Change

     If a year and a half ago you had told me that I would soon be going to a boarding school in a beautiful part of New Mexico surrounded by students from 80+ countries, that I would try and enjoy Wilderness and playing soccer and peer mediation, and that my world view would widen exponentially, I would probably have thought you were crazy. Psh, a boarding school? Really? Those only exist in books and Europe. And I don't do Wilderness. Or soccer. So... no, definitely not gonna happen. If only I'd known.
     I found out about UWC via brochure in the mail and, as I mentioned in my very first post, wasn't going to open it. I thought UWC was a summer program and, when my mother and I finally realized it was a two year commitment, I think we researched the school more just because we couldn't believe it was a real thing than that I could actually go here. Dad even said there was no way in the world he would let me go away to school a year early, before I was even 18. But here I am. And boy has my life changed in the past year.
     Last Tuesday marked exactly one year since I received my acceptance letter to UWC-USA.
     I cannot even begin to tell you what a momentous year it has been. I can try to convey each of our crazy traditions and explain about cultural shows, and castle history, and trips off campus. But it's a bit harder to capture how we've all changed as individuals. Second years warned us at the beginning of the year that we'd change, but I don't think any of us believed them. How could we really become that different in such a short time?
     I'm starting to realize how. UWC is an extremely unique environment. We're a fairly closed community, which can have both pros and cons. On the one hand, it's a little difficult to go back into the real world and interact with individuals who know nothing of your life. On the other, we're so close, all of us (students and faculty) as peers, learning together. We've seen each other in every state- happy, homesick, ill, tired, excited, cranky- and so we're comfortable with each other. We know we can discuss difficult topics, joke around, share our stories. We become comfortable with ourselves. We start to understand specifically what has made us the way we are and what we need to do to become who we imagine. Sure it's not quite that easy, we make mistakes, check each other, apologize, regroup, and move forward. We grow together.
     As the year comes to a close I've been thinking a lot about the last year and what it has given me. There are still so many people I want to get to know better and so many adventures yet to be had. And with that, so many more small changes to go through. Good thing there's a month left, better get started :)