Ghost Ranch (Days 8, 9, and 10)

Wow! What an action-packed set of days! Today, I'll focus on my time at Ghost Ranch, and tomorrow, I'll post about my wilderness expedition.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ghost Ranch is an enormous retreat located deep within New Mexico. It's located in between huge mesas (see below).

On top of a mesa...looking at another mesa...

So Beautiful.

 While we were there, we stayed in tents, and lived a fairly basic life! Everything that I took got covered in a reddish dust. On the first day we got there, we had a fairly relaxed schedule. The first activity that we did was called challenge course. It's part of CEC (Conflict Engagement Course) that the school runs. The object of CEC is to teach students how to handle difficult situations. Challenge course is the introduction that the school runs, and it's mandatory for all first years. It consisted of several challenges/games that were a lot of fun! One of the games that we had to do was the "spider web". Basically, it was two ropes tied to a tree with strings in between them, creating a "spider web" of sorts. Our job was to get each team member through a hole in the spider web...but each hole could only be used once. We ended up lifting team members to get through the higher holes (myself included). It was a TON of fun...definitely a highlight of the experience. Another game that we had to do involved everyone standing on a tarp; we then had to flip said tarp without anyone getting off. As you can see below, this involved some pretty funny positions.

Crazy....

 

UWC sandwich, anyone?

After the challenge course, we had a wonderful meal and watched a movie (The Inside Man). Unfortunately, once the movie was over, we had to walk back to the campground...a 15 minute walk in pitch-darkness. Getting ready for bed was an experience and a lesson in night vision skills. That night, instead of sleeping in our tent, Thomas, Josh and I decided to sleep outside, along with many of our co and second years. Sleeping under the stars was a wonderful experience. The beauty of the wilderness as the sun set and rose is something I will never forget.

The following morning, we had a brief breakfast and headed out on activities. By sheer luck, I had won a lottery to go canoeing. Taking off in a small minibus, we had a wonderful time paddling around Abiquiu Lake. The afternoon was fairly boring by comparison; all UWC students are required to do a workshop regarding the movement. While interesting, the workshop was held in a hot, stuffy room...a guaranteed sleeping pill. In the evening, we had something called café. At UWC, café is a place for students to perform their talents...a sort of pseudo-talent show. The amount of talent on show here is unbelievable...we had 22 different acts, all of whom were excellent, if not brilliant. Following the café, a quick dash to bed ensued; we were all exhausted.


Speaking of exhausted, that's an excellent term to describe my current state. This morning, I woke up at 4:30 in order to get down from where we were camping on our wilderness trip. We have our first day of classes tomorrow, so it's probably best to get some rest. Tomorrow, I'll write about our wilderness trip, and on Thursday, I'll blog about the welcoming ceremony.

Exploring Campus! (Day 7)

Today officially marks the one-week mark! I have now been a UWC-USA student for a week. It seems like such a strange feeling though--each day seems to pass so slowly, and so much happens! Today was a VERY quiet day, so I explored campus a little bit. The UWC campus is so big...it's easy to get lost. Below, I've enclosed pictures of two important places on campus: The Dining Hall and the Dwan Light Sanctuary.

The Lobby to the Castle--Grand indeed!

One of the two (controversial) centerpieces to the Dining Hall

The Dining Hall is one of the most impressive rooms on campus. High ceilings, beautiful woodwork, and enormous pieces of art (see above) give the room a spacious, yet elegant feel. It is certainly a very nice place to eat on campus!

The approach to Dwan Light Santuary

The second place we visited today was the Dwan Light Sanctuary. This is probably one of the most unusual buildings on campus. Officially, it's a secular place where anyone can go to worship or meditate. The approach to the building is very interesting. The building is located off a dirt road on the far side of campus. After climbing up a long, winding path, the entrance is guarded by two huge wooden doors. Entering the building, one must take their shoes off, to preserve the peaceful atmosphere. After walking around the "lobby" area, one arrives in the sanctuary proper. 

