Mid-term break!

10am- Here it is, the day everyone has been waiting for! I will be going home tonight after last code and I am so excited. I had free code this morning and now I have double Econ. However I have already done my coursework and so I am in the library at the moment. Yesterday everyone was packing and it was very weird. It was as though I was packing my life back into a suitcase once again, but I felt that the life I am taking home is different to the one I brought. I cannot believe that two months have passed since I first arrived here. On the one hand it all feels so different and exciting yet on the other it is hard to remember exactly how life was before AC. I now feel as though I am a full AC student and member of the UWC community and that will stay with me for life. I now understand what students told me before I came about how it is to live in this community and I am excited to pass on that feeling to the next generation of ACers. The British open day for possible applicants is being held here during the break. I would have liked to have shown people around as I know how great it was on my open day but we aren't here.
          I have break at 10.25 and then I have English. However my English teacher isn't here and so I have yet another free. After that I have E. Systems and then lunch. After lunch I have French, History and then Maths Studies to finish off the day. I am sure Maths will feel like the longest lesson of my life!
      I am really going to miss my PK sisters this week but I am going to meet some of them in Cardiff one day if we can. It will be great to go home and see all my family and friends but I know that I will be happy when I come back too. Well that is it. The first half term of AC is over and done. All the new things have been discovered and so many great friends have been found.  Soon it will be Christmas and a month off for that!! Love to everyone and will be back after mid-term break.

P.S. Must also say thanks for following me on this journey!

One more day!

1.15pm- Mid term break is almost here! I am so excited to be going home it's unbelievable. It isn't that I am unhappy here, in fact I know I will be very pleased to come back next week. It will just be good to see all of my wonderful family and friends. No matter how great it is here I still miss everyone back home.
         Today has been a strange day as I only had one lesson! That was History first thing this morning. I got 16/20 in my essay, which is one mark off a Level 7. My teacher was pleased and so I am happy with it. After that I was supposed to have double English but my teacher isn't here and so I had double free. I used the time to work on my English essay and that is now done. After break I had Econ. but that was free to work on our coursework, which I've already done. After that I had a scheduled double free! I am so glad that my plan has worked- I have no work to do over the holiday at all. I am going to leave all of my books here and then there is no way I can even think about work!  We are having to tidy everything up in our dorms as the house is going to be cleaned thoroughly. I started to pack in my frees and it is crazy how much I am taking. I have plenty of laundry and then things like my cycle helmet, wellies and flute take up space. I have just had early lunch and most people have had to go back to Code 6. Therefore I came to the library to write this and then read for while. I have my flute in my bag and I may even go and practise a little later!   Last night I went to watch the movie "Precious" in the coffee lounge. It was very moving and had most of us in tears at some point or other. It has a very important message about domestic violence and education, and it is good that a film was made to raise awareness of this issue.    Yesterday afternoon we had a school wide photo and it is truly the most amazing school photo I've ever seen! Many people dressed in their national costumes and others the carried flags of their countries. I stood in the middle of the courtyard clutching my huge Welsh flag with all the Welshies and truly admired the cultural diversity around me. In which other school would the school photo include girls dresses in Kimonos, boys dressed in Lederhosens and people waving the flags of Spain, Israel, Iraq and the US? I realised that I had began to take for granted how amazing this place is! It is possible after a while to get completely accustomed to hearing three different languages at the dining table! The photo was a great show of colour and vibrancy, and a celebration of difference and identity. I will try and put it on here when I get a copy.
     This afternoon I am going to chill and finish off packing. We have PSHE in the Bradenstoke at 5pm followed by supper at 5.30pm. 8-10pm in PK is packing and cleaning time in preparation for mid term break. Some people have already left and others are leaving tomorrow afternoon. Mum and Dad are picking me up at 5pm so I will have half an hour after codes. Some people are leaving early Saturday morning and everyone must be out of the houses by 10am. For those who are staying on campus they will be staying in the main castle and there are various activities planned. Houseparents are having the week off and so that is why everyone preferably had to leave campus. It is surprising how many Europeans are going home and even some Asians are travelling for hours to get home. I am so lucky that I will be home by the time most people have even left!
         Well am going to go and read Private Eye and then the Guardian. Love to everyone and hopefully will see most of you next week!!!!

