Delegates please settle down

I Apologise for the delayed post but I seemed to have too much to do and less time to do it in.

I have some exciting news for this upcoming weekend:

1) my daddy is coming to see me for dinner on Friday! (yaaaaay)

2) We are having ACMUN (Atlantic College Model United Nations).
There are about 130 people participating in five different committees:

1. Security council (situation in Iraq),
2. Economic and Social council (Lessons learnt from the economic crisis),
3. Human Rights Council (Political Oppression in Iran & Climate change Refugees),
4. Historic committee (Establishment of the state of Israel),
5. AC Affairs (Dictatorship or Democracy: Student representation at Atlantic College & Potential college profit-making opportunities) [this one is clearly unique to the school but we are hoping it will be a useful forum for students to discuss issues that matter to us].

I am chairing (moderating) the security council with a German second year, but an a bit nervous because I have never chaired before. However, I have hopes that the debate will be interesting and lively (especially considering the amount of Americas amoung the delegates)
Wish me luck!

ATLANTIC COLLEGE

MODEL UNITED NATIONS

2010
29.-31.01.2010

AC dictionary

One of the unique aspects of AC is the language here.
And no, I am not talking about Welsh, I am talking about the slang that becomes commonplace for AC students but means nothing to the rest of world.
An example of a common AC comment might be: "I have to go to a showering tonight, but I don't really want to go nightriding because I will be exhausted for codes".
I recently realised that I probably use some of these phrases in my blog. So I thought I would give you a few definitions.

Codes: Our classes. Don't ask me why they are called that, because I am not sure. However I believe it has something to do with the fact that our schedule is organised with a series of letters and then each student is told what subject corresponds with what letter in their personal schedule. (This is then made more confusing when alpha and beta are added to the letters!)

Showering: This is a long standing tradition (the father of one of the current students did it) which celebrates someones birthday. At midnight, when it become their birthday, Friends and housemates gather in the dayroom, sing them happy birthday and then carry them into the shower where buckets of water are thrown on their head. They then run back to the dayroom hugging everyone within arms reach in the attempt to get as many other people as possible wet. And then we eat cake. there are many variations on the basic showering outline. Many people are also covered in food items such as flour or sugar. Sometimes they get covered in soap or washing powder. In extreme cases (or most sunley {a house} showerings) you are taken outside and tied to something (a tree or chair or table) and showered outside. But most of the meaner showerings are given to the guys because somehow it proves their manliness.
unfortunately in the last few months the houseparents have been complaining about showerings and are attempting to have them changed to earlier in the day (closer to 10) because the loud singing often wakes them up. However, as of yet not much has changed.

houseparents: A member of faculty and their family, who live in houses attached to the student housing. their job as pseudo-parents is to ensure we are in our houses for check-in (see below) and make sure we aren't breaking rules, and tell us to clean up the house, and basically keep us all in line. All the house parents are different (and have different reputations). Some are much more strict than others. I personally love my house parents because they really seem to care about us, but are not too strict. Plus, they have adorable children.

check-in: At night everyone has to be back in their houses by check-in. On weekdays it is 10:15 and on weekends it is 11:15. Either a house parent or a tutor (see below) comes around the house and ensure that everyone is in the house. You don't have to be in your room, but you have to be in the house. It is only very rarely that we get permission to stay out after check-in (ex: the all night amnesty international letter writing campaign this weekend)

Nightriding: Leaving your house after you have been checked off for check-in to go to another house or somewhere else on campus (castle, the watchtower, the cliffs etc.). This activity has also been hotly debated around the school in the last term because it has been happening for years (probably since the school started) but apparently in the last few years it has been becoming more and more disruptive and so the school keeps saying that if we don't stop they are going to start 'cracking down'. I just think people need to learn to be quiet and not to yell between houses.

