Huge snow storm (super rare here)!!! seems to be over now, still colder than usual and despite our ski trip being cancelled due to too much snow, it should be a good foundation fro future skiing!!!

The second year begins

I am now 2 months into my second year, and with my second year comes many joys as well as challenges. The work load for the second years at UWCiM is considerably grater than the first year, and as well the second years are given a fair amount of social responsibility. In a community where there are no 'parents' and most adults and administration are far away it is up to the second years to provide the support and guidance for the first years who are struggling with culture shock, homesickness, and the freedom of being away from home.

As far as I'm dealing with this extra work and responsibility, it's like the rest of UWC, a roller coaster: from bursting with joy to on the brink of tears and back again, and I'm just trying to enjoy every moment and still make my deadlines for the work I have to do.

As far as what I have been doing? a lot of writing, papers, and essays mostly. I have also been leading the environmental club with a friend of mine, and I also started a jogging club which I have been enjoying a lot.

The single thing I put the most effort into and enjoyed the most in the past two months was organizing a 5 day trek with 9 other students . It was really rewarding to share my love of the outdoors and adventure with students from Pakistan to The Netherlands.

Here is a shot of the group before we started!!

Summer Salmon

All my life summer has meant finding all my winter clothes and getting in a tiny stinky plane to bounce through the air down the Alaska Peninsula to commercial fish salmon. This year was no different, it was just crammed between two crazy school years in Bosnia. Being out at fish camp after my year abroad it finally hit me what a unique and amazing opportunity it is to participate in one of the world's last wild salmon runs. It also made me realize what a wonderful and fulfilling lifestyle it is working so closely to the land. There is so much you can learn at school as I have realized , but this is a whole different way of learning, and struggle which I know much better. Now the salmon are turning dark shades of red and the days are getting shorter and soon I will travel back to the other side of the world and settle back into my other life. I will miss Alaska more than I would like to, I will miss the ocean, the snow, the mountains and the wild that surrounds me. But I am excited to return to school as a second year and work my butt off for classes and colleges, and see what else there is to come :)

Returning

Originally this title was going to be 'Returning Home' But where 'Home is to me is now confusing. Is Home a place where you live but you don't speak the language? A place where you have found amazing people who support you like a family, a place where you have grown and changed and come to love? Or is home where you have grown up? where your true family is, where you come from where your memories live? But if you can't think of the next time you will be there for more than 10 days and people don't recognize you anymore aren't you just a visitor? I feel lost. I am in a whirlwind of eternal homesickness, when I am there I miss it here, when I am here I miss it there but I wouldn't give up either one; I wouldn't give up one sad feeling. This is part of the experience UWC is not the time I spend there it is something that is inside me for the rest of my life. I am back for the summer but I will return in the fall to get my butt kick by IB and to continue to enjoy my life there.

Back in Alaska I realize so much has changed, inside me , inside my friends in the world around me. Nothing is constant. The change scares me but at the same time it is beautiful. I don't want to grow up, but I want to GROW, and that is what I am doing, every day I live is another adventure and that is the beauty of life :)

A zoom in and sum up of UWC life and my last 9 months

In the last 20 minutes I have laughed at my own stupidity, almost cried from stress and exhaustion, tackled my best friend who is Spanish, hugged a Begin, studied physics, contemplated how what I have learned in psychology applies to my life, and cleaned the communal kitchen. This is a pretty average 20 minutes at UWC. How is this possible? I am constantly asking myself this. Either ‘how did I possibly just do that?’ or ‘how am I possibly going to do…’ Of all the many important lessons I have learned in my 9 months at UWC one of the most important is that nothing is impossible, some things just take a bit more work.

Out of all the ways I have grown since I first came to UWC the academic and intellectual is the most quantifiable. The last couple weeks have been the end of year exams so all the knowledge I have obtained is bouncing through my head. I find myself applying the business cycle to things I hear about the American economy, applying physics to why it is so hard to get out of bed in the morning and cultural dimensions in psychology to my relationship with my Turkish roommate.

In addition to academic and intellectual growth I have matured and grown as a person. I have become more aware of my emotions and more capable of expressing myself. I have learned to understand and appreciate the morals and values my parents and community back home gave me and apply them to my life here, but I am also learning to leave room for more and let my perspective be altered by those around me. I have cried with frustration, loneliness, disappointment, and joy. I have laughed and shared precious moments, I have prayed in mosques, and churches, to rivers, mountains, Allah, Pacha Mama, and God. How is all this possible? I have no idea, it blows me away!

Today is the last school day of my 1^st year at UWC. Thank you everyone for making this experience possible and making it as wonderful as it has been!!!!!! I can’t wait for next year and I want my last 10 days in Mostar to last as long as possible!

Spring in Mostar

Sunshine on faces, flowers on trees, fruit in the markets, I have never lived in a place were spring does not involve huge amounts of slush and mud... and it's kinda nice :)

Burdva Montenegro

With 7 days off of school, three friends and I decided to check out Montenegro! After about a 7 hour bus ride though Bosnian mountains, along the Croatian coast, and though Montenegrin forests we arrived in Burdva at an amazing little hostel were we had our own privet room. We spent most of the time just relaxing. Catching up on sleep in the sun, or cooking good food for once (after dorm food). Also with final exams coming up in may we started to review our subjects and finish up big assignments for the end of the year. However we did get out to see the city a bit too. Burdva is on the coast of Montenegro and has beautiful beaches and is surrounded by small forested mountains. This time of year the whole city smelled like flowers and salt water (a wonderful thing to inhale while going on a morning run). Now back at school it just seems like a dream :)