Happy days

6.35pm- Last week of codes before Mid-term break! I can't wait until Friday! I am really happy here however.Yesterday and today I have had very good days. Last night after codes and service I went to my Meditation session. It was very relaxing as usual. Afterwards we had a lovely chat and I ended up running back for check-in. Today I had E Systems, double History, Econ. and French.  History was great as always. This afternoon I did some work and then went to a lecture on stereotypes given by a former AC student who is now a professor in the US. Well really must go. I have and E. Systems test tomorrow and I also have to do Econ. coursework and French homework. I still also have that English essay to do!  Love to all.

Chilled Saturday

12.20pm- Well as the title suggests I am having a nice relaxing day today. I got up at 9am and had a lovely warm shower which woke me up wonderfully! I had a quiet night last night. A couple of us walked to Llantwit and bought vegetables and cooked some pasta. A couple of us from PK just stayed in and talked, read and relaxed. It was a very nice evening and we had a relatively early night. This morning I have done some French work, and am reading up on my grammar! I do really like French and I just feel I need to get the basics clear and I'll be okay. I have a History essay to write and so I am going to go to the library for that after lunch. I need to do a bit of reading, which I find very interesting. I also have an English essay to write over mid-term break for English but I want to do it before hand so that I can enjoy the break. There are schools from deprived areas of the UK staying here this weekend and so I am going to go and help out with them this evening. The last student to arrive in our house will arrive tonight! She is travelling from Nigeria. It is going to be very difficult for her to settle in but we will all make her welcome.Well lunch is starting in a couple of minutes so I will go now. Lots of love to you all.

Quick hello

10.35pm- Just have a couple of minutes free so popped up to the library. I have just had an Econ test which wasn't really a test! We had our notes to refer to as it was more about understanding rather than remembering. I think it went okay. I am still getting used to the way IB questions are formulated but I don't think it was a disaster. I have break now so I am just using the computer quickly.. After that I have English and then E.Systems. I have early lunch today, which is great. Today is a full day of codes and so it is really strange to go back to lessons after lunch. We finish at 4.30pm, which makes it feel like a very long day. It is Friday however and so the weekend is here at last. One week left until mid-term break! I can't wait but I have plenty of work to keep me busy until then. Tonight we are going to do some group reading for History and then watch a film. There are students from schools from deprived areas of the UK visiting this weekend and so I am going to do some work with them as well when I have time. I wanted to take part in Amnesty Street Theatre in Cardiff tomorrow but I can't do everything! The students are publicising the plight of detainees in Guantanamo Bay and I would have loved to have gone. As part of the gender and sexuality focus week the school was supposed to dress in rainbow colours today. PK house colour is red so I am wearing a red scarf all day! It is actually good as the weather is cold and it is keeping me nice and warm. Well had better go now. Hope everyone is well.

Finding time!

2.55pm- Hello all! I have finally got around to writing something on my blog. Things are getting quite busy here, lots of activities and work. I have a couple of essays to write. I have to do a research essay for History by Monday and then an English essay too. My last English essay wasn't that great and so I really need to work very hard on this one. The IB marking criteria is very tough! I am still hanging on in French. I have written a petition for tomorrow but I need to re-draft it as I know it isn't too good at the moment! Lessons have been quite good. Today I had History (always great), double English and then Economics. I have an Econ test tomorrow but I think it should be okay. Having never done Econ before I sometimes feel slightly slower than my classmates. I do find it quite interesting learning about all the terms that I have heard countless times but never quite known what they mean. Tonight I have a Model UN debate on EU monetary policy and I am representing Austria. Therefore I now know a bit about the Austrian economy, but I am not sure what use that is to me! I am going to leave MUN early as PK have an indoor BBQ with Whitaker house in our dayroom. It should be fun.   After that I am going to try and get an early night. I say that every night but I never get to bed before 11pm at the earliest. Am going to go for a nice walk down to the seafront and then do some flute practice.It is a very cold Autumnal day here today so I'm sure the sea air will be amazing! Love to everyone.

Work, work, WORK!!