Tutors: This is more of a clarification than a definition. A group of about 7 students (per year) are assigned a tutor. This tutor doesn't help with homework, but ensures that the student is maintaining the expected academic work. If you come late to classes, or don't do your homework, your teacher will tell your tutor and they will talk to you. If you want to switch classes you can discuss it with your tutor. tutors also sometimes organise small get togethers for their tutor groups (for a dinner or some activity). My tutor is Brian, one of the music teachers.

EMC: Extra-Mural Center. The programme uses the facilities at my school to teach physical activities to school groups, especially inner-city groups and groups with physical disabilities. In my service we learn how to teach all of the various activities (kayaking, rock climbing, swimming, mountain boarding, archery etc.)

EDW: Stands for 'excessive display of wealth'. Because everyone at my school comes from different countries and different financial situations, we try to not flaunt our stuff. So ipods and laptops are not really supposed to be used in common areas like the dayrooms unless everyone is using it. And people don't walk around listening to music or talking on cellphones. It is not exactly a rule, but it is just stuff that is frowned upon.

Sick List: If you are feeling unwell and don't think you can go to codes, you can be placed on the sicklist which is then e-mail to all teachers and service leaders so they know you are excused and not just skipping. The only (and major) downfall to the system is that you have to get up in the morning and go to the nurse and approved before you are put on the sick list. And usually if you are feeling sick enough that you can't go to codes, you probably can't get up and go to find the nurse.

And then there are lots of different places:

OSCR: Old Staff Common Room. Lots of events and activities are held in there. And if it is not being used, it is a nice place to sit and chat with people

Watch tower: There is a tall stone watch tower in the forest beside the castle. If you manage to scramble up the steps (getting up to the steps is actually very difficult because they start about 6 feet off the ground) there is a fantastic view of the grounds and the ocean.

Sick Bay: If you are really sick they make you stay in the sick bay until you get better so that you don't get your doorm mates and the rest of your house sick.

Romeo and Juliet Tower: A small stone building beside one of the gardens. It is really pretty with ivy crawling up the sides.

the cliffs: a small clear area on top of the cliffs along the coast, that is just off of the school property.

Main Drive: The main road that cuts down the middle of the school from the front gate to the castle. The student houses are all along the side of the road (with the exception of two houses)

M4: A footpath that runs parallel to main drive, through the fields of the farm. It connects the other two houses to the academic buildings. It is nick named after the motorway that connects England and Wales.

The Lost is Found

It is a good day.
1. I didn't have Peace and Conflict studies today, which meant I could sleep in a whole hour
2. My English oral presentation was moved from Thursday to Monday
3. I start MUN today
4. I get to go to early lunch
and most importantly:

5. MY BAGS ARRIVED. Finally.

One week gone by

Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence of the last week.
This is due to the fact that my camera is in one of my bags.
And my bags are nowhere to be seen.

Regardless here some of the highlights of my first week back:

1. Getting here. It was quite the adventure (whether my bags get here or not is a completely different story)

2. Seeing everyone again.

3. The snow. The castle looked so beautiful all covered in white. It looked like magic

4. Tobogganing. A group of girls from my house borrowed some sleds and went sliding down a driveway. And only one of us hit a wall, so I feel it was a fairly successful endeavor.

5. the princess bride. I got it for Christmas, and happened to put it in my backpack for the flight. So this week I watched it with some girls who had never seen it before and it was so much fun. Except for when everyone told me to stop quoting the lines along with the film. oops.

6. Archery. I had a service session on Wednesday where we learned how to teach archery. And while I enjoy archery, I do not enjoy standing in the snow in sub-zero weather for two hours while wearing rubber boots. I would like to point out here that I intended to wear warmer shoes, but my service instructor sent me home to put on boots because the field was 'muddy'. As a result I had frozen feet. Which remained frozen for about forty minutes afterwards.

7. Snowmen. We made a human sized one outside our house. Guess what it's name was? Frosty! how original.

8. Swimming. My second service session of the week consisted of a small swimming test for our lifeguard program. I was really impressed with all of the people who came to the college as non-swimmers and were able to complete the test because of the lessons they have been having all fall!

