#beforeuwc

The weekend 12th to 14th of June 2015 marked the introduction weekend for new UWC students of Norway. 43 excited firsties-to-be were gathered at Lunde Leirsted just outside of Oslo, accompanied by some great second years and responsible grownups from UWC Norway. It was an amazing weekend filled with awesome people, food, information, games and fun, discussions and a bucket load of the UWC spirit! I met my fantastic co-year Eskil, one of my amazing second years Hanna, and a bunch load of other great people (whom I won’t meet again for another two years though...) It was amazing!

This is Eskil and me! We got along great, and I can’t wait to get to know him properly during our stay at Pearson. I’ll meet him again in 73 days when we’re both on a plane heading towards the Canadian West coast.

Okay, so the whole weekend started on Friday with a bus ride from Oslo (which was supposed to last 1 hour, but ended up lasting a lot longer because of traffic). Then we arrived at Lunde Leirsted (”Lunde Camping” for non-natives). It was close to the fjord, there were a lot of cabins, and it looked something like this:

We were sorted into cabins, got a lot of good food, and then the get-to-know-each-other-games began! It was a great weekend, and all in all the program was as follow:

FRIDAY, 12th OF JUNE

16:30 - Meet up in Oslo

17:00 - Bus to Lunde

19:00 - Welcome!

20:00 - Barbecue 

21:15 - Get-to-know-each-other

SATURDAY, 13th OF JUNE

09:00 - Breakfast

09:45 - Introduction

10:00 - Kick-off: my UWC experience

11:00 - Mission Statement workshop

12:45 - Lunch

13:30 - UWC-diary 

14:30 -  Informing of UWC

16:00 - Talk about rules

16:20 - Why the IB?

17:00 - Games / making dinner

17:30 - Dinner

18:00 - Games / washing up

18:30 - A course about cultures crashing

20:00 - Games, music, fun!

SUNDAY, 14th OF JUNE

09:00 - Breakfast

10:00 - Cleaning and packing

11:00 - Welcome by the leader. The National Committee, UWC history, the year to come

12:30 - Evaluating + photographs

13:00 - Bus back to Oslo

When we arrived back in Oslo I had approximately ten minutes to reach my other bus back home (an 9 hour long one), so the good-byes were short. However, this is without doubt one of the best weekends I’ve had so far in 2015, and that now I’m even more excited for Pearson! Can’t believe it’s only 73 days left till my plane leaves ... Anyway, enjoy some photos from the weekend!

Me, Hanna (second year) and Eskil!

Get-to-know-each-other-circle

Eating lucnh outside

Hello, Eskil!

A presentation about UWC

From left to right: Åse (Mostar), Sofie (Swaziland), Judith (Swaziland), Emma (Hong Kong)

Just relaxing in the grass

All the packed bags!

On the way back to the bus

I loved the whole weekend, and I had a splendid time! It was so great meeting all these people who, even though we are going to different schools, are in the same situation as myself. It’s going to be an adventure for us all, so I’ll finish this post with the most and best describing gif:

I just ordered my airplane ticket to Victoria and I can’t believe it just happened. It suddenly seems as though the blurry vision I had of my future UWC and Canada reality is coming clearer into focus. This is real. It’s happening. And in just over a 100 days as well. I’m trying to convince myself I’m starting Pearson this fall, but I don’t think I’ll fully realize it before I’m on a plane taking off for a new world! It’s absurd and crazy and wonderful. And the airplane ticket is now officially a check off the list. 

Me and my amazing co-year Eskil will fly with Icelandair from Oslo to *surprise* Iceland, then from Reykjavik to Vancouver, and from Vancouver to Victoria where we will land at approximately 10 pm (sincerely hoping for Pearson to provide us with a host family). All together we will be travelling for about 16 hours, which is a lot but totally worth it. 7000 kilometers. This is so exciting!! I just hope they have decent food on the plane, but they never have. Still, I can live in the hope. 

So that’s it for the phenomenal airplane-ticket-update! In 30 days I’ll meet all the other Norwegian UWC people + my co-year for the intro weekend. Expect loads of photos. 

