Friday 26 September 2014

Los Meses Más Locas

Hola,

For me it has been crazy busy here in Costa Rica. I've done so much, eaten so much, worked so much and not slept at all! But I wouldn't have it any other way, here are some pictures showing some of the things I've been doing.

Firstly we had two weeks of orientation! We had a lot of games, activities, meetings and bonding sessions, but the big activity of this was Camp Roblealto. Here is me and Amiya at camp, Amiya was one of the camp leaders and I helped design the T-shirts for the camp leaders and the residences. Here on the left you can see the cool sloth design!

Here are all of the students in UWCCR at camp!
There was also a show/open mic, here me and a group of friends sang a song!

Amiya led us all in a Bollywood dance! 
Here are all of the Cahuita girls (my residence) ready for the inter-residence competition. Last year we won and this year we were one point off winning, so close!

I chose to participate by playing basketball.

Pizza night for the Cahuita!

Some friends and I went for some really nice food at a nearby café named Wokapi, I and a few others also bought a cactus from a local flower shop. My cactus is nice so it is names Squishy and sits on my desk!


Tea party!

I am a Musical Director this year, specifically costume director. We have held auditions and callbacks and all of the roles for Chicago have now been filled! Here are the directors celebrating our hard work so far at restaurant Dorris. 

This is what my side of the room looks like :)

BEACH TRIP! Some friends and I went to beach Herridura, this is us sitting on the floor of the 2 hours journey there! 

Costa Rica's beautiful beaches! It was so nice to get away from all the stress of school and just relax on the beach with friends!

Here we are posing for one of many photos!

Every year on Costa Rica's day of independance there is a large parade through Santa Ana. Here we all are at the end of the parade, which we opened, all dressed in our national outfits and holds our flags. Here is a video of how it went:  http://vimeo.com/107107071


Some of the Brits at the parade!

ROOMIES! Here are my room-mates, Charlotte from Switzerland and the US and Amiya from India. Here you can also see the the coffee design that I helped created which is on everyone's t-shirt.

Brit roast dinner, two words: bloody splendid!

Photo for Central American party as part of Central American week, in which we ate local foods, listened to talks and participated in activities.

Beautiful Costa Rican sunset, pura vida mae!
I have been doing so much that I will have missed things out, some of them being that I again went to see the bands Passiflora and Sonambulo and that I have handed in my first draft EE! Right now I am fouscing a lot on work and university applications. For Peace and UWC day the whole school watched the promotional video (which me and Sarah are in) called 'UWC Spirit' by my third year Andres. Also last night I went to see the British schools IB Art exhibition at the toy museum in San José in order to gain inspiration for my own exhibition, it was amazing! Furthermore I have been chosen to chair Human Rights Committee for Model United Nations, which is an honour.

Tonight is open mic and tomorrow I have my service La Carpio so I'm looking forward to working with the children. My roommate just bought me dairy milk so I am now more than ready to get back to work!

Tarrahh,
Alison :)

Friday 19 September 2014

A New Year with New Adventure's

Hi all,

This is my first post since coming back to India for the second and final year. After the summer holiday I was ready to come back and see everyone at MUWCI again.

Before going back to college I spent five days in Delhi, staying with my mate Aman from college. I was there for a family festival called Raksha Bhandan or Rakhi. Rakhi is a Hindu festival that celebrates the love and duty between brothers and sisters (and cousins, second cousins and any other relatives in such large Indian families. The sisters bless, give a gift and tie a Rakhi band around the brother’s wrist (like the one below), showing a kind of belonging to him. In return the sisters receive money and protection from their brothers. The ceremony starts with the eldest then to the youngest. It is followed by some amazing home cooked Indian food.

When in Delhi, we also visited friends and slept before getting the 24hour train to Bombay from there. In Bombay we met with our friends before heading back to college in the monsoon rain.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raksha_Bandhan

Life at college is very fast and intense. The first week was spent with only the 120 students in my year group, on the hill. We all fit right back into life where we see each other every day, all the time. I arrived to college on the Sunday and had classes starting at 7.30am on Monday. Although it wasn't too tiring, I had yet to unpack my suitcase and my luggage from last year. Sadly there are still one or two bags left.

The second week was orientation week, which meant all the first years were to arrive. Our classes were stopped so we could run bonding activities, hikes and shows as the last half of this small college settled down into their new home.


Here are a few pictures from that.

The first college meeting with my batch.

Bonding games with both batches.

 
My advisor group with the new first years. My advisor is Arvin (the bald guy in the middle).

Going on a short hike up internet hill.



Mud games in monsoon.
 The second year Brits (or half Brit) performing Spice Girls Stop Right Now (a tradition we started last year) at the Second year show.
From left Indi, Maria, Me, Kate and Nara.

At college I am part of the outdoor service stream.
Our first project was providing hikes to Mt. Wilko (the mountain we live on, shown below) and the Grand Canyon of the Western Ghats in the surrounding valley.
In the coming year i will be helping lead the college's first Mountain Rescue Service, where we will be learning all the skills necessary to create a foundation of well-trained students so that rescues can start in the following year.
I am also still carrying on Fire Service this year and taking up Kayaking, Modern Dance as well as leading Hip Hop classes.

 The view from my college towards Mt. Wilko.

Ganesha Chaturthi

The next week classes were in full swing again for me and the work load (which is infamously a lot in Third term) begun to pile up.

Thankfully there was a great stress relief right around the corner. That being Ganesh. The Maharashtrian annual festival surrounds the god Ganesh. He is paraded round with music, drummers and colour before being submerged into the river at the bottom of our hill in the villages. The villagers were dressed up and celebrating when we reached the river.
The event lasted long into the evening but having the get the pink out of my hair never stopped. The ends are still pink now.
Me, Patricia (my roomate from Portugal) and Jamie (Netherlands).



Here is my new corner. With Shreya (my roomate) and Aman (who's house i stayed at, both are Indian).


These are the main events so far.

Still to come:
-Peace One Day and UWC Day of Action.
-Exeat (long weekend).


College onlie newspaper-http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=4802e73d089d3d76ec987de15&id=988b151a2a.

Lots of far away love,
Sarah.