Favourites and not-so-favourites

Performing at a poetry slam - who would've thought that a year ago?

5 best things with RCN

• The people (it's cheesy, but true) - I don't think people here are better than anywhere else, we just think we are (ehum...). Also, we live together, so we know each other very well, it's a tight community
• The opportunities - here and afterwards
• The multicultural environment - I can't stress this enough
• The acceptance - you can be whoever, and it's perfectly okay
• Late nights and early mornings with people you love, watching the sun over the fjord, listening to music in Swedish/French/Spanish/English

5 worst things

• The food... 
• Waking up an hour too early due to other people's alarms 
• IB crashing with RCN life crashing with Uni applications and job applications and... the stress, I mean
• Having to stop yourself from saying what you think in order not to annoy other people with your opinions (even though you think you're right, but they think the same thing)
• Lack of sleep

3 weirdest things

• Fiskekake
• Birthday traditions
• Other traditions

3 things I look forward to...

• Getting first years
• Summer break
• Time with only my co-years (boy, do we have plans)

...and 2 things I don't

• Second years leaving
• First year exam

4 best experiences so far

• Kayaking PBL
• Ski week
• European show
• First year show

6 things I've learned

• Spanish (phrases)
• That failing a test isn't the end of the world...
• ... just as well as acing one isn't the ultimate goal
• Life is short and meant to be enjoyed, as much as it can, but also made use of. Balance is key, I guess
• Being on time isn't that important (depending on the occasion)
• There's no such thing as calm on a campus with 200 teenagers

1 thing I've taught

• The meaning of the world "bullshit"

Easter Break and countdowns

Another picture of amazing views with nice weather - contrary to popular belief, we do have that, although not as often as the pictures indicate

The last few days we haven't had any school, since it has been Easter which is a Norwegian national holiday. My family visited, so I had a few days off campus, with home cooked food and lots of rest (and card games, yatsy and hiking). School will start again tomorrow, but today we have had sun and heat (about 20 degrees in the sun, which is practically summer here) and although I had a lot of work planned, some of it was put aside to instead enjoy the nice weather. I normally like this place quite a lot, but I like it the best like this - the weather makes everyone come outside and do things and the whole school seems to vibrate with energy.

On top of that, so many countdowns have started now. 18 days till first year exams (!!), 33 till second years graduate and 46 till last day of classes, then summer break and then back to be a second year. I'm excited for many of the things happening, but at the same time it's scary and melancholic. I will miss the second years so much - how can you not after living together for a year? - and I don't know whether I'm ready to be a second year myself yet. That remains to be seen.

A monster of a lab

Two weeks ago we enjoyed the sun, today it's raining

Sometimes, I overdo things. This weekend, I wrote a Chemistry lab report of 18 pages (18!). Perhaps a tad bit too much, but most of the tables, graphs and images were highly relevant so what can I do? Why did I decide on Chemistry to begin with?

School here is speeding up, slowly but surely. Suddenly I realize that most of my days, evenings and weekends are dedicated to studying (or, oftentimes, doing other things while thinking about studying). We have first year exams in a few weeks (I'm scared to count the days, to be honest) and in most subjects we've started on IA's, not to mention that we have started our EE's as well.

The saddest thing is that this is the time to socialize as well. In just a few weeks (again, I try not to count) our second years will leave and we don't know when (or if) we will meet again. I'm so fortunate to have met so many fantastic people but it's disheartening to know that many of them I will only meet during the one year we share this place.

In an hour or so, I will take part of a student council meeting as an actual member for the very first time. Exciting and a tad bit nerve wrecking, but I'm sure it will be fine. In no time, it will be this time next year and we will be handing it over to a new group of excited first years.

My maths books are calling (no better way to procrastinate than to write a blog post?) and I should get back to it. Life is busy.