shruti (Delhi) and I

Me, Lud (Brazil) and Patricia (Portugal)

So the second thing was Satat. Satat is a marathi word that means always (at least that is what our principal tries to convince us of). It is the term we use now for sustainability. One weekend we had a 'satat-weekend' So we did activities for the sustainability of our school in different groups. My group went off-campus to collect the dirt people left on streets. Me and abou 5 other people formed a smaller group and we had a lot of fun picking dirt (:
Here are some pictures that show that it was very nice (:

Lin (Vietnam), Ana (Mexico), Fiyin (Nigeria), Shabab (Bangladesh), Shruti (Delhi) and Me

Fiyin (Nigeria) and me

Shabab (Bangladesh), Ana (Mexico), Shruti (Delhi), Me, Fiyin (Nigeria), Lin (Vietnam)

Finally the first and second year show and the regional evening I don't find the pictures now, so I will try to make a new blogpost with that later.
1 to 5 November we have a free week for Diwali. I am probably going to Mumbai or Goa.
I will post back after that.
Hope this makes up for the long period without news (:
XOXO,
Pauline