Leavers Dinner Speech

One of the most spectacular guys I know. Šarūnas Genys  from Lithuania's speech at our Leavers Dinner.



My dearly beloved co-years, teachers, staff and above all friends,

Firstly, I cannot be grateful enough for all of you who have had faith in me in delivering this speech and possibly my haircut was slightly unexpected I hope you understand that the flaming hair represents the never ending UWC movement.  

All the drama aside, before coming to AC I didn’t know what to expect, I know sounds cliché, but my parents never went to UWC, neither they have heard about it,I have never gone to an international school before, never had friends from abroad.

A perfect inexperienced student to be transformed by the international atmosphere of AC you would, sharing a dorm with people from 3 other countries. Should be completely transformational, shouldn’t it?

Well, it wasn’t. I never measured my time in AC by the number of times Norwegian flag was up in the flag tower because of a national celebration. And possibly I did not truly learn a whole new set of facts about countries besides the easily observable things of how fruity Quebecois might be, how diverse can personalities from Serbia and how party-animals Bengalis might be with all of the Diwali celebrations and the singing of the stage. I understand how important it is for college to increase its diversity, although it’s never  clear if we have 89 or 91 nationalities, for me AC was never measured by any numbers.

AC for me was finally coming to understand that people from around the world are largely the same, have same fears, same expectations, same hopes and same feelings.

Atlantic college will always remind me of the philosophical discussions at 4 a.m. in the dayroom whilst sharing the last piece of toast and ever more than that the silly moments that bring people together and make them laugh, for example throwing buckets of ice-cold water over the people enjoying their hot shower after a long day. I don’t know if it’s only me but I believe that the power of laughter is immeasurable.

Hey, I acknowledge AC is not a perfect place, there are conflicts, there are awkward moments in the canteen when you get your spicy Chicken Tikka slice, enter the dining hall and the only free space is next to Alice and then you have to endure a long awkward lunch without saying anything. And that’s OK, not everything in AC had to be meaningful.

And no matter where you heading off now, whether it volunteering in India, travelling in South America or simply moving down to the barracks for AOC summer – ARAF my friends as we say in Welsh, and enjoy the last few hours of the journey that does not have an ending.

#uwcexperienceneverends

Stay golden, my dear friends and let’s make this journey last forever.

Goodbye.

So I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to wrap this up.

I made it through the IB. The majority of the exams were good enough, I hope. It was strange to finish an exam in a couple of hours, or max no more than 5, which summed up dozens of hours in classrooms, homework manics and studying. But that's the same with any exam I suppose.
History was better than I expected. Geography was worse.
I lost many hours of sleep. I consumed more coffee in two weeks than I had ever in my life previously. I only had one major mental break down, before Geography.

But too be quite frank, I'm exhausted with talking about the IB. It's been two years. Always on my mind. Always nagging. It's over now, until July 6th anyways when we find out the results, I just really don't find it necessary to think about that part of AC for now.

It's probably the most surreal part of graduating. I've been asked several times now- what is it like to finally have graduated? Weird. Not only has it not truly hit me, but it won't for a long time. Saying good bye are being prolonged to it's the last possible moment. Travelling for 6 weeks has it's benefits.

Being in London for a week means we meet up. Last night meeting up at a London pub, there were about 40 ex-AC students, four generations. It was a realisation that AC can't actually end. As our ''leisure periphery' expands, the idea of not being connected is less and less. Which is consolation.

However, to a few US students... good bye was tough. For example, dear Joaco from Uruguay. He's going to Middlebury in August. He travelled all over Europe last summer. For people like Joaco who I lived with for 2 years and have seen nearly every day in that time- we can't say when we'll see each other again. It's as hard (possibly harder) than saying good bye to a few family members. We cried for a very long time.
Arriving in AC to pots and pans and cheering. Leaving AC with the same guys who looked so macho as Second Years with red puffy eyes is not something people say everywhere.

I could go on about every goodbye. I could go on about the celebrations in Cambodia [field], at the Watch Tower, watching the sunrise on our last morning. I could give all the details. But words are never sufficient. They give an image- but they won't give a memory. Those, well I keep those.


With all my Love,
Abi

PS- I'm still in debate whether to keep the blog going for the 6 weeks of travelling. I may continue until then. Simply to console dear Daddy.

no further explanation.

Desks are ready - clock is set - IB exams begin on Tuesday.
Good luck to our second years!

^The UWCAC official page.

This image brings dread to me. 6 days.
More importanty 12 until History.

The Missing Mattress. Classic Example.

End of Codes. Day 1.

The Second Years of Morgannwg woke up at 5:28AM. We had a plan.
Downstairs, we met, yawning, nibbling toast, rubbing eyes and filling buckets of water. Buckets of water seem to be paramount to most pranks at Atlantic College.

At 5:45AM we went to our buddy dorms and woke them up. They needed sweatpants on that could get dirty. No, we weren't going to throw mud on them, we promised... but precautionary nevertheless against any potential liabilities.

Some needed coaxing. Some were anxious. Some just agreed. There were 13 of the 14 boys and 11 of the 12 girls waiting downstairs at 6AM when the alarms went off. We led them outside.

In the field next to the principals house, (very central), all houses began to congregate. Morgannwg, full of pride, was the first house. All first years were put into lines according to house. Four houses on one side of the field, three houses on the other. Then we duck-taped.

It was a massive "Three-legged Race" according to house. Second Years stood in the middle as the line to meet. (The ones who weren't throwing buckets of water at least).

It was hilarious.

It was memorable.

And most importantly, it was not 'Guantanamo Bay' as Jon Morten specified our pranks could not be. (His exaggeration was quite extreme, I believe personally)

Tice won. Maybe. Half there line split from the other after about 10 metres, so there were some disputes.

Anyways, it was over by 6:30, so much of the day ahead!

So far I've seen First Years in Wetsuits and helmets with ILB across their forehead. I've seen boys in saris (to be fair it is actually National Sari Day).  All Americans are mandated to Pledge the Allegiance whenever asked. It's only the beginning of the three days.

****

How is it end of Codes is a better question :| I am baffled.

On my last blog I forgot to mention my last AOC service session!

It was a school group, kids we'd spent quite a lot of time with. We played Duck Duck Goose. Football. Red Light, Green Light, the Human Knot... all very amiable. It was only 10 minutes before they were leaving that Carys, a very sweet girl looked at me and said 'So does this mean I won't see you ever again?' I was at a loss for words, really quite sure the answer was probably yes. But she looked so torn. She gave me a massive hug and waved the whole way until she had to get back on the van. It was adorable- and I realised how much some of the students at least had been appreciating the sessions. I loved AOC.

April Blues

Possibly the saddest April of my 18 years.

I really hope all of the Mozart, memorisation of dates…deaths…cities…verses…tenses… will all be worth it. As thousands of other IB students at the moment I am sure.

So there really isn’t too much to say. I have listened to hours’ worth of Mozart. I am taking studious notes, and reorganising my binders multiple times. I have now created four binders for History. This makes me very sad.

If I get a 37 in my IB, with 6, 6, 6 at Higher Level I will be going to the University of Bristol to study Law, hopefully doing well enough in my First Year exams to qualify for a third year abroad.
I’ve already decided what Unions/Clubs/Society’s I would like to be a part of J So many of my friends who are in Uni now so they have so much free time- which will be terrible after this UWC lifestyle. So I will try to keep busy!

If I don’t… well I couldn’t have worked any harder!

Social Events that have happened though:
The new leaders of Children’s Charities decide! Nineteen interviews. Wowza. Dominique (Dodo) from England/Netherlands, Alexia from Madagascar and Nicole from Hong Kong. I have high hopes!

Sushi in Open House made by Atsuki. MMM.

Gabi’s Mum and Step-Dad came on Friday night. She is a HUGE fan of a Jazz singer, who she’s heard in Portugal, London and Basel. Stacey Kent was performing in St Donats Art Centre on Friday night, the start of a new tour! So Gabi’s Mum bought 10 tickets, two for friends and then six for AC students. I was so happy to have experienced it. The music was lovely. I’ve never listened to jazz live before (or not for that matter), and am now a fan of Stacey Kent and her musicians at the very least.

It was quite funny when she started singing a song in French. As apparently – Chloé and Ophelie said it made absolutely no sense, in terms of grammar. I thought it sounded fine- but then I understood about 7 words…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPLnqICFlqo (here is one of her songs, though I can't remember if she sang it on Friday, or hear it to check if it is a nice one)

Yesterday was Ilisha’s 19^th. For the evening there were about 20 friends in the Blue Garden, under shelter as it was raining, for a vegetarian picnic on blankets.
Afterwards I went to look at the Art Exhibition of all the students of AC’s pieces. It was really fantastic. I may have said this last year, but the students at AC’s art is very different to any I saw in Cayman, as my school only had a ‘Fine Arts’ A Level. Sometimes I look at the pieces and the amount of creativity and think I could do things like this- and then I wouldn’t be studying for six subjects right now!

I will put some of the pictures up soon J

Tonight is Move for Amnesty. Another dancing event! Chloé and Gabi in my room have both worked very hard, and they have six new dances to perform. It should be great: D

End of Codes is this week. It really is just meant to be the Friday, but First Years have exams on Thursday and Friday, so our events will have to be done before. I know there’s a whole school event, buddy dorm and Caribbean bonding the next three mornings – I will explain them after the matter. Sadly, that means waking up at 6am each time! EGH.

Less than 3 weeks until exams… Less than 6 weeks until AC is over. What is happening?

I also have applied for six scholarships for University. Two weeks tomorrow I do my first interview via Skype!

Anyways, my laundry is dry.
xxo

Abi

Please Support :)

A really good friend of mine:

This sunday I am...

…run a half marathon!

You may all think I am crazy with the IB coming up and all

BUT this Sunday (7^th) I am running the Forest of Dean half marathon.

I am doing so in sponsorship for the educational charity organisation Project Trust who I will be working for on my gap year (if all goes to plan I should be spending 12 months in South Africa!)

I would be incredibly grateful for any donations however small. I would also be happy to tell you more about what I shall be doing.

Thank you,

Anna (Tice)

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=AnnaAshford