More News From Nowhere

I’ve had my last day of high school classes. Ever. What. It still hasn’t really hit me that I’m leaving. I don’t think it’s really hit me that I’ve arrived in India let alone about to fly away. I need to work on my ability to process.

The last couple of weeks have been relatively satisfying. Big assignments submitted, mock exams completed. I’ve also used the sporadic glimpses of slowed paced days to disappear off campus in little ways. Elisabeth (Germany), Marie (Belgium), Jesse (USA), Gaby (England), and I went swimming in the Mula River during our Orals/Study Week. We made our way down to the banks just before sundown (Jesse and I arriving slightly late after being featured extras in an IB Film assignment [edit: I didn’t make the final cut] ). We chatted, swam, and had a “who can find the biggest pebble” competition (it will always be a competition with Marie) before heading back to campus for dinner.

As a much appreciated 18th birthday prezzie from my darling parents, Jesse, Gaby, and I spent a night in a very swanky hotel in Pune. It felt fairly surreal to jump from our pretty grotty muwci lives to the faux marble foyer of the O Hotel. I don’t know what we were most excited about, an actual fridge or the abundance of bathrobes. We were very excited about the bathrobes.

Despite being one night, two hours from campus, it felt like a pure holiday. MUWCI has the effect of being everything at once, a fantastical abundance that can yet turn suffocating – taking a breather was perfect.

I’ve also tried to go sari shopping – it’s a muwci “tradition” to wear a sari for graduation and I think it could be fun, if I don’t trip, a very real possibility. It’s a bit overwhelming being surrounded by hundreds of lengths of brightly coloured fabric.

On a Saturday night, Kate (Canada), Marie, Jesse, Elisabeth, Gaby, and I hiked the two hours up Mount Wilkinson, a mountain just off campus. Despite Gaby almost fainting, it was a super fun walk full of wordgames and anecdotes. Dinner was a hodgepodge of Kate’s homemade semi-frozen hummus, stolen pesto-potatoes from the cafeteria, tomatoes and carrots. Somehow it worked.

Marie got the fire started (she was in the Scouts) and we were joined by Ludovico (Italy), Rodrigo (Mexico), and Kanek (Guatemala). We were treated to sage love advice, harmonica solos, and enthusiastically sung Italian love songs. I brought a tin of “Australia’s best peaches” that we ate without cutlery.

thx jesse

receiving amazing biscuits from my amazing ib buddy

london bagels with indian cream cheese

witnessing some intensive collaging

finishing lunch at cafe one-oh-eight

To my mother’s horror, I now have a fringe. I’ve been paint balling for the first time ever; unfortunately no photos exist of this experience but my bruised body will be a fond reminder for the weeks to come. I’ve been finding salvation in the pool (though avoiding it recently due to the algae boom). I received beautiful letters from a long way away.  I’ve thrown coloured dye in my last muwci holi. I’ve been excitedly making plans for the near future while working through an ever increasing list of ‘lasts’. Scary.

Perhaps not as scary as my final Project Based Diploma defence I carried out a couple of days ago. For those not quite in the loop, for the last two years I have not been completing the International Baccalaureate like the majority of MUWCI but instead have been guineapig-ing a new style of high school diploma. You can read more about it at the end of this post. Therefor, myself and two other students completed one of the last components of our evaluation. And it was terrifying. We were introduce to a panel of unfamiliar faces (bar one – thank you to my lovely friend, Ravi) and fielded questions that attempted to gauge our learning of two years. While I am unsure of my success at articulating this, I do know how much a have been able to grow (not vertically, unfortunately) as a person, and how much this opportunity has developed not only the quantity of my knowledge but how I analyse it, how I view the world.

But anyway.

Exams are starting so there is a recognisable shift in the atmosphere on campus. Hopefully the warranted stress of those on campus doesn’t infect our memories of these last moments. It’s hard to monitor something no one is directly affecting.

But, hopefully we can keep the vibe of these last four weeks special.

all my love,

anna

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