School's now officially opened

Very quiet atmosphere here at college Sunday afternoon. Reason? 

Our grand opening ceremony was yesterday, so we can now finally say we're a UWC school! It was day we had looked forward to for a long time, because the '11th of October' had been our first major milestone ever since we'd arrived. It was finally time for us becoming an official UWC school.

Seven years have now passed since the first work was done in creating an entirely new school. Two and half years have passed since the first construction work was done in building the foundation of the school. Now here we are, so it feels like there it's only up to us now, faculty and students, to continue to expand the school, even though it will from now on be mainly in a psychological manner, even though the school still needs to be handed some of the buildings from the construction company, because some of them still lack some finishing touches.

But even though the school now finally is considered to be 'open', we all still have a huge task in front of us. All the things that make UWC Colleges so much more than just education need to be first thought of, then constructed and put into place. And that will take time. All of the students are so keen on actually getting out in the community and making the difference that we feel is possible, but it will take time to set up the contacts and connections needed, as well as assessing security hazards. Basically, we are all settling in and getting to know our surroundings, which will probably take the next months. But we also have some big ideas of how what we can do in this area, because the opportunities seem almost endless, since we have all kinds of weather, beautiful, quite unexplored nature, as well as very different types of land ranging from the very mountainous to quite flat.

There also have some internal challenges; as we've been reminded over and over, we shape the whole atmosphere of the college, and therefore have a lot of influence in how the school will work in the next many years. Obviously, we're only staying here until the end of May 2016, but the school isn't even at full capacity until 2019. The challenges ahead of us are quite fundamental: We have to decide on a set of rules and guidelines as well as create the values that the school is built upon. I think both the students and faculty members have a pretty clear idea of how we want the school to be in two, five, or ten years time. Our question is how to achieve this. Because obviously one thing is having the goal of something, a completely different thing is to actually achieve this goal.

But slow progress is being made all the time, since we seem always to be expanding in all senses of the word. For example we had our first Action CAS-activity outside college territories today, going on a 15 km hike in the surrounding mountains. The hike was about 4 hour long and brought us about 2 kilometers above sea level, in a rare completely sunny day. Truly outstanding surroundings and nice to finally be allowed to go exploring! So progress is being made all the time, with us slowly starting to figure out how we can get things done. Two photos are attached from our hike earlier today.

Until next time, see you!

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!!)

PBL-Week

PBL-week (Project based learning) has now begun, which means that half of Campus is gone, doing different activities. Some are kayaking; some is surviving in the woods, some play basket, and many other exciting things. I am staying on campus this week, learning about the Thai culture, food, massage, and a few use full sentences in in the language. 

It is strange to say that it feels empty to be here since we are almost 150 students left, but it actually does. I miss 50 smiles, 50 well known voices and 50 beautiful faces. This really has reminded me about how much I already like all these nice people surrounding me every day, and how much I am going to miss them during winter break, but worst is it to think about how much I am going to miss them when these two years are over. When I realized this I decided to appreciate everything here at this wonderful place, just a bit more than what I already do. 

The last few days I have had a lot of things to be thankful for. Yesterday the sun was shining all day, and it was quite warm outside. I woke up, ate breakfast, and afterwards I got invited to make cinnamon buns with Sofia and Mar. Since the weather was amazing, we decided to move all the ingredients outdoor, and bake out in front of Iceland house. It looked like a TV-program when we stood there with flour all over surrounded by the mountains and all the autumn colours in the forest. The cinnamon buns turned out very well, I think they are the most beautiful and well tasting I have ever made. We went up in the forest to eat them, but on our way up there, we walked through student village, and I am not sure whether it was our nice company or the smell of cinnamon, but all of a sudden a lot of other students decided to join us on our picnic.

Later on, I went back to continue my outdoor baking, but this time with Iman my roommate. We made pizzas for the room, which also turned out very well, and we had a super delicious room dinner.    

Hvad gør jeg her?

Min meget kloge Moster gav mig til min konfirmation blandt andet en bog der hedder "Hvad gør jeg her?", og handler om en ekstrem spændende mand, der rejser rundt i verden for at skrive alt imens han oplever det ene sindsyge efter det andet.

Ikke for at sammenligne mig selv med en sådan sjæl, men spørgsmålet titlen stiler, kan i den grad godt sætte sig dybt i baghovedet mens man er her. Jeg havde det rigtig godt derhjemme med fantastiske venner, spændende fritidsinteresser og en uddannelse på Danmarks bedste gymnasium - hvorfor kunne jeg ikke bare være tilfreds med det? Der er nemlig ingen tvivl om at det ville være det letteste, både akademisk, personligt og socialt så hvad laver jeg her? 

Sådan kan man vidst ikke lade vær med at tænke engang imellem, men svaret kommer i klare glimt, hvor jeg ikke er i tvivl om, at jeg befinder mig et helt specielt sted. Under de glimt går det også op for mig, at jeg bare har værsgo at nyde den oplevelse, jeg er så heldig at have, i fulde drag. Få mennesker får lov til at opleve hele verden hver dag, og det skal man huske selv når man er ved at vænne sig til det. Jeg får her lov til at lære nogle fantastiske historier at kende, og får et unikt indblik i over 100 forskellige kulturer. Hvis det ikke kan får de fleste til at føle sig små, ved jeg ikke hvad kan. 

