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Entry No. 17 - The IB is a thing - 28th April ‘15

So its two weeks until first year exams... and Im really busy all the time. Admittedly I am stressed out at the moment. I have a lot of things to do and Im finding it hard to do all of them, lacking energy and motivation while still doing something all the time. Time for socialising is none existent at the moment. Being House Rep, GAS leader and Residential Committee, as well as recently changing subjects from Maths studies to Maths standard and from E-systems to biology higher, the pressure is certainly on.

Today its sunny and thats really nice! Im even wearing shorts! what?! Its only a few weeks now until the second years leave so I want to enjoy but I also want/need to study but the sun is so distracting! ahah 

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Entry No. 16 - A Month Since My Return - 14th February '15

So its been just over a month since I got back to college, which is kind of crazy. When it had only been a week it felt like less than a week but now it feels like forever. So many things happen that its impossible for it to feel like it has been any less time.

So what has happened recently... well after First aid PBL we had MUN, which was pretty cool, I was the French Republic in the Historical Security Council and our two topics were Apartheid in South Africa and the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

After PBL week it was back to classes and then on tuesday I went on a trip to the County archives, that was nice, learnt some stuff and spent some time off campus. 

On Wednesday we had a visit from this man with no arms who was an arctic explorer and he gave a lecture all about that, that was really interesting. 

Yesterday we had a concert by Sigrid Moldestad which was quite simply AMAZING! Her voice is so beautiful and the songs were so powerful. I really enjoyed that. 

Then today I have been packing a getting ready for ski week! We leave really early tomorrow morning and come back on Friday, I was feeling kind of anxious about it al but Im super excited now, especially as Summer (my house mentor) has been working really hard to get me into a guys room! Finally admin is respecting my identity! I just need to sort out my profile on w4 and fight for a guys room next year and everything will be sorted, but thats in the future, right now I'm just super excited that I can spend ski week in the correct room. I still really love my roomies so much despite them being girls, ew (haha, Im joking but they really are amazing <3).

So for now, I need to do a few bits and pieces of work and I'm ready for ski week!

Oh yeah, happy valentines day, even though I hate it I think I actually liked it this year because I got two roses!, from friends ( I presume ) and thats a really nice thing to do on valentines day rather than the commercialised bullshit that I have to put up with when I am outside of the Flekke bubble.

So yeah, happy days!

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Entry No. 15 - First Aid - 28th-30th January 2015

First aid PBL was awesome! I had a lot of fun learning all about it all. It got me so excited and I felt energised and engaged the whole day even though we had really long days. It made me so excited for what I want to do in the future. I know that I want to be a paramedic at some point in my life so this was totally exciting in light of that. We had a twelve hour course (over two days) and then we had our assessment. It was all a lot of fun. We learnt all the things you need for basic first aid. 

During the assessment we had a scenario and the one I had was the "Meth Lab". We heard shouts for help coming from the Science Building so we ran over and heard screams coming from the chemistry lab. We ran in to find smoke everywhere, bodies covering the ground and 'chemicals' spilled all over the place. I helped a guy who had a third degree burn who was falling in and out of consciousness. It was the craziest and most stressful (but exciting) 15-20 mins of my life. I felt so alive. I was the group leader so I also had to make sure we had found all the casualties and everyone was being looked after, as well as make 'the call' to 113 (the Norwegian emergency number). We were also assessed for our skills in CPR and Bandaging. The hardest thing for me was knowing exactly what to do. You had to be able to analyse the situation and know wether it was a heart attack, diabetes, a stroke, anything! And depending on what it was really wrong with the person there was an entirely different thing you had to do in response. I knew what to do to respond I just found it hard to tell what I was responding to. As I have said many times it was very exciting and a lot of fun. I really hope I did eel enough to become a first aider next year! Its so awesome!

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Entry No. 14 - New Term Has Begun - 24th January '15

Wow so I haven't written a text post for a while, thats pretty bad but I just haven't gotten round to it, forgive me? 

So right now I'm sitting on the floor in my corner being terribly bored and terribly tired. I should do some work but fortunately i don't have that much to do this weekend so it can get it all done today (hopefully).

Last night was Prom, it was really nice to see everyone dancing and enjoying themselves, there was a lot of people there including people from Dale. I went to Dale yesterday as well to buy a few things, also to get hair bleach so I could bleach my friends hair, then we coloured it read and now he looks super awesome. It was a really nice day but super busy and tiring and so now I'm sitting here at 4pm still feeling like I haven't woken up yet.

These first two weeks back have been hard but awesome, I feel like my friendships are getting stronger and stronger and I'm still making new friends all the time. I feel so close to so many people, its a really nice feeling. School work was mad the first week back and I had to work super hard to get everything done but now its all finished I just have some maths and norwegian revision to do. Phew. Last week I did my English Lit IOP, which is a presentation to your class which is marked and sent to the IB people, I was really nervous the night before and ended up waking up really early (as well as going to bed pretty late) to make sure that it was done to the best of my ability and when it actually came to presenting it i think I came across as a lot more confident and prepared than the practice one. Well now I'm just glad that its over. 