9. Shots. I got a shot yesterday. And it hurt.

10. Dinner and a movie. Last night, in honor of it being our first Friday back I ate dinner with my group of friends and then we watched ever after. It was pretty awesome.

So overall it was a pretty good week.
But my teachers decided that I should have a bad weekend by drowning me in homework.
Wish me luck!

Touchdown

It started at 5:30 in the morning.

My mommy came to my room and shook me out of my sleeping-beauty-like slumber.

I rolled out of bed, finished packing, dressed, ate a piece of toast and said goodbye to my room.

My flight wasn't until about 9, but my mom wanted me there for 7.

This allowed for me to sit with my family and drink some caffeine before I went through security.

Eventually it was time to go. I said my goodbyes and started my journey.

The Vancouver Airport was easy.

I found my terminal without getting lost. I found my seat and my plane left on time.

This, however, was only the beginning.

Calgary was also easy. I found my terminal. I wandered around for a bit. I had Internet connection. And my plane left on time. And even though we had the most turbulence of any flight I have ever been on, it was okay because I was sitting next to a very interesting woman.

She was a psychologist who works for the UN and was on her way to Israel to work with children in an orphanage there who had experienced trauma! It was really cool.

It was when the plane reached Frankfurt that most of the trouble started.

It started with a tickle.

And suddenly my nose was bleeding everywhere.

Luckily the lady I was sitting next to had a Kleenex. So I sat there pinching my nose, trying not to bleed on my cloths and willing it to stop.
Finally it did stop, just as the seat belt sign was turned off.

I made my way inside and began to search for my terminal. I followed the signs until I found one of the large electronic boards with all of the flights.

I located my flight and to my horror there were large red letters after it stating 'CANCELLED'.

So I made my way to service desk and after waiting line for about 40 mins I was finally able to get a new ticket.

I walked all the way to the gate, went through security and waited for my flight to leave.

But after about an hour of waiting I was informed that this flight was also cancelled.

So I hauled myself back past security and into the growing line at the service desk.

I waited for over an hour with everyone else who was trying to get anywhere.

Eventually it was my turn.

The good news: I got another boarding pass

The bad news: my flight was not for another 9 hours.

At this point I was exhausted

And so I tried to find somewhere to sit down. But everyone else was tired too and I couldn't find a seat anywhere. So I wandered around for a while, looking in stores and people watching.

At one point I tried to see if I could get an Internet connection, and failed.

But I did call my mommy. I love you!

After a few hours I was able to find a seat at a table. I lay my head down and promptly fell asleep. But my body was not very happy to be sleeping at a right angle and so I woke up again after about half and hour.

I spent the rest of my time in Germany, listening to music, reading and contemplating what I would do if I was stuck there for the rest of my life. I think I may have also learned some German by listening to all of the flight cancellation announcements.

Finally I boarded my plane. I was so happy to be sitting in a plane that I didn't even mind when we waited on the tarmac for an hour while they tried to sort out passengers and luggage.

When we touched down in Heathrow I extremely relieved

I bounded through customs and soared into the baggage pickup area.

And found no bags.

In all of the confusion of flights and cancellations both of my bags had been lost.

And it appeared that hundreds of other people had also lost their bags. There were piles of bags everywhere. I searched through every single one before I finally came to the conclusion that my bags were not among them.

So I did what I had to do. I got in another line up.

And waited for another forty mins to fill in a form saying my bags were lost.

At this point I was starting to panic because I was worried that I had missed the last bus to my school.

I hurried down the tunnels leading to terminal three (the AC meeting place)

And would have jumped for joy when I saw Maria running towards me if I had had the energy.

I had nothing to fear about missing the bus, because the bus was delayed about two hours.

Which meant that I got to my school at 2 in the morning!

Never before had I been so glad to be at school

Never before had my bed seemed so welcoming

I had made it.

Without luggage, tired and missing people.

But I made it.