Contrasts

It's funny how my new habits here at UWC RBC became an integrated part of me faster than I ever imagined. I wake up in a different bed with a different view with a different daily schedule ahead of me together with totally different people. Still I do this every day with the most natural feel you can imagine. This is my life. Totally different. 

This is why is turned my world upside down when I am confronted with my "old life". A life I lived no more than three months ago but still seems do distant from my present. 

Last weekend I went back to Denmark to attend my grandfathers funeral. I popped my UWC boble, a bobble both protective and capturing for me, and took a walk down memory lane. 

While walking down Vesterbrogade, staying at my grandmother's and drinking beers with my friends, I was confronted with all these old memories. Good memories, memories of events, jokes and feelings but also a memory of who I used to be. I mean, I'm still me, I said that a lot to my friends; "I'm still the same", "everything is as it used to be" and in many ways this is true. Still something has changed. 

Coming back to campus after five days away was just as interesting. Life had moved on without me and it actually took me some time to get comfortable with my old "new me". My bed felt a little bit more unfamiliar without my grandmothers bedsheets, the view a little more exotic and the schedule even more difficult to get used to than before. When it comes to the people everything strangely enough felt the same. This week I manage to live within my bobble and at the same time creating a small breathing valve back to Denmark in form of a skype-date with my old friend like in the "old days", and it all felt completely comfortable and natural. 

I think it is important to acknowledge these contrasts. I needed to experience both extremes within a short time period in order to navigate in both and still have a sense of who I am in them. The truth is that I am not the same. Everything is not as it used to be, but this is okay. Only when I accepted this, I could relax and concentrate on just being where I was instead of cooping and fitting in. 

Since my little awakening I have been more and more aware of these contrasts. Visiting my host family, all similarities and differences again became very clear and even though a had a really great time, it made me more homesick than ever. In a good way. I am now more capable of appreciating the good aspects of both lives and combining them into a more homogeneous me. 

Anyhow, I had some great weeks, and I of course you can not finish this post without a few pictures! 

Woops, a little selfie in the big massage-chair I found in the airport...

REUNION! The old Copenhagen-crew gathered!

Danish-dotted friends with Danish cristmas brew!

Flowers on my grandfathers grave. I consitered whether to share this picture or not, but it was indeed a very beautifull day and very important for me. 

Back in Freiburg on a hiking trip with my host family. 

No place like home...

...But where is my home?!?

It took me a week to settle down here at UWC RBC. It took me two to get to know people's names. Four to get an overview of my classes, CASes and activities and now after 7 weeks I  finally feel at home!! It took me a few days away from the school to realize this, but now that I have I feel more relaxed and balanced. 

The life here at campus is so intense that you eventually need to get away for a while. For four of us this meant an extended weekend to Basel, Switzerland where we practiced intense relaxation, eating and laughing. Even though this trip wasn't a true UWC experience at school, I don't feel ashamed admitting that it was one of the best moments so far. We were so exited to leave; no more Mensa food (our kitchen is still under construction), no strict curfew (at school we have to be back at 23:45 in weekends) and no homework! We had a blast and for a while it made me doubt why I left that life at home in exchange for the squared boarding school surroundings. I got my answer at the day of our return; I realized that I really missed my "home" at campus, and that the friends I call my house mates have indeed become more as a family to me. 

When we came back I ran to my house and knocked on people's doors gathering the "family" for a movie night. Again, I had a blast! 

So today I decided to throw away the quotation marks around the words home and family referring to house 9 here at RBC, I will never forget the experiences I've had outside of campus, but I tend to forget all the wired, cozy and random stuff we experience within the walls of the school, which usually is just as giving and joyful. And these are indeed the most important for my well-being here and for the reason why we manage to get though all the stressful times with a smile on our lips. 

