Life in IB2 - General Update

-
It’s been far too long since I’ve updated, and I’m sorry about that. It’s been a bit of a hectic time – I’ve handed in final copies of my Biology IA, my Director’s Notebook and Process Portfolio for theatre, drafts of my World Lit Assignment and Political Engagement Activity, I’ve done my final TOK presentation, and my Extended Essay is well underway. Along with that, I’ve been getting to know IB1s and settling back into the rhythm of Waterford. Midterm starts tomorrow – along with nine friends, I’m heading to Mozambique for a break by the beach. I’ll go surfing, eat seafood, and recharge. It’ll be a good break and I’m looking forward to it.

 I wrote about my mental health recently, and I’m feeling a lot better. I’m feeling on top of my school work and in control of my life, and it’s good to be at Waterford where there’s sun and mountains and friends. I’ll write about Moz after the trip, and try to get better at general updates. IB2 is as busy as was promised, but it feels positive to be handing things in and working toward final deadlines.
(And as a follow up from my last post - I've been given permission to do a full production of the Vagina Monologues, so I'll write about that when that starts.) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kamhlaba and COVID-19

-
At the end of my last year at Waterford, I collaborated with two friends on a devised theatre piece. It told the story of three friends from three different contexts, who experienced an unspecified, dramatic event that forced them to leave one another. It followed them through their separated lives through a series of monologues. While we were creating the piece we discussed what the catalyst should be, before deciding to leave it to the audience. We represented it by the audio of an explosion, and simply referred to it as 'The Move.' 'The Move,' we decided, could represent climate crisis, financial crash, war, natural disaster, and more. I don't think we ever talked about a pandemic. Each of our characters had different reactions to the move, each of them could only do so much, each was limited by her context. During the workshopping process, we had long talks about how we would feel if we ever had to leave Waterford, if we were forced out. I thought a lot about th...
Read more

Time to say goodbye

-
 This blog post has been a long time coming, but it feels right to write it now, at the start of a new chapter, and a new year. I began this blog with the intention of telling stories and I hope that I've accomplished that. I also began it as a way to give myself tangible memories, and rereading old posts feels like a wave from an old friend.  I got my final IB results two days ago and I think that marked the true end of my UWC experience. Thinking about those results has been something that's been weighing on me all through this long, awful year. Until the final paper was written, the final exam was sat, I felt that there was always the chance that I wouldn't finish the IB. No matter how much support I had from friends and family, I always had the knowledge that choosing to stop would've been so easy.  I've had friends this year that have chosen to step back from the IB, either temporarily or permanently, and I'm so proud of them for prioritising their own heal...
Read more

WK Vocab

-
When first got to Waterford, I was deeply confused by all the acronyms and slang that people tossed around - a mix of IB acronyms, Southern African slang, and Waterford idioms. Mostly, this was because I hadn't read the handbook that the school emailed and honestly didn't have much of an idea of what IB consisted of, let alone the acronyms used. I got most of the Southern African slang, but Waterford slang took a bit longer. In the hopes that some incoming first year might find this blogpost, I've compiled a short list of WK vocab. IB acronyms: EE or E squared - the Extended Essay every IB student has to complete as part of the diploma TOK - Theory of Knowledge, a mandatory philosophy type course for IB students CAS - Creativity, Activity, and Service. The three central components of the IB IA - Internal Assessment, essays that are graded by your teacher, rather than an IB examiner Additional slang: Guans - I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to be sp...
Read more