So, I follow several blogs of current/graduated UWC students, and one of the most artistically talented and eloquent is yellowcircles on Tumblr, a graduate of Mahindra UWC in India. Recently, he (she?) made a post that read like this:
"I recently read a book by Suketu Meheta who says that each person’s life is dominated by a central event, which shapes and distorts everything that comes after it and, in retrospect, everything that came before. MUWCI for me will always take that place; because there is no place like it.
As cliche as it sounds, it’s funny how the people and the places that seem strange in the beginning turn out to be the ones you call “Family”. One moment you can’t help but fall asleep in class due to a prolonged caffeinated night, the other you wish you were better prepared for tomorrows I.B. exam.
Here is a video I made (shot and edited) for my high school farewell, with all the people that matter to me the most in it. Sometimes in my solitude this is the only thing that comforts me. For that one moment in time I feel I am back home."
Reading that, it occurred to me that I would most definitely be in a similar position in two years, four months time from now, graduating from a place I've never even been to yet. That's the strange part about all of these schools - it's such a unique concept to people here, that they can't even imagine it. And yet, it's such a shared experience among UWC 'people,' past, present, or future, that it ceases to be unique in and of itself. Wonderful, yes, but entirely unique? Not really.
Following the post was a link to this video, which I have to say is most definitely my favorite video about any UWC I've seen so far on the internet. I can see the faces of every group I've ever had to say goodbye to in this video, as if my NSLI-Y group, or the other camp counselors. It's probably the first video I've seen to show how much the school means to him - and it's fascinating because it's so blunt. There are no words, no commentary, no "I love my UWC family because..." It's just a lot of faces. Faces that mean so very little to me, but I can tell mean the world to them. I just wanted to share the video, because it's such a wonderful piece, and one of very few I've found that draws any emotion whatsoever.
Also, I know that in two years, I'll be in a video like that, looking back upon the "grand adventure." We'll see whether Meheta was actually right, whether life will really be defined by one grand event, and whether UWC will be that event.
"I recently read a book by Suketu Meheta who says that each person’s life is dominated by a central event, which shapes and distorts everything that comes after it and, in retrospect, everything that came before. MUWCI for me will always take that place; because there is no place like it.
As cliche as it sounds, it’s funny how the people and the places that seem strange in the beginning turn out to be the ones you call “Family”. One moment you can’t help but fall asleep in class due to a prolonged caffeinated night, the other you wish you were better prepared for tomorrows I.B. exam.
Here is a video I made (shot and edited) for my high school farewell, with all the people that matter to me the most in it. Sometimes in my solitude this is the only thing that comforts me. For that one moment in time I feel I am back home."
Reading that, it occurred to me that I would most definitely be in a similar position in two years, four months time from now, graduating from a place I've never even been to yet. That's the strange part about all of these schools - it's such a unique concept to people here, that they can't even imagine it. And yet, it's such a shared experience among UWC 'people,' past, present, or future, that it ceases to be unique in and of itself. Wonderful, yes, but entirely unique? Not really.
Following the post was a link to this video, which I have to say is most definitely my favorite video about any UWC I've seen so far on the internet. I can see the faces of every group I've ever had to say goodbye to in this video, as if my NSLI-Y group, or the other camp counselors. It's probably the first video I've seen to show how much the school means to him - and it's fascinating because it's so blunt. There are no