One of the enormous prism sets

Inside the sanctuary, the incoming light is refracted by a series of prisms, creating a beautiful colored effect throughout the building. The building itself is a huge echo chamber, so one must be quiet when walking around!

Refracted Light!!

The whole building is curved...very few straight lines

 The building is really unusual, but truly beautiful...it's a great place to go when I'm stressed or just need a break. It's so peaceful and quiet, something that is somewhat hard to find on this campus!

For the next 5 days, I'm heading off to Ghost Ranch, a huge retreat located in the heart of New Mexico. I'll be out of cellular/internet range during that time! Hopefully, when I get back, I'll have many beautiful pictures to share...after all, it's where Georgia O'Keefe got her inspiration!

Registration! (Day 6)

It's still hard to believe that I've only been here 6 days! Today, however, was registration day! After a (fairly) lazy start, I got to choose my classes! I stuck with the classes that I posted a few days ago, although apparently I can't take Environmental Systems (the class is completely full!), so I'll have to settle for physics instead. I'm not quite sure what that will be like, but it's worth giving it a try anyway! After lunch, we went to the President's house to meet her. She was really nice, helpful, and welcoming. We chatted about the origins of our names and our first impressions of campus.

For me, perhaps, the best impression was before we even reached campus. The school is located in a valley, and so you can't see the school under you come around a bend in the road. On our way from the airport (on the first day), the teacher driving the bus stopped it, turned around and said, "You can only do things first once". Having suitably mystified us with his comment, he turned back around and began driving. As the bus came around the bend, the castle appeared up on the hill, and all I could think was "Wow". 

After our chat with Lisa, we went for a brief library tour. The UWC library is really well stocked, and the librarians are quite nice! Giving the ease of using the web, I'm not sure how much I'll use this resource, but at least it's there! I spent the remainder of the afternoon and early evening working on my English homework. Yes, we actually have English homework before the school year has started. It's a fairly easy assignment, though! To cap off the day, a group of second-years organized a late night game of sardines (a version of hide-and-seek). Playing in the castle, which is enormous was a ton of fun. Just imagine over 50 people trying to squeeze into a bathroom, for example! In a couple of days, the entire school heads off to Ghost Ranch, which is a huge retreat located deep into NM! After that...it's school time!

Settling in (Day 5)

I can't believe I've only been here 5 days! It seems like so much longer...yet each day seems to fly by! As each day goes by, though, UWC feels more and more like home. I've settled into a sleep routine, which is probably the most important thing. I now go to bed pretty early by UWC standards--11-11:30 PM. I get up though, at the fart of the sparrow--6 AM. That's pretty early by UWC standards (especially given that I could sleep in until 8-9 AM at the moment). It's really nice though, because I can go and work out for an hour before breakfast. Today, I worked out for 30 minutes, and then had time to do my laundry! Today was a pretty quiet orientation day...in the morning, we had intro to wilderness, which was kinda fun, but very long. Plus, this morning was really cool (low 60s), and I was woefully under-dressed. By the end of the (outdoor) wilderness orientation, I was really cool. After warming up in my dorm room, I grabbed a quick lunch. (I'll post about meals in more detail later this week).

 In the afternoon, we went to the post office! While we were there, we received our PO Box keys! Now, you can ship/mail stuff to me (I'll be very grateful). My new address is:

Harry Lambert
PO Box 388
Montezuma, NM 87731

This evening, though, was incredible! After dinner, we spent nearly two hours in the auditorium, learning 3 new dances--Latin, African, and Indian (Bollywood). It was so cool to see the entire school teaching/learning these new dances. They were so much fun, but REALLY tiring...I'm not quite sure how I will drag myself out of bed tomorrow morning! This school is already starting to feel like home--and I haven't even started taking classes yet!

