Dear future UWC student,

I want to confess that I am going to outline completely subjective view of 2 years spent in one of the colleges. It is worth noting that, despite 2 years spent in the same college, the experience of one student can be very different from the experience of another one, which, at least, is true for UWCSEA.

My 2 years on campus on Tampanis in Singapore came to an end about 3 weeks ago. I opened my gmail account and discovered new letters from Yanin, one of the house parents, about the missing laundry bag, and at another minute in my Facebook the news from the Tampines House Community poped up with the question of who of the boarders (the so-called students living in the boarding house) could borrow a bike for the weekend. I remember with a smile the last moments of farewell in the Tampines house lobby when I forgot to create my last leave request and sign out from the boarding through one of the 3 iPads to leave Tampines for good, as they say there. Only from this short paragraph can you understand how unusual and technological the East campus UWCSEA is. And this, frankly speaking, has puzzled me since the very first days. All these conversations of 12 classmates about some deadlines and submissions to Turnitin seemed to be something incredibly serious and unavailable for me, who flew to Changi airport in August of that unpredictable fifteenth year.

Looking back on my first couple of months at UWCSEA, I understand that it was so difficult for me to get used to unfamiliar surroundings and people behavior, it was so nice to realize that I had become part of this huge UWC society, where if it was about aspiration, but about the aspiration for more; if about care, then about the care of society about the needs of everyone and vice versa; If it is a triumph, then only the triumph of diversity. It is worth noting that for many UWC is also fairly associated with the IB Diploma program. Undoubtedly, if you've ever even heard of it, you probably know how hard it is to find a balance between studying and what IB students call a normal life, during two intense years of study. The search for this balance, for me personally, is always reflected through the sinusoid, where the maximum values of the graph correspond to the maximum communication with people, and the minimum - to the maximum time spent for study. But the most important thing in this graph is that most of the time communication and study are combined perfectly, although sometimes they outweigh one another. And if you suddenly feel that there were too many Chemistry HL or Bio HL during the day (these are the components of my IB package, and you will choose your own :) :), you can always go down to the 6th floor for tea to Chris from South Africa, who always A teapot with an excellent aroma will stand ready.

Each of the students or future students has their own vision of the college itself, life in the college, and, еру most important, the hopes associated with being at the UWC. Despite the fact that, of course, we are all united by a single mission and live by common values, they still differ in terms of their geographical location and economic background, which to some extent are the basic experiences that a student will receive from studying in a particular college.

Nepal is and will remain one of my most precious memories of these 2 years in the UWC. However, no matter how trite it may sound, the most difficult task for me was the adaptation to the language. Russian for me has always been a means of my own expression, and a medium of knowledge of the world around. Steady expressions, proverbs and sayings, which every Russian uses in abundance, are rooted deeply in the history and culture of the Russian centuries-old and multinational state. These linguistic movements determine our perception of the world. And so, I was in an environment where this very perception of the world in people is based on a completely different culture, which is formed by a mixture of individualistic European and collectivistic Asian, and expressed through the English language. In this case, my difficulties were caused by somewhat ignorance of the language and the inability to express myself on it, but rather by the complexity of adapting to a peculiar culture and an excellent way of using this language. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there were a lot of Russian and Russian-speaking students in the college, with whom, of course, it was easier to find a common language. It was these people I was trying to surround myself, voluntarily giving up the valuable experience of UWC. Undoubtedly, it is not an easy task to get out of your comfort zone, but once you get yourself out of there, the most incredible and interesting begins: self-organized trips to Southeast Asia with friends, organization of peace conferences aimed at enhancing the opportunities of youth in Cambodia or East Timor, for example. UWC, without exaggeration, opens extraordinary opportunities, first, to work for the benefit of local communities, which benefits the world community as a whole, and secondly, to uncover its own creative potential, develop leadership abilities, so that it inevitably leads to personal development.

Mentioning casually about an excellent culture, I would like to dwell on how my perception of my own culture changed and what I learned about myself. That international community, which I met in the walls of the UWC or, rather, in the world of UWC, can not surprise both the diversity of cultural norms, and their incredible similarity in some aspects. So, a high degree of emotionality as an integral part of a friendly interesting conversation brings together the Russian culture of broad gestures with Hispanic peoples. While the concept of friendliness is significantly different in our culture, which I had not thought of before. Just as I did not think about what friendship means, as well known as the partnership clearly established by Gogol in Taras Bulba, in the Slavic understanding of this connection between people. Being brought up in a certain culture, a person does not ask himself the question: why do I / think so, and not otherwise? Just because he does not see an alternative. Mention of the lack of an alternative is likely to be perceived by the reader, who is obviously pro-western in a negative way, as a sort of kick to the side of Russia, which is not liberal enough. By no means. I want to note that this is said as a fact characteristic of many independent and original cultures. I just want to say that, thanks to the opportunity provided by the UWC, I was able to rethink the meaning of such a popular but not lost phrase as a Russian character and its ability to adapt literally to everything. Moreover, I sincerely hope that the other children who shared these 2 years with me were able to learn something more about Russian culture and revised at least one of the most widespread Russophobic stereotypes.

I'm a patriot. The Patriot, who, however paradoxical it may seem, again flies out of the country in the next academic year. I, like many of the graduates of UWC, received a scholarship called Davis Scholarship, which gives the right to study at many universities in the United States. Education in the US, of course, is considered one of the best, if not the most. However, I'm not going to go there because of this, because, in my opinion, higher education in Russian universities is not inferior to the North American, in fact it surpasses it in certain specialties. My choice fell on the United States because I was attracted by the idea of liberal arts colleges, which gives the opportunity to study several, albeit very different directions, like biochemistry and linguistics, simultaneously. Thus, I entered the St. Lawrence University, which provides and even encourages you to choose completely different areas of your interest in the undergraduate program to develop an interdisciplinary and creative creative thinking that comes with it.

So, I'm not trying to give advice or instruction, but I just want to share experiences, from which I learned my own lesson and made conclusions. My story is one of many that became possible thanks to the many years of work of UWC aimed at fostering global responsibility and readiness for active dialogue and critical thinking. Despite the fact that the above phrases may sound like a cliche, but I can say frankly from my two-year experience, it really is. In conclusion, I just want to recall that, as was said, a person is what he believes (AP Chekhov). And therefore, as difficult, difficult, difficult, unbearable and impossible it was when there was a desire to quit everything and go back home, where everything is familiar, clear and beloved, remember that if you believe in what you are doing, then everything is tolerable And everything is surmountable. This is exactly the moment when UWC passes from the category of colleges with values close to you in the category of a way of life, which if mastered once, then you will not leave with ease. It is then that volunteerism becomes the need of the soul, and the desire to benefit society - an integral part of life. Therefore, in my plans to continue my volunteer work with children, not necessarily in Nepal, because children who need care are everywhere. I also hope to use my experience in organizing peace conferences and continue the expansion of IfP in those regions where there is a need for dialogue.

So, the future UWC student, I wish you the best of luck in your selections. Be yourself, follow those beliefs which you sincerely believe in.

Regards,

Svetlana, UWC South East Asia'2017