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

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

Answer on Question (;

Hey Jay,

I suppose you are one of our new firstyears? If so, WELCOME!! :D If not, nice your so interested.
Students can indeed brings posters, curtains,... to decorate their room. You can even paint your room (you will have to pay a little but though so the school can paint it back white afterwards). It is actually really nice to decorate your room as it becomes your home for one year. So make it as cosy as possible! (:
Hope this answers your question!

I also have really good news: This year there will be even more diversity. We managed to get pakistani, australian, sudhani,... students.

Love
Pauline

Let the second year begin!

Hello everyone,

This post won't be very long. I just wanted to tell everyone that I arrived safely at MUWCI. My second year officialy began! Now we will have 1.5 week without firstyears and then then will also arrive. So when I went back to Belgium one of the questions I hear a lot is "which kind of animals did you see?" So I have to be honest: I didn't see much animals yet actually. I saw one little snake, a lot of small spiders (that you also find in Belgium), one big spider and dogs and cats :D Oh, and frogs ofcourse and other insects. So to be honest nothing to really freak out about (;
But - Im gonna tell this, but firstyears please don't get scared, I never saw them :D- today in ESS (Environmental systems and societies) Ryan told us which kind of insects and other animals we could find on campus and I was sooooo suprised. So many big spiders, insects and stuff. I'll post some pictures of the snakes he said were on campus. (Again firstyears dont worry cause you have to look for them to find them..)

Indian Krait

Cobra

Russell's viper

Saw-scaled viper

That will be it for today, I'm unpacking and getting used to the MUWCI life again (without hot showers).
To the future firstyears: We're looking forward to meet you,
Bye everyone
Pauline