I want to share a few of these moments with you so you can see that the UWC experience is indeed very diverse and what you  want it to be. It can be what you learn in the classroom, how you develop as an individual but also what you do with your friends on a weekday at 4 am to get your minds of the homework you need to do. As you can see we're having a blast here - I hope you at home (and you co-years around the world) are too! 

Game night - playing RISK until 4 am 

This is the best spot to relax after classes with a great view over our garden!

Poker night vol. 2.0!

 Celebrated my friend's birthday singing and laughing on a hill with view over the city - alternative but a great evening!

Three guys donated their hair - we could buy a change to cut it however we wanted and the donations will be sent to Syrian refugees (the results were quite funny and really ugly!!)

A dance on roses...

Another crazy week went by here at UWC RBC! This  will be remembered as the week where we officially opened, hosted 400 guests in total and enrolled our CAS program - no wonder many of us have dark circles under our eyes these days... We as teachers and students passed a very important test this week, not an academic one, but in whether we manage to work together as a community. Long before we've had time to define  ourselves as a society we had to present ourselves to the press and to guests and visitors from our UWC family around the world. I would lie if I said that it went smooth all the way, but after only a few weeks we're now  proudly presenting his rack of houses on the edge of the Black Forrest as our home. That's quite an achievement if you ask me! 

There's one lesson I find more important than the others in these days; time flies!! I've pushed my minimal required sleep level to the edge, pulled my first all-nighters, dazed to a light sleep during class and begged for just a few more hours in every day - IT'S JUST NOT ENOUGH! I still seem to be in a constant lack of time somehow, and every day we have to prioritize between a broad range of activities here  on campus. At the same time, it feels like we've been here for several months - at least we have experiences enough to cover at least three normal months at home, witch is a quite confusing paradox. 

When we need a break from the crazy IB monster under our beds and inside our heads, we do even more crazy stuff as dancing African/jumpstyle in the middle of the day room or staying up all night to sing the oldies but goldies. (Fascinating how everyone seems to know these songs on behalf of our different backgrounds!) This is the essence of the UWC experience; they say that we can only chose to of the three S's (sleep, socializing and studying), but I find myself struggling just to manage one. Yeah, it's definitely not always a dance on roses, but I'm already on the floor, so I might as well give it my best! 

Let's dance in style,

Let’s dance for a while,

Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst,

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever,

We don’t have the power but we never say never,

Sitting in a sandpit,

Life is a short trip,

The music’s for the sad man.

"Young forever" by Jay-Z & Mr. Hudson

Little picture from our opening ceremony - trying my best to be a good, proud, representative Dane!! 

Every IB student has that little black friend....

I figured that in my process of becoming a true global citizen, it would only be normal for me to switch to the English language - I hope you can bare with me! (And not at least with my bad grammar!)

Okay when that is stated, I will continue with the exiting stuff! When I started this post, I just finished orientation week (that was two weeks ago) which should give you a pretty solid impression of how busy I've been. (And the fact that it's midnight on a weekday...) 

    The messy schedules are becoming rhythms, strangers are becoming friends but I must admit that my German isn't following the development! (I guess that's jet to come since I had my first German class today) The days have been packed with lesions, social events, discussions, trips, meetings, homework, homework and HOMEWORK! The good thing about this craziness is that I've already learned a lot even though I've only attended classes for two weeks. 

The bad thing is that I know that time is rather relaxing compared to the next two years, so I can only imagine the wonderful nightmare waiting for me. At campus we're constantly challenged with questions as; what can you contribute with? Who are you? Describe your nationality? What are your values? - Questions that takes more than two weeks of orientation to find the answer to! We've also been faced with our first essays – one of them in history class, where we had 40 min to write a structured essay (BY HAND!!!) on a question we didn't know – yes, as far from the Danish school system as you can get. 

Luckily we are supported by the best team of professional and engaged people you could ever imagine. Like rock stars we'll be crowd surfing towards the end of this IB. ”It's us against the IB” as they say... Sometimes the weight might be too heavy, but just as at concerts, we will have a full audience to carry us up from the ground. - At least this is what I'm forced to believe since I've already head dived down from stage! 

