Olá, Hola, Hei, Hej, Hallo and Helloo!
It's Alison here, ready to once again deliver my latest going ons here in UWC Costa Rica. So this is going to be short and snappy as I have a lot to do regarding presentations and exams in the following weeks! I have done many things since my last post and have probably forgotten most of it but I will mention some fun things that have stuck in my mind. Also I will post a lot of photos with this, so if you don't want to read it all you can always look at the pretty pictures!
First of all, on the 6th of Ocotber it was Claras (Chilean/Dutch) birthday. Me and a few other friends organised a birthday picnic which included making a lot of yummy cakes and cookies and pancakes :) Other chipped in by buying drinks and fruit from the Sunday fruit market. We had an amazing time sitting in the sunshine eating the food in celebration with an increebileee view of Santa Ana.
I went on and Environmental Systems trip to Imbio Parque which is a biodiversity park. It is filled with amazing exotic plants and animals like butterflies, crocodiles, snakes, iguanas and even sloths! There was also a farm area with baby rabbits, goats, cows and pigs. When I was cuddling a little pig a turned around to see a goat eating all my work in my Field Journal, well now I actually have that excuse that an animal ate it but they were all so cute that I let them off!
Two weeks ago now, we had a Great Gatsby themed party to celebrate the start of October break. It was really fun to dress up in the 20's theme and listen to the jazz/gatsby music. Although we didn't really bring the clothes for this is was nice to improvise and get creative. I had a great night and can't wait for the next themed party.
Next, all the firsties had First Year Camp from the 14th to the 15th of October. This included getting into groups for the camp activities and creating team names, flags and chants. My group was Da Playas with the amazing leaders of my second years Andre and Kate! Shout out to Da Playas! We participated in competitive games like rugby and frisbee and station/ciruit games which ranged from crawling through mud whilst water being poured over you, to putting up a ten blind folded, to laughing so much at trying to get people across a swing (sounds simple right, Vilde you know who you are!), to balancing, to a water slide!!! Furthermore, we had a baby to carry and protect throughout the whole thing... it so wasn't a water balloon. Da Playa did amazing and protected our baby the whole way through, we bonded as a team and I got to know some of my co years more which was really nice. We also has envelopes with our names on, in which people could write notes and place it in for us to take away, it was so nice to read so many lovely messages, thank you everyone! This reminded me of the UWC short course in Freiburg, Germany last summer in which we also used this envelope method. I still have the envelope, I love reading though all the messages and miss everyone from the short course! Also on the first year camp we had an intense candle lit session late at night in which people opened up and shared concerns with fellow first years. It did get very emotional but it definitely brought us closer as a year and aided getting to know the people you will be spending two years living with. Lastly, being squished into a small bunk-bed bed with someone who actually snores louder than me (yes you read right) was interesting, not mentioning any names.. Julia..
One of the highlights of the past few weeks was the few days we had free of \October break, the 17th-20th, in which me and friends and quite a lot of the school chose to go to the beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio. Me and a few friends went to a Hostel Vista Serena with hammocks and, as judging by the name, the most stunning view eveerr! The first thing I did was run down to the beach and stayed there for the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. It was so nice to be swimming in a sea that was warm and didn't freeze your entire body! This continued ever day and yes I did sunburn even though I layered on the sun cream, BUT I still have not tanned that much.. downsides of having stereotypical Brit skin! A few words to describe this trip is crazy, incredible, fun and hot and monkeys (everywhere)! There was also the most stunning waterfall which we reached after half an hour walking down in the river to find it. It was the best feeling to jump and throw yourself off the top of the waterfall in the middle of the rainforest into this blue lagoon and have to climb tall slippery rocks to get back up!!! Unforgettable.
Finally in the last few days from Thursday to today, Saturday, the school has hosted MUN (model united nations) in which all first years and other IB schools in Costa Rica took part in. There were many councils, I was representing Japan in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Council. This was my first MUN so I am still getting used to how it is run but I learned so much just from listening to the discussions about my own and other countries. We discussed Globalisation and Culture, Flight of Labour, Corruption and the matter of an indigenous tribe in Guatemala wanting to commit mass suicide as a result of being forced off their land for oil. It was very interesting to discuss and some resolutions papers were drawn and passed to be put in place to help solve the issues discussed. It was really nice to meet and make friends with people from other schools around Costa Rica. During this time we had a disco and an open mic which were really fun, I even sang with people in the open mic!! And I have left the disco early to go to a new place down the road until 11pm called Sky Jump, which is a big room filled with floor and wall trampolines. One word: amazing.. oh and bouncy and energetic. It was also nice to meet some ticos there who were extremely good at trampolining and try to copy off them by flinging yourself into massive foam pits!! :)
Also Cahuita, my residence, hosted the last community meeting.. Soo that's about it I think, now to work hard for the end of trimester!
Thanks for reading, you stuck to it to the very end of my rambling on.
Adios, Ciao, Doei, Au Revoir, Adeus and Taraahh
Alison :) x
It's Alison here, ready to once again deliver my latest going ons here in UWC Costa Rica. So this is going to be short and snappy as I have a lot to do regarding presentations and exams in the following weeks! I have done many things since my last post and have probably forgotten most of it but I will mention some fun things that have stuck in my mind. Also I will post a lot of photos with this, so if you don't want to read it all you can always look at the pretty pictures!