But sorry peeps! The excellent question is in Norwegian (google translate if you must, but be aware of inexact results). Keep on sending questions, I love it! I promise to always do my best to answer :)

Kjære anonym! Jeg sier deg til deg og kommer til å si det til alle fremtidige søkere: du gjør et fantastisk valg, (og er allerede et steg nærmere en UWC opplevelse!). Det er også veldig hyggelig å høre at du likte innlegget mitt om min egen UWC historie! Det å kunne inspirere og glede andre betyr veldig mye for meg.

Så! Til ditt spørsmål. Du lurer på engelsken, og er ikke den første som lurer kan jeg fortelle deg. RDJ sier ikke at det er et excellent question for ingen ting. Saken er det at hvis du bekymrer deg over at du ikke er flink nok i engelsk til å klare fag, skolehverdag og det sosiale på engelsk, så har du en bekymring for mange. Her i Norge har ligger de fleste på et relativt høyt engelsknivå sammenlignet med mange andre land som ikke har engelsk som morsmål, og på et UWC kommer de til å ta hensyn til at alle har forskjellige bakgrunner og ligger på forskjellige nivå. Jeg har faktisk hørt om elever som har kommet til UWC uten å kunne engelsk i det hele tatt, og som har lært seg det i løpet av de første månedene der! Du trenger ikke bekymre deg for at engelsken blir for vanskelig. Tro det eller ei, men når du først stiller deg inn på situasjon og kommer skikkelig inn i UWC hverdagen, kommer det til å gå mye bedre enn du kunne ha forventet! Det vil være mange som er dårligere i engelsken enn du er, og mange som er bedre. Sånn er det bare. UWC jobber hardt den første tiden for å få alle til å henge med, slik at rundt andre termin ligger de fleste på det samme nivået. Å snakke og skrive engelsk hver dag kommer nok til å bli uvant i starten, men så snur det og blir en vane! Det kommer til å gå helt fint, stol på meg :)

Og så til noen tips om hvordan man blir flinkere i engelsk:

1. Les engelske bøker! Hvis du synes det er utfordrende i starten, kan du begynne med noe lettere og enkelt. Les romaner du liker. Les noe som inspirerer deg. Og les det på engelsk! Jo mer du leser, jo flere ord plukker du med deg, og jo mer lærer du. Abrakadabra, bimsalabim, så enkelt er det egentlig. Men du må ha viljen.

2. Snakk engelsk! Selv har jeg gått over i en automatisk vane å prate engelsk 60% av tiden hjemme, rett og slett fordi jeg synes det er gøy. Og av å prate mer engelsk, sånn blir du også bedre. (Les gjerne bøker høyt for deg selv hvis du er alene)

3. Finn noen engelsktalende venner på internett! Veldig smart. Hvis du får det til, få kontakt med noen fra utlandet som du faktisk må snakke engelsk med. Da får du både god trening i å lese og skrive engelsk.

Håper dette har hjulpet deg litt, kjære anonym! Ikke bekymre deg. Dette går bra! Og masse masse lykke til! :)

The year is 2014. It’s February, and soon time for all the 10th graders in Norway to choose where and what they want to study the next three years. I had already decided I wanted to spend the next year at the local school and choose general studies. The reason behind this was because I was utterly determined to go on an exchange year, preferably to USA. And the only way I would be allowed to do this was if I first studied a year of general studies and then came back after my exchange year to finish school, take my exams, get my diploma etc. etc. General studies was my only option if I wanted to go out and discover a new country for a year, and so that’s what I chose.

An exchange year had always been my dream. I wanted to challenge myself, travel far away and stay there for a year, learn to speak fluent English, live with a host family, discover a completely new culture and have the experiences of my life. I couldn't think about anything else, and spent 60% of my time imagining what it would be like.