I don't have anything particularly interesting planned for this weekend but I shall see what happens!

Kinda a boring and irrelevant update but yeah, cheerio!

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Bergen Airport Adventures 11/12/14

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21 -11 -14

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Sexuality week - we raised the pride flag under the UWC flag. It was awesome.

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Entry No. 13 - End of November Break - 8th November 2014

So the end of Nov Break is drawing near and Im still procrastinating... I went on an awesome trip with my Aunt and Uncle to Bergen. I didn't think I needed to get off campus but I was so wrong, I really NEEDED to get off campus. It was just a nice reminder that the world is bigger than this little Flekke-RCN bubble that I have found myself in. Turns out there is actually more to life than UWC, crazy, right? It sounds stupid and yes I am making a joke out of it but I didn't even realise that it was something that I needed to realise. I was so absorbed by RCN life that it became my life. Thats not necessarily a bad thing but it is kind of crazy.

So right now Im sitting in the day room, eating a carrot and freezing my toes off because the window is open due to the strange smell coming from the fridge. I should really be in my room and typing my Philosophy not typing this blog post but oh well, I will get it done eventually.

My trip to Bergen was good, we stayed in a nice apartment and we drove around Hardangers Fjord and I took loads of photos. I really enjoyed that. We also ate some really nice food and visited the art galleries in Bergen which was awesome, I really enjoyed the galleries. I miss the Tate Modern. 

I was actually feeling quite homesick whilst I was off campus because I felt like if I was off campus I should be going home. I also miss some of the freedoms of being London. Not that some freedom is taking away at RCN its just the location restricts what kind of activities you can do. I miss London. Its not long until I will be back though, which is kind of scary. I am looking forward to seeing my family (and not having lessons!) but Im not sure I'm ready to go home and not be at RCN. Im sound so contradictory right now but I feel like Im on a journey and I don't want to interrupt it, I think in a month I will be ready to go home though, CHRISTMAS! 

Okay Im going to try and do some work... try...

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14 - 10 - 14 

A rare event - The clearest the Northern lights have been since I got here and the clearest I will ever see them whilst I'm here, probably.

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Brunch today (4/10/2014)

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Entry No. 12 - Tired but excited eyes - 30th September '14

Finally I am able to update this blog! My laptop gave in a died on me. I was so lost without one but fortunately I have a new one now, as an early christmas/birthday present kind of deal. Im so excited. It surprising how hard it was to do work without one, I could cope its just that i have become to accustomed to having one.

So, what has happened in these past three weeks. Well, many things, come on, we're talking about UWC here. We rehearsed and performed the 1st Year Show and it went amazingly! I was in the opening performance, a performance of Greased Lightning, a Caribbean dance and Bollywood dances.Can you believe that I danced? and in front of the whole school!? Im so proud! I didn't even dance before coming to here, well at least not unless it was in my room when no one was watching. It was the most fun I have had in ages. I did become stressed because of it and the lack of sleep and general exhaustion did get to me at one point but the memories are so worth all the hard work that we put into it. The majority of the second years were speechless because our show was so amazing (okay maybe i exaggerate a little but they were very impressed!).

I have a lot of reading to do and am admittedly behind on reading in both Philosophy and History but I'll manage to catch up. I also have three ongoing things that i desperately needed this new laptop for as it was near impossible to do them without it. I have a poetry project for Eng Lit, a Passion Project for Philosophy and a lab report for E-Systems. The work is a lot more than I am used to and is does seem to be never ending but I am on top of it all (and its nothing to compared to what the second years have, but we will get to that later!).

Every weekend is so much fun but goes so quickly, memories that I will keep for a last time, but they go so quickly! So do the weeks thought, so does everyday! Time is so weird here...

Next week is PBL (project based learning week) which Im really looking forward to. I have the theatre PBL which I am so excited for because I have rediscovered my love for acting here. I have rediscovered and discovered many interests here! I can't wait to discover some more!

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The islands

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Chinese Mid-Autumn festival last night

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Entry No. 11 - So many things - 9th September '14

So many things have happened in the past week and I only have a short amount of time to write this as I have loads of reading to do. The most important thing that happened was the second year show! It was so good, I am really amazed by the talent of people in this school. It was certainly very impressive. I laughed  A LOT. After the show there was a party, of course. I really love the parties here. No one is being dumb and everyone is just dancing and enjoying making a fool of themselves with silly dance moves. It gets so hot in the Hoegh though! But it really is so much fun to dance with everyone.

Before I came to RCN, I danced very little, I guess I just didn't really have the confidence for it but on Friday night I stumbled upon the Latino gathering and they grabbed me and forced me to dance. They taught me loads of dance moves, and that was just the basics! so when it came to the party after the second year show on Saturday I was on fire! It was so good, I really loved it. I have enjoyed dancing on my own before and I even put time into learning certain dances but dancing with other people is so much more fun even though I'm not very good, I cant wait til the party that the first years are organising on saturday, its gonna be so fun.

