#3rdterm

The first month (and a half) of second year has gone by insanely quickly. It feels like first years only just arrived, and yet summer break seems a lifetime ago.

Being a second year isn’t actually as scary as I thought it would be. I was worried about setting a good example and being there for firsties, but very quickly that worry went away, and I was able to just act naturally. There are some moments where I stop myself and realise that the topic I am talking about or the jokes I am making either aren’t relevant to first years, or aren’t helpful and may make them unnecessarily worried, but all in all it’s been fine. The first years are very lovely, full of energy and motivation, and I am very excited to spend the rest of the year with them.

Being a second year IB Student is a whole different matter. Third term, with all it’s deadlines, responsibilities and decisions is just as intense and overwhelming as my second years warned me about. I finally understand where they were coming from when they complained about workload. 

I have, however, managed to hand in my first draft of my EE, which I am very proud of.

One of the strange things I have noticed is how odd it feels to be doing some of the things that I did in my first month again - the trip to Kravice, UWC Day - just with a different group of people. It’s slightly bittersweet, it’s great to do them again and now I know they’re coming I could look forward to them a lot more, but at the same time I know it’s the last time I will do these things at Mostar and that is slightly heartbreaking.

My time here has been made more difficult due to a close family member being extremely ill back home, and sadly passing away a week ago. Due to my removal from the situation, it has been very hard to deal with, and I have felt very detached from it all. I will hopefully be going home for the funeral, which will allow me to be surrounded by the support of family, and to give support to the family, and will hopefully make it easier to deal with. It still doesn’t quite feel real, and I know it’s going to hit hard when I go home.

When I came to UWC I came knowing that situations like this would occur, and I thought that I would cope with it, but the reality is much much harder than I imagined. I am incredibly grateful for the people around me who have helped and supported me through it all.