Another good helper is of cause the always available best back friend: coffee!! It took me exactly two days to learn how to swallow a black cup of coffee, and this habit has been unconsciously continuing since I arrived. 

So cheers and good night my friends! Another crazy week is ahead, and you can be looking forward to more bladder and concerns in my future posts – until then, here's some thoughts and mantras of mine during the past weeks: 

Hjemmehygge i efterhånden hjemelige omgivelser

Nu er den første uge efterhånden gået her i det Sydtyske og jeg er så småt ved at falde på plads. Da mit hus er placeret øverst på bakken med over 100 trappetrin op til mit værelse, er der ofte stille og hyggeligt i modsætning til de andre "party houses". Vi arbejder meget på at skabe en hjemlig stemning i huset, og sammen med mine room mates har vi fundet regler og systemer som gør det lettere for os alle, at bo så tæt. Meeen hygge er jo ikke et særligt internationalt udtryk, så jeg arbejder hårdt på at lære mine house mates om denne fantastiske del af den danske kultur!
I dag startede forsøget i vores historiske have, hvor jeg samlede frugter ind. Vi har stort set alt i den have, så mens jeg gik mellem fårene, røg der både æbler, pærer, blommer, hindbær og brombær ned i kurven. Mens teen trak, bagte jeg frugttærter og lagde dyner og puder ud i vores day room. - Indtil videre er det danske "hygge" (som ingen btw. kan udtale) et meget populært fænomen i vores hus, så jeg tror jeg med sikkerhed kan sige MISSION COMPLETE!

Jaaa, de fine tærter klæder vores terrasse! 

Prøvede lige at få et nationalt pift ind ved at lave et dansk flag på den ene tærte... :P

For at være ærlig er det mest for min egen skyld, jeg laver disse små projekter. Dagene er travle og man vender sig hurtigt til at være igang med noget hele tiden - det bliver man nok også lidt afhængig af. Specielt når man er igang med at quitte en anden afhængighed (ja, i ved nok godt hvad det er, host host), er det godt at holde sig igang! 

Jeg må dog indrømme, at den danske hygge ikke er den samme i Tyskland, så jeg glæder mig allerede lidt til at komme hjem til hyggens højtid i december!

FUCK SHIT FUUUUUCK vol. 2.0

Okay... Alt hvad jeg troede om denne skole og UWC-oplevelsen er røget i skraldespanden (selvfølgelig sorteret efter de bedste råd om "sustainability" som man jo gør her i Tyskland) og nu er jeg fyldt op af helt nye indtryk og oplevelser! First of all: den tyske campus er FANTASTISK! Jeg havde mine bange anelser som dansker og frygtede lidt, at Tyskland ville minde meget om herhjemme og være knapt så eksotisk - der tog jeg virkelig fejl!

Jeg ankom i onsdags til den mest sprudlende og livlige by med streetdance på gaden og unge mennesker der drikker øl paktrisk talt overalt i byen med de mange afslappende grønne områder. Campus var en endnu større overraskelse – godt nok er det stadig en byggeplads og alle skolebygninger udover student houses er stadig under renovering, men FUCK SHIT FUCK hvor er her smukt alligevel!
Selvfølgelig har jeg taget nogle billeder med min (ikke så professionelle, men meget handy iphone), som I da ikke skal snydes for.

Udsigt over en af de nærlæggende dale og tysk dame der vandrer..

Fordelen ved UWC i Tyskland: ØL og masser af det! Her er nogle af mine søde co-years - jeg prøvede at lære dem om dansk kultur (alkohol i store mængder), men måtte overgive mig til Jan fra Tjekkiet... Satans Østeuropæere!

Min nye by Freiburg hvor der løber masser af kanaler og en stor å gennem byen..