But then came a day that would challenge my desires and choices and twist my thoughts around forever. I said yes to a meeting with my academic adviser. Short version of our conversation:

"So, you’re taking an exchange year?” - “Yes, I’m taking an exchange year to USA, and travelling with the organization AFS.” “Have you ever heard about something called UWC?” - “No ... ?” “Well, I definitely think it’s something for you. They are international boarding schools around the world. There’s even one here in Sogn og Fjordane [my county]. You should check out their website.” - “Oh, okay then.”

So I checked out the website -

- and so in a few days I went from firmly determined as to what I wanted, to wildly confused (and that’s putting it mild). I have to say I had quite a few emotional outbursts of frustration during that time. The more I read about UWC the more I wanted it, but that meant letting go of my USA-exchange-year-dream which I had had almost since kindergarten! It was a torn and complicated state of mind I was in.

A couple of months later I was a different person. Now UWC was all I wanted, and I was willing to give up my secure exchange year dream (nearly everyone can have an exchange year these days) and follow the high-risk dream of a United World College, where only 40 people got accepted each year. I hoped, I wished, I prayed, I dreamed I would get accepted into a school - any school, just as long as I got in. My life was suddenly filled with insecurity. For years I had thought I knew where I was going and what I was going to do. Now I didn’t even know if I’d be accepted, and least of all which continent I’d land on for two years if I got in.Truth to be told I was a wreck.

Random picture of beautiful RCN only 2 hours away from my home. Photo: me. Yes, I’ve been there! It’s amazing.

November came and I started my long awaited application. It consisted of some easy parts such as basic information about myself, a passport photo, my grades, and me and my parents’ signatures, and then there were the more difficult parts. I had to list “5 activities outside of school that you feel are reflective of who you are” (*posh British voice*), if there were any specific colleges I wished to go to (I listed UWC-USA and Pearson), and I needed a health “certificate" and two references from one current and one previous teacher. Then finally, the monster that almost killed my brain and mental health, an “Essay of no more than 750 words where you inform us of your background, your personality, what engages you and why you would like to attend a United World College”. I shudder just to think about it. 750 words is nothing. Really, nothing. But I know I shouldn’t complain. Compared to other countries (as I’ve heard), the UWC application process in Norway is quite simple.

Anyway, write it I did, and sent it all in a week before the deadline 1st of February. The wait that followed was horrid. 27th of February I got a letter saying I was called for an interview in Oslo. Only 65 applicants were called for interviews, so now my chances were fairly better! First I was in ecstasy, but then the nerves started creeping up my neck, and the week before my interview (9th of March) I felt more dead inside than alive. This 20 minute long interview would decide my future, perhaps where my whole life was headed, and it was more important to me than anything. For a while I thought it would never come. But then the 9th of March happened before I knew it. I went to my interview and talked to 5 other people, and when I got out? It was like someone had let all the air out of a balloon ready to burst. It was horrible. I couldn’t think of anything but all the stupid things I’d said and all I had prepared but not gotten an opportunity to say. I can, with a hand on my heart, say that the two weeks that followed after the interview were undoubtedly the worst weeks of my life. It was scary how far I actually fell into dark thoughts and extreme worries. But I won’t go into detail about that.

HOWEVER. Plot twist. The 20th of March, the day of the very rare solar eclipse just saying, I got the most awaited and scary letter of my life. And I opened it. And i read it. And BABOOM. It was like everything I’d prayed and wished for for over a year suddenly fell into place, with the small words printed on white paper: UWC Pearson College, Canada.

I had ended in Canada! I was going to Canada! The feelings I had were indescribable, the tears were heavy of joy, and the screams were, well, loud. I couldn’t believe it. Still can’t believe it. It’s the start of my very own adventure. My life is going to change. I am going to change. Nothing will ever be the same again. And I have never been more grateful and happy in my life. To sum it all up, this is how I felt when I got the letter (and it’s how I’ll feel flying to Canada):

... why won’t this gif load ...

And that’s the road so far. I’m counting the days. Before I know it, I’ll be half the world around, working for peace, making a difference, learning, understanding, reflecting, feeling, living a completely new life with amazing people from all around the world. Is this for real? God, I hope so.