En af mine rigtig gode venner herovre er for eksempel blevet Khaled fra Syrien. Da han var 5 flygtede hans familie fra Palæstina til Syrien, og han arbejdede for at hjælpe til husholdningøkonomien fra han var 11. Som om det ikke kunne være udfordrende nok at bo som flygtning i Syrien og jævnligt se sit oprindelige hjemland blive bombet, udviklede tingene sig som bekendt voldsomt i Syrien. For 2 år siden da konflikten var godt i gang, blev han eftersøgt af regerigen for at have sendt billeder og videoklip til CNN. Han var "wanted" i et par måneder, men fik så mirakuløst til fuldt stipendium til skolen her, og nu er han vores student council president og tager en international uddannelse. Og nå ja, så arbejder han også over nettet som grafisk designer, for at hjælpe sin familie med at have råd til at komme til Sverige. 

En anden historie jeg også må dele er om Ahmed fra XX afrikansk land. Han er ikke homeseksuel, men opdagede i løbet af sit første år her, at man kan anskue verden på en anden måde, end de gør i hans homofobiske hjemland. Her er han blevet aktiv i skolens LGBT rights gruppe, og han taler dårligere og dårligere om sit lands holdninger. Disse tanker er dog ikke noget han kan dele med sin familie eller venner derhjemme, da alene sympatiserende tanker ift. homoseksualitet er grund til stening. 

Der er folk med endnu vildere historier, men det virker ikke passende at dele dem her.

Selvfølgelig har ikke alle en så dramatisk historie som de to foregående men eksempler er der nok af: Xingling fra Kina har aldrig gået på andet end en kinesisk kostskole, hvor de var "lukket inde" i et klasselokale 10 timer om dagen uden pauser. Nicole har boet i en SOS-børneby i Romanien hele sit liv indtil hun fik muligheden for at komme her, Andreas fra Guatemala lærte engelsk på 3 måneder da hun kom, Dilly der fik foundraised 200.000 kr. til sin tur osv. 

Folk er så seje her, nogle gange kan man føle sig så kedelig. Men så skal man jo huske at jeg ift. til mange har haft et åh så eksotisk liv med sne, mørke, jantelov, velfærdsstat, hav og åbenhed.  

Stocked in the mud

Today the weather has been exactly how I expected it to be in Norway. We have had heavy rain all most all day and thunder storm, which caused a power cut during dinner, but it was actually cozy. 

Right now I am sitting at my desk writing this blog post, while the water splashes on the window. It’s completely dark outside and I can really feel that the autumn has set in. 

Even though the weather has been “bad” today, it was not an excuse for not participating in my weekly hiking EAC, so I tightened my hiking boots, put on my red rain jacket and I then started walking together with 11 other students. The hike was so beautiful, the leafs have started changing colors, and the few sun raises that managed to break through the heavy clouds made it all look magical. Because of all the rain, we walked in water and mud all the way, but it was just part of the experience. 

On our way back, I literally got stocked in the mud. I stepped on what I thought was a stone, but it turned out to be a big bunch of mud, which almost ate me. My knees were covered in mud, and I wouldn’t have been able to get up, if it wasn’t because of my friends, I don’t think I would ever have gone up from that hole! We all laughed at it afterwards, and I continued the hike, but with a thick layer of mud all over my legs. When we got back to campus, we were all very wet, and to wash of all the mud we decided to take a shower in the waterfall in front of cantina. It was freezing cold, but so funny. I ended this adventure with a looooong and warm shower!  

- Ulrikke      

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!! 

1st month in Dilijan!

I just randomly checked our common blog of the page, and saw that Victoria and I hadn't written any blog updates yet. That is now due to change!

I have been here now a month and a day. A very turbulent month with many exciting events. Let me start with most importantly, the official opening of UWC Dilijan is in less than three weeks time! According to our principal, Johnny, there will be none less than a thousand visitors to the school on that day, including all the founders of the school as well as both the Serbian and the Armenian President. We've been told the school will be completely finished by that time, but I think we wanna see that before we'll believe it. There has though been a lot of expansions to the school in this month:

When we all first arrived on the 18th of August, there was only a small dorm building ready for us with small rooms. We had all meals in plastic boxes, because the kitchens were still under construction. We couldn't walk around college, because it was still one big construction site. We could only do laundry by hand, because the washing machines were still on there way.

I have also married an Australian girl.

Then as the first thing, the Academic Building opened its door for the first time. The kitchen of the cafeteria was ready, and instead of small plastic boxes we now have a full-fetch buffet with very delicious Armenian as well as international food. As the next thing, the third floor of our dorms open, meaning suddenly we had double the space.

Then two major changes took place. Hard to decide which one was most important...Firstly we were allowed to leave our little microcosmos to go out exploring in the neighbouring village of Dilijan as well as two Unesco World Heritage 9th century monasteries, secondly we received 5 washing machines. I'll attach a picture of my Hungarian friend doing laundry with a machine for the first time at this place - He looks quite happy ;)

About now two weeks ago our fitness centre was ready for use, and our indoor swimming pool should also be quite on the way. So now we actually only lack moving into our future rooms of four people instead of six, before this college is fully as the architect once thought of it.

We started our first school semester two weeks ago, and are now getting into the daily routine of school. Since we are the very first year of UWC Dilijan, we have started all the CAS-activities ourselves. We have now structured a CAS-schedule, and CAS starts this monday. I have a very nuanced schedule of dance, MUN, TED, french, outdoor activities, fitness, theatre in a week. At least that what my plan is to attend in a week, but I may want to cut that down, when I get more pressured on time.

That was a general introduction to the last month here in Armenia. More specific stories will come soon!

Until next time, до свидания

Carl