Freiburg + et fænomen som mine co-years kalder PDA (public display of affection), hvilket de bestemt ikke er vant til i hjemlandene!

Med lidt hjælp fra de bedste venner fra DK er min hylde over sengen ny prydet med smukke billeder og gode minder! 

Endnu mere Freiburg...

Jep - det her er hvad du ser i butiksvinduerne, vi varmer allerede op til oktoberfest!

Freiburgs kendte (og meeeeeget gamle) kirke "Münster", som faktisk er et ret imponerende syn!

Ja, som I kan se er der faktisk ret dejlig her i det Tyske, og følelsen i maven ovenpå den første lille uge er også positiv. Vi har haft rigtig travlt! Blandt mine oplevelser kan jeg  nævne, at jeg har cyklet 70 km (til den franske grænse og tilbage), været med i et skalde/byggeplads-orkester hvor vi spillede på hjemmelavede instrumenter (vores instrumenter er ikke kommet endnu), haft lange snakke om religion og lært sjofel slang af "Nana from Ghana", haha... 

Anyways jeg er glad og positiv for nu, men i morgen har vi placement tests i engelsk og matematik, så I kan se frem til et seriøst "FUCK SHIT FUUUUCK" indlæg vol 2.1 i morgen... ;)

Auf Wiedersehen meine Freunde!  

 

FUCK SHIT FUUUUUCK!!!

.... Det er sådan jeg bedst vil beskrive følelsen indeni her sidste nat inden afrejse. De sidste måneder er fløjet afsted, og det er ikke til at forstå, at det eventyr man for et halvt år siden drømte om at komme ud på nu mest af alt vækker skræk, angst og panik! Det er faktisk ikke så let endda at rende rundt med disse blandede følelser, for hvad skal man så svare, når bekendte, lærere og familie spørger om man ikke glæder sig helt vildt? Tjaaaeh, et eller andet sted langt inde gør jeg jo, men overvældende er de negative følelser som min krop udsender som var det mit overlevelses-instinkt der beskyttede mig fra druknedøden. Ej okay, måske er det lidt voldsomt at sammenligne følelsen af de kommende to år med druknedøden, men virkelig - det er tæt på!

For mit vedkommende går turen til det sydlige Tyskland (det er faktisk federe end det lyder - helt nede ved grænsen mellem Frankring og Sweitz),  hvor jeg de næste to år skal mæske mig i currywurst og strudel i lange baner. Selvom rejsemålet ikke er så eksotisk, så er jeg ikke i tvivl om, at det bliver en kæmpe omvæltning  - særligt at skulle affinde sig med de skrappe regler på college campus når jeg kommer fra det ultimative frihed som ung udeboende i København. FUCK SHIT FUCK - der kom et sug i maven igen! Måske burde jeg bare gå i seng her hvor der er under 12 timer til afrejse.. (!!!)

Jeg tror mit budskab med det her panikramte og forvirrende indlæg er, at det ikke nødvendigvis behøver at føles superfantastisk at være på vej mod to vildt udfordrende år i et fremmed land. Jeg vælger at tro på, at det er meningen, at man skal være nervøs, spændt og forvirret, for vil alt andet ikke være unormalt? Mange af dem jeg har skrevet med på min kommende skole er "SOOOO EXITED", og i går postede en af dem dette billede:

Min kommentar var: What are you talking about!?!? It should be: PANIC only two days left! 

I hvert fald føles det forkert, at have det sådan her, når jeg burde glæde mig helt vildt. Måske er det bare ikke gået op for mig endnu, eller måske skal jeg bare tage det som et tegn på, at jeg er vildt glad her hvor jeg er nu også. Anyhow, der er ingen vej tilbage så kl: 12:45 sidder jeg i flyet som planlagt og på denne tid i morgen har jeg allerede mødt mine co-years og forhåbentlig kommende bedste venner for de næste to år. 

WISH ME LUCK!

//Marie Chaudhri, UWC Robert Bosch College (Germany)