The Crazy Life (Day 4)

And I thought my old life was crazy. (Yeah right...) UWC is by far the craziest thing I have ever done! Today was a perfect example. This morning, we had to get up at 7 (wayyyyy too early...) for breakfast! Basically, today was designed to get people to choose their final classes. It was a fairly busy day, with a math placement test in the morning, and then the academic fair in the afternoon. After the academic fair, I ended up coming to a final conclusion on my classes:

 English A1 HL

Spanish Ab Initio SL

History of the Americas HL

Economics HL

Environmental Systems SL

Mathematics SL

They're all good classes, and I think I'll do well in them. In the evening, I had dinner with my adviser (Aleyda) at her house. She is SUPER nice, and just a really cool person to have dinner with. When we have dinner in two months, we're going to have Peruvian food. (Yummm....) The best part of the day though, was saved for last. After dinner, I came back to lower campus (where most of the dorms were) to find an impromptu sing-along going on in the patio area. About half the school just drifted in and all of a sudden we were just having an amazing time. We sung great songs (out of key, of course), had a huge group hug, and screamed really loudly. It was a total UWC experience, and something that just kinda started spontaneously. Being here is really tiring and no one gets enough sleep, but we have so much fun! It is truly the crazy life.

A quiet day (Day 3)

After the craziness of the last couple of days, it was really nice to finally have a quiet day. I really enjoyed getting up at 10 (the last time for a while...), being able to relax, and getting to know my fellow UWCers! Tomorrow is a really busy day, because orientation starts in earnest. In the morning, I have to take a math placement test (ugh...), but in the afternoon we have an intro to the IB (International Baccalaureate) and the Academic Fair! In the evening, we have dinner with our advisers, and an indoor soccer game. Life here is crazy--there's so much going on at once!

Campus!

Today was incredible. I can't believe that I'm living on such a beautiful, huge campus! The day was pretty relaxed...I spent some time talking to other UWCers around campus...and I took a lot of pictures! They are below. We also took a trip to Wal-Mart today, where I bought wayy too much stuff, but now I'm really well equipped! When my mattress pad and comforter arrive on Monday, I'll be all set! I'm finally starting to settle in...yesterday was kind of weird, because there was so much to take in!

The castle, looking up from lower campus...

The castle from the soccer fields...the castle towers over everything

The view from the castle...you can see everything.

Living here is pretty incredible, although tiring. As I sit here writing this at 1 AM, most people are still awake and probably won't go to bed until ~2-3 AM.

Day 1--Travel and immersion!

Wow...what a day. I had to get up at 6 AM...not too early, not too late...for an 8 AM flight. Getting on the plane was kind of crazy and a I had a ton of luggage (see below)...

After I got on the plane, the excitement and nervousness really set in...I'm not really sure why...after all, I've been waiting for this day for a long time...While I was sitting on the plane at RDU, I snapped this pic of the ramp!

When I finally landed in New Mexico, I was met by a bunch of UWC second-years, who helped me with my luggage...it was all so well organized! I LOVE New Mexico...it's so beautiful, and wild...I think I could live here.

After a very sweaty 2.5 hour drive to campus...we finally arrived. The campus is STUNNING. The view as we came round the bend in the road was incredible! The campus is enormous, and it's dominated by the castle, a beautiful building that is even more impressive when you see it. As we pulled up to campus, we (on the bus) were overwhelmed by all the second-years who came to find us. My roommate, Moha (from Jordan), gave me the best welcome. He took me up to our dorm, called Mont Blanc. It's a great dorm, and I'm really impressed by the sense of community. Below are some photos of my dorm room.

My bed...complete with new sheets.

The view from my room is really pretty...

After this, I'm off to play soccer (or football) and then later there is a "culture shock" party in the student center. My life is already crazy, and I've only been here for 5 hours!!!!

1 day to go!

After months of waiting, the big day has finally arrived! In a little over a day, I'll be boarding a plane headed for New Mexico! It's been a long wait, but it's finally time...and I cannot wait. Although I'm slightly apprehensive about dorm life (it's going to be an adjustment!), I'm super excited to finally meet all the first and second years actually in person (instead of over Facebook)...

It will be my goal to update this blog every few days, and I'll always try to include pictures!


Wish me luck!

Hello and Welcome

Hi!

Welcome to my Blog about my life at UWC-USA. I'll keep this blog updated, so check back every few days for a new post!