31 days and counting

In 31 days, I will meet my new classmates (roommates, co-years, second-years, friends) for the very first time. This is probably a good time to add some new things on my experience, as I would very much like to share not only what I'm sure going to be two amazing years, but also some information about the time leading up to that. 

Pre-UWC paperwork

The documents to be filled in still greatly confuses me. There are so many of them, and I don't really know my way around the school intranet yet, and so I stumble around (figuratively speaking) trying to find out when which document should be sent in and by whom. Hopefully I'm not doing too poorly, but gosh am I thankful that I live in Sweden and therefore don't need to apply for a VISA! I suppose that maybe I'm a bit better aware than I was a month or so ago, but I still feel like I could very much miss an important document and it scares me a bit.

Leaving home

I think this goes for most UWC:ers, but for me, this is the first time I'm going to be spending most of the year away from school. While I'm thrilled about some aspects of this (freedom!), there are other aspects that scare me a little bit, or at the very least makes me nervous. I'm not too afraid of overwhelming homesickness, as I'm normally very good at handling that, but still... I don't think I'm going to realize how important my family is to me before I'm actually at the college, "alone" in the sense that I don't know anyone as well as I know my sisters and my parents. At the same time, I'm so excited to get to know people better than I have ever done before. Overall I'm more excited than nervous, but of course that doesn't mean that the later doesn't apply.

Packing

I think that no matter what way I go around it, I will forget something at home, something that I am most likely going to miss. Hopefully it will be something relatively unimportant... Either way, I have now started to make a packing list, including everything I would like to bring, from my jeans to my favorite books to tea. Let me tell you, I do not look forward to marking everything - it's going to take forever.

That's it for now, I'll probably update when leaving comes closer. Until then!
Anna

Pre-RCN emotions

When reading blogs about UWC-schools it would sometimes surprise me how people didn't seem as exited about UWC before going as I would've thought that they would be. This post is an attempt to explain all the different feelings I, at the very least, experience the few months before leaving for Red Cross Nordic UWC.


Finding out I was accepted
I got a phonecall from my sisters when I was on the bus on my way to meet some friends. I had spent the day worrying about not getting in, as I knew some people that had already found out that they had. Once I got the call, though, I couldn't believe it, and I still really don't. Today I spent my last day at my old school, writing my last test in Swedish, perhaps ever, and it didn't feel special at all. I think, in a way, that I've been dreaming about this for so long that it is still completely insane that I acctually got in. At times it hits me just how lucky I am, but then it feels unreal again. According to "Days Until" on my phone, it's 70 days until I leave for Norway - a little more than 2 months. It's completely unreal and I can't really put words to the feeling.

Filling in all documents
Nothing bad about RCN or UWC's in general, but I really find all the different documents really confusing. I don't know when what papers are to be sent in, I have no clue whatsoever about what some papers are meant to contain concerning information... yes, I am confused. This, I think, add to the unrealness of the situation. I spend much of my time thinking that somehow I will mess up the documents and get rejected that
I don't actually believe that I will arrive at the school.

Chatting with future co- and second-years
Here's the thing - the internet is nothing like reality. And although I veryveryvery much want to get to know everyone, I don't want to get a prejudiced idea of them before actually meeting them. Therefore, I think I would prefer staying away from all the exciting internet things before leaving. At the same time, I use these groups and so on as a way to make sure that I don't fail with all the documents, or when to arrive to Norway, or what to bring.


That's some thoughts and feeling that I have right now. Of course, overall I'm sooooo excited, but I thought it worth to note that I'm not only excited, because I'm sure that I'm only going to remember the excitement in a few years when I look back on this summer.
 Anna

Facebook really can be amazing!

I know, I know, it's not yet August... however, I want this blog to portray the two years at UWC, inludinc the scary months before getting there! Anyway, why is Facebook so great? Because, through facebook I have gotten in contact with quite a lot of my future classmates! We have group chat and currently we are doing a challenge "An Ordinary Day". Basically we're taking a lot of pictures of a normal day in our life and adding them to our group. Even before getting to the school I get some of the experience, when it comes to sharing our opinions and cultures. It's cool, because we all think that everyone else's cultures are exotic and cool, while our own cultures are perfectly normal.

I got in!

The 21st of April I got the phonecall I had anxiously been awaiting for way too long. I got in! That means that next year I will be spending my life not here in Stockholm but outside of Flekke in east Norway. Am I excited? You bet! In fact, so excited that I have already borrowed a Physics standard level book from my school library to try and get some reading done before I get there. Over-achiever much? In this blog I will try to give a fair picture of what a UWC school is really like, and my life at one. It's meant as both a way for people back home to know what I'm up to but also so that future applicants can learn more about UWC. After all, I have spent a fair bit of my own time reading blogs and so I figured that I probably should try and return the favour. I will not start updating until close to school starts, but hopefully I will then manage to give a fair picture of everything I will experience there. Anna