Well, I have to go, I have like three books to read for classes... :)

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Entry No. 10 - School Has Begun

So school has started and it has been a week since I officially started lessons. I changed from Chinese to Norwegian now, which I'm really glad about because its similar to German and by the end of the two years I will actually be able to speak it fairly well, rather that if I had done Chinese I would be so lost. Lessons have been pretty good, its just so weird not having as many subjects anymore. Its so strange to have only have 6 subjects! 

I'm getting into a proper routine of things now. I've pretty much got a daily routine going now I just need to sort out a weekly one, like when l do washing and go swimming and all that stuff. 

I still amazes me that I am here and even though it is completely different to what I thought it was going to be its even more amazing. Its definitely a unique experience here.

Time here is also very strange. Its like we are all in our own bubble in Flekke and that there is no 'rest of the world'. We learn and talk about the 'rest of the world' everyday but we see nothing of the world apart the one that we have created here. That makes it sound like we are an ignorant little bubble of people who don't care about the world and it might sound rather lonely or boring but it is a nice reminder of the simplicity of life. However this does lead to time being really rather odd. I have only been here for two and a bit weeks but it feels like I have been here for ages but at the same time it feels like I have been here for no time at all. Its so confusing.

I feel I have become close and comfortable with quite a few people already. Its a nice feeling to have that. During the time when I didn't feel like I had this friendship with people I felt very lost and unsure. Its amazing how essential these kinds of friendships with people to our social happiness. 

I have certainly smiled and laughed a lot recently. Yesterday was perhaps the day that I did the most smiling and laughing that I have done for a long while. I went to the Parapool EAC, which was in the hot pool in the Haugland Center and it was amazing! We swam and played games with some of the patients from the Haugland center and similar places in the surrounding area. It was so nice and I had a lot of fun. The people were so sweet and kind but also really funny and very interesting. They really made me smile and when they smiled I just wanted to smile more, it was such a fun a rewarding experience. I really hope that I can do this EAC full time as it was such an amazing experience for me. After parapool I went into the Kantine to check my mail and I was jumped on by one of my co-years who was asking me if I was going to the Theatre EAC (its actually called something else but I have no idea how to spell it). I wasn't intending on going as I had just got out of the pool and I still had all my swimming gear with me, but I said "why not?" and we headed over to the Hoegh and waited for the EAC to begin. I'm so glad that I went, it was so much fun and even though I'm not much of an actor its so nice to just go for it. We did lots of games and improvisation, it was so funny. My stomach hurt from laughing at some points. 

Right I'm going for dinner now! Bye!

[totoro-tao]

Entry No. 9 - Theme Party - 28th August 2014

I have just woken up after a nice long sleep due to being so tired after the first party of the year! It was the theme party, each room picked a theme and all went dressed according to the theme. My room went as book characters, it was so cool. I went as Bilbo Baggins! I did loads of dancing which was strange because I dont really dance at parties and only really dance at comic con. It was great fun and I feel like I have become a lot closer to people because of it. I even made a few new friends. I was planning on jumping in the Fjord because I passed the swimming test yesterday but I was too tired to do it and it was actually kinda cold. I want to jump in again soon though. The first time I jumped in was when it was my second years Birthday. I was so suprised that they actually threw Astrid in the Fjord, on her Birthday! After the threw her in a few other people jumped in and then the "hunt for the first years" began naturally I ran to safety because I was not planning on going in the fjord that night but in the end Mateo grabbed me and made me go in. I wasnt thrown in though, in the end I actually jumped in. And then I jumped in another two times! It was great fun.

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Entry No. 8 - First Few Days At RCN - 22nd August 2014

So today was the last day of the Lierskule rotation things and I realise that i haven't written a proper entry about my arrival here yet but not only is there so much to write but it also oddly feels like ti was so long ago.. It was really fun and I really felt like a kid back at summer camp, canoeing was my favourite out of all them, shortly followed by archery. We also had all the Admin stuff today, so I "finalised" my subjects and my subjects are now:

History HL, English Literature HL, Philosphy HL

Maths Studies, ESS SL and Chinese AB initio 

Im excited about my subject choices but really feel like I am taking on a lot of work. hopefully I will be able to mange my time well enough so it will enable me to do well and put as much effort as i would like to into all the subjects! I am very excited about my higher level choices as they are all subjects which i'm really interested in and think I will really enjoy. Chinese is also going to be super cool! I have always wanted to learn Chinese and even though I actually wanted to learn Spanish here (it wouldn't fit into my timetable) and I am excited to learn it.

I also spoke to Julia about GAS at dinner and Im already planning a presentation even though I haven't even started the club yet. The Madela 67 evening is starting in 15 minutes and then after that the Cafe is open for the first time so I will start making it after all that.

p.s Happy Birthday to my brother Tristan