First of all, on the 6th of Ocotber it was Claras (Chilean/Dutch) birthday. Me and a few other friends organised a birthday picnic which included making a lot of yummy cakes and cookies and pancakes :) Other chipped in by buying drinks and fruit from the Sunday fruit market. We had an amazing time sitting in the sunshine eating the food in celebration with an increebileee view of Santa Ana.
I went on and Environmental Systems trip to Imbio Parque which is a biodiversity park. It is filled with amazing exotic plants and animals like butterflies, crocodiles, snakes, iguanas and even sloths! There was also a farm area with baby rabbits, goats, cows and pigs. When I was cuddling a little pig a turned around to see a goat eating all my work in my Field Journal, well now I actually have that excuse that an animal ate it but they were all so cute that I let them off!
Two weeks ago now, we had a Great Gatsby themed party to celebrate the start of October break. It was really fun to dress up in the 20's theme and listen to the jazz/gatsby music. Although we didn't really bring the clothes for this is was nice to improvise and get creative. I had a great night and can't wait for the next themed party.
Next, all the firsties had First Year Camp from the 14th to the 15th of October. This included getting into groups for the camp activities and creating team names, flags and chants. My group was Da Playas with the amazing leaders of my second years Andre and Kate! Shout out to Da Playas! We participated in competitive games like rugby and frisbee and station/ciruit games which ranged from crawling through mud whilst water being poured over you, to putting up a ten blind folded, to laughing so much at trying to get people across a swing (sounds simple right, Vilde you know who you are!), to balancing, to a water slide!!! Furthermore, we had a baby to carry and protect throughout the whole thing... it so wasn't a water balloon. Da Playa did amazing and protected our baby the whole way through, we bonded as a team and I got to know some of my co years more which was really nice. We also has envelopes with our names on, in which people could write notes and place it in for us to take away, it was so nice to read so many lovely messages, thank you everyone! This reminded me of the UWC short course in Freiburg, Germany last summer in which we also used this envelope method. I still have the envelope, I love reading though all the messages and miss everyone from the short course! Also on the first year camp we had an intense candle lit session late at night in which people opened up and shared concerns with fellow first years. It did get very emotional but it definitely brought us closer as a year and aided getting to know the people you will be spending two years living with. Lastly, being squished into a small bunk-bed bed with someone who actually snores louder than me (yes you read right) was interesting, not mentioning any names.. Julia..
One of the highlights of the past few weeks was the few days we had free of \October break, the 17th-20th, in which me and friends and quite a lot of the school chose to go to the beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio. Me and a few friends went to a Hostel Vista Serena with hammocks and, as judging by the name, the most stunning view eveerr! The first thing I did was run down to the beach and stayed there for the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. It was so nice to be swimming in a sea that was warm and didn't freeze your entire body! This continued ever day and yes I did sunburn even though I layered on the sun cream, BUT I still have not tanned that much.. downsides of having stereotypical Brit skin! A few words to describe this trip is crazy, incredible, fun and hot and monkeys (everywhere)! There was also the most stunning waterfall which we reached after half an hour walking down in the river to find it. It was the best feeling to jump and throw yourself off the top of the waterfall in the middle of the rainforest into this blue lagoon and have to climb tall slippery rocks to get back up!!! Unforgettable.
Finally in the last few days from Thursday to today, Saturday, the school has hosted MUN (model united nations) in which all first years and other IB schools in Costa Rica took part in. There were many councils, I was representing Japan in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Council. This was my first MUN so I am still getting used to how it is run but I learned so much just from listening to the discussions about my own and other countries. We discussed Globalisation and Culture, Flight of Labour, Corruption and the matter of an indigenous tribe in Guatemala wanting to commit mass suicide as a result of being forced off their land for oil. It was very interesting to discuss and some resolutions papers were drawn and passed to be put in place to help solve the issues discussed. It was really nice to meet and make friends with people from other schools around Costa Rica. During this time we had a disco and an open mic which were really fun, I even sang with people in the open mic!! And I have left the disco early to go to a new place down the road until 11pm called Sky Jump, which is a big room filled with floor and wall trampolines. One word: amazing.. oh and bouncy and energetic. It was also nice to meet some ticos there who were extremely good at trampolining and try to copy off them by flinging yourself into massive foam pits!! :)
Also Cahuita, my residence, hosted the last community meeting.. Soo that's about it I think, now to work hard for the end of trimester!
Thanks for reading, you stuck to it to the very end of my rambling on.
Adios, Ciao, Doei, Au Revoir, Adeus and Taraahh
Alison :) x
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| The Gatsby Party |
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| Carla, Pietro, Me and Maia. |
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| Chilling in the hostel, I'm in the hammock and I wrote my name on the GB Flag that was hung up and I met two British girls here! |
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| Manuel Antonio: on the beach with Amiya and Indi. |
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| Sunset on the beach. |
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| Environmental systems field trip: the bus journey! P.s. the one with the beard at the front is my teacher!!! :) |
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| Jungle explorer Alison in the parque. |
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| Eating at the bday picnic. |
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| Jumping for the sake of jumping at the picnic. |
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| Getting soaked in activities at first year camp. |
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| DA PLAYAS and proud! My group for the activities at first year camp. |
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| Stuck between Myanmar and Max as Israel at MUN, serious face on! |
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| A group of us UWCers at MUN!!! |
