Where Did September Go?

Hello Orcas Island and family! :)

I can't believe how fast this month has gone!

It's been a hard month-academically, socially, spiritually... Many aspects of who I am have been tested and tried, and I know there is such growth in that. At the same time, it has also been a great month that is concluding the introduction to and the forming of my first impressions of United World College-USA.

On some Friday nights, we have "Global Issues", and tonight we talked about sustainability-what it means to be sustainable, how developing countries can grow in a sustainable way, ect. Someone mentioned that the failing economy was a direct result of not living in a sustainable way, and rather than viewing it as a hopeless circumstance, we can look at it as an opportunity to change the patterns of life before to a less impacting and healthier standard of living. It is a lot of fun to discuss issues that are prevalent in society with students from all over the world, because our perspectives and backgrounds are so diverse. There is always something to learn from the people sitting on either side of me.

Outside of classes, we do something called "CAS" which is a requirement for the International Baccalaureate curriculum. CAS means "Creative, Action, Service" and we spend a significant amount of time doing such activities each semester. Two weeks ago, I went to work at a homeless shelter that my school helps to run in a nearby town. The experience was almost surreal, serving food in a small musty house, and discussing things like jobs, education, and family with people that may not have known any of them. I got to talking with one man who's real skin was barely visible through layers of tattoos, and he told me about the years he spent in jail, and about an older woman who dedicated the last years of her life to helping him learn how to help himself. As he talked about her and the visits she made daily to the jail I couldn't help but wonder why someone would do that. When I left that night, everyone said "Come back soon, sister!" and reflecting on the interactions between the homeless people at the shelter, I remembered that they address each other with "brother" and "sister" in order to better identify themselves and feel a part of something. The woman visiting the man Alfred who I spoke with, in jail loved him so unconditionally and for no reason that she changed him-the genuine emotion she must have shared with him taught him to love, and the benefits from such an action continue to spread.

I have kept busy with a different activity every day of the week-Fridays I grab my helmet, harness, and shoes and go rockclimbing on a face near campus. Tomorrow I will begin to give tours of the historic Castle we now use for classes and dorms to the outside public. My favorite CAS however, is math tutoring at a local elementary school. This last week, I went with three other students representing Afghanistan, Japan, and Finland to tutor. It's great to see how enthusiastic the young kids get about hearing about new cultures-one of our favorite activities to do with them is count in each of our different languages.

I will do my best to write more soon :)


This is a photo of a team of friends on a weekend backpacking expedition to summit the highest peak in New Mexico. Almost all of us got some sort of altitude sickness at the top, but it was more than worth it for the view!

If you'd like to see more pictures of life at UWC-USA, here are a couple of links to my school website where they are posted from current events:

Welcoming Ceremony- https://www.uwc-usa.org/podium/default.aspx?t=52562&a=134142

A Video of Orientation at Ghost Ranch-
just from the photos you can get an idea of the diversity in the student body! https://www.uwc-usa.org/podium/tools/SlideShow.aspx?a=134989

Love,

E

UWC-USA

The first couple of weeks here at the Armand Hammer United World College have been a bit chaotic. I look back to the first few days here-staying up until 3AM to wait for the last bus to arrive at the castle from the airport carrying onboard other students from around the world, meeting my roommate from Sweden, going to church with three friends and representing four continents, fasting for Ramadan to support my Muslim friends, discussing atheism with a Pakistani, an Israli, and a friend from the UK. It's taken me a couple of moments of standing still and breathing deep while everything happens around me to center myself and prepare for the journey I embark on now; a journey unlike anything I have ever done and probably will ever do. I just got back from a backpacking expedition with ten people including myself, representing ten countries. When isolated in the mountains of New Mexico there is a lot you can learn. Like different sleep patterns other cultures have for example-I woke up much too early one morning to Andrew, from Uganda, blowing a whistle telling me that the day "HAS BEGAN!"
Many of my "co-years" do not speak English well yet, but we do our best to communicate. School started today, and it started slowly. We are taking the time to get to know the different ways everyone has been taught and how to learn in the diverse fashion we do. It's amazing to sit in a classroom with students from around the world-but even more amazing to know most of the learning is not going on in the classroom.
We had a "Welcoming Ceremony" last night, where everyone dresses up in their national costume and we have a fancy dinner in the Castle. My co-first-years and I sat at tables in the Castle dining room (that looks somewhat familiar to the dining room in the Harry Potter movies :)) waiting for the second-years to join us. My eyes wandered from the stained glass windows to the other wandering eyes of a Canadian and a Belarussian, until I saw a flag wave in the doorway.

"Afghanistan".

..Someone read into the microphone. Afghanistan's ambassador walked down middle of the dinning room as people cheered him on. Seventy or so countries later down the alphabet, Stuart, representing the U.S. and Japan walked down the middle of the room, which now had waving flags encircling us at our tables, carrying a flag that read "United World College". I thought about my diverse friends that had carried their flags and saw it beautiful that though they are from a culture so different from my own, they are still unique in their personalities. They are soccer players, and comedians, musicians and mathematicians..and they are here teaching me about their culture, and learning from my culture in order to for us to create a more peaceful world of understanding. After dinner, we were led outside to where there were candles lit around the flags on the lawn outside the Castle. The second-year students were holding hands and me and my class held hands behind them, creating a circle that could sing "We are the world.." and have it be true. After a few words from the school president and students, I was more or less "inducted" to the United World College community. We then joined the circles that made up the first and second year class. I held the hand of a friend from Lebanon and Sweden, and looked at the Africans joined with the Germans, and the Mexicans with the Australians. I thought of church my first Sunday here with my friends from three other continents and listening to what I thought was a confused pastor speaking about how Islam is wrong, Hinduism is wrong, Buddisim is wrong. He seemed to believe that what he thinks is right and no other beliefs are. And I think that is where we go wrong. Looking around a circle with dominating peaceful hearts, I could see it doesn't matter what we put down on paper, what we read, and I'd go so far to say even what we do. It's who we choose to be, and really BE when we are alone and in our own thoughts. It's the love we find inside ourselves that is the love of God, forever forgiving and willing. If we choose to open our hearts, we will find God there. We will find Him everywhere. Even in the atheists. I let go of the hands in that circle and realized I am a part of something much bigger than me-something that is bigger than that entire circle though still prevalent in it and that is the love of God.


This is the a guys dorm in front of the Castle, at the Welcoming Ceremony.


The Japanese ambassadors with their flag.

I can't write much longer, but I hope to write more soon!

With love,

Emma