3.10pm- As you can see I have to work today! I have a History test tomorrow, an Economics test on Friday, French work (which is SO hard!) and I have to write a History research essay. This means that I have to read and research before I can write it. All of this is time consuming and I want to do so many other things! Today is 10-10-10 and is significant as it is a global day of action on climate change. This morning we had a photo on top lawn where we were all arranged to form the numbers on the grass. There are activities which I would like to attend but I can't as I must get the work done. I fear I may sound really stressed but I am not. I am just slightly frustrated that I have to work but it is okay!
    Last night was the 10% Ball. According to statistics 10% of the world's population is either gay,lesbian or bisexual and so the ball was held in order to promote tolerance and understanding of this. It meant that you had to go with a same-sex partner. We ended up going as 5 girls, which was great fun! It was held in the Bradenstoke Hall and was great fun. We then had a buddy dorm chat with cookies in our dorm! I didn't get to bed until 3am and then I got up at around 10am. I went to brunch, which was so good. As part of the 10-10 day the canteen is having a cold food day. Therefore brunch was so much better than usual! I had a croissant, danish pastry and yogurt. I hope supper will be good too. Well as you can tell I am doing this instead of working! Must go!!

Very quick!

12pm- Just a quick word to say hello! I am busy working at the moment and so can't be long. I  like Thursday as I have History first, followed by double English, Econ. and then double free. I will work now for around half an hour and then I will go for an early lunch. I have to write a poem followed by a justification for English and so it may take a while. I have time to work a little later but it is going to be quite busy tonight. We have PSHE at 5pm in the Bradenstoke and then Amnesty head shaving. Some very brave people are shaving their hair to raise money for Amnesty International and we go along to support them. After that I have Model UN and then open house. We go into our houseparent's house and get nice food and it's relaxing to be in a normal home. Well must go. Love to everyone.

Hello again

10.45am- Hello everyone. It is break time at the moment and so I am in the library. I have decided that I must stop drinking so much coffee! I haven't written for a couple of days but everything is okay. I had a normal day of lessons yesterday and then I had service as usual in the afternoon. After that I had lots of work to do and then I had meditation activity in the evening. I find it very relaxing. This morning I had E. Systems first lesson and then double History. I really enjoy History but I sometimes find double codes a bit too long! I have Economics next and then French. I wasn't able to do all of my French homework so I need some help with that. I have a Maths test afterwards but I revised last night so it should be okay. I have service at 2pm and then tonight I need to do some English work and also practise my flute. I have a lesson tomorrow so I need to practise!   Must rush now. Love to all.

Weekend!

3pm- The weekend at AC is such a chilled out time, it's amazing! I will run through mine so far- Friday night we had the Welsh-Scot bonding thing where us first years were blindfolded and taken on a tour of the castle. It was good fun. After that I just chilled in PK and had quite an early night. Mum and Dad then came to take me to visit my family yesterday morning. I got up at 9am and had to be ready by 9.30 but I did it. It was lovely to see them all and it was great having Nanny's apple pie!!  Last nigh I relaxed and then watched a couple of movies with some PK people. We all love Dirty Dancing! I didn't get to bed until around 2am so then I slept until 10. I was the last person up in my dorm for the first time ever! I then went to church with Haf, my Welsh neighbour in PK. St.Donat's church is actually on campus and so it is a short walk to the bottom of the valley. The church is so beautiful and the people were wonderfully warm and welcoming. I really enjoyed it and am going to try and go every week. The congregation is a mixture of students and the local community. The atmosphere was lovely and the vicar spoke very well.
    I am in the library computer lab at the moment, taking a break from working. I do not have that much work but I need to get it done. I have a Maths test on Tuesday and so I am revising for that. I also have French work to do that will take me a little longer. I am finding French challenging and am going to start having tutorials with my teacher this week. It is such a big step up from anything I've done before. My teacher is very approachable and so I am going to make sure that I work hard to keep up.
     I had better get back to working now. I will work for a while and then head back to PK. We have supper at 5.30pm and then the US-Canadian National Evening at 7.30pm in the Tythe Barn (Arts Centre). After that we have a house meeting at 9pm in PK. There are house meetings every Sunday and it is here that announcements regarding the house are made and the House Reps report back to the Student Council every week. Had better go now. My break from work has been too long! I am going to check the latest on the Ryder Cup first however! Love to all.