Exams, and end of year, and goodbyes, oh my!

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I arrived at Waterford Kamhlaba on January 13th. WK (and eSwatini) have been my home for almost a year. I've done all the cheesy cliche stuff - found family, learned new things about myself and the world, stayed up till 3am with friends. I've cried and partied and been hurt and stressed and ate too much chocolate and cried some more and wrote a paper in the middle of the night. The year's almost over. Midterm ended yesterday - I spent it on campus, holed up in my room with my textbooks. It was a far cry from my first, wilder midterm in Jozi. Right now we're in the middle of two weeks of exams, and then it's four weeks until we leave. Until I say goodbye to my IB2s - people who have held my hand through the good and bad parts of Waterford, and laughed at me when I make dumb choices.

It's going to be really hard. Right now I'm in exam headspace, so not much else is getting through, but the fact that I'm almost done IB1 is absolutely insane. Exams for IB1 take up two weeks - we don't have classes during this time, so it's a weird combo of relaxation and stress. I have six exams and so far I've written two of them. Because I take theatre, I have fewer exams than some. These don't really count - teachers refer to them as a 'learning tool' but it's still frightening. I've only really done exams once; at the end of grade 11 back home. I was fairly confident in all my subjects and I knew they wouldn't matter since I was coming here, so I didn't really study. Studying is a new experience. Writing exams is a new experience. It's stressful, but I'm getting through it.

On a happier note, I've been selected to be a part of next year's orientation team. It means I'll leave home a week earlier to get back to school, but it also means I get to spend an extra week of no school getting to know my new IB1s. I'm very excited about it. (If you're an incoming IB1 who reads this, please reach out! I've met a few through this blog but it would be lovely to talk to more.)

Also I'll be working as an usher at graduation so I'll get to see my IB2s graduate and tell them how proud of them I am. It's a little over a month till the end of the year, and while I'm sad, I'm also really ready to be home for a bit. I'm tired. My dad's been recovering from surgery, I've not been in a great headspace, and I miss my parents and my cat.

Right now I have to get through four more exams, finish writing some IAs, and say goodbye to my IB2s. It's going to be a hard month, but like everything at Waterford, it'll end up being worth it.

 (Notes for exams - still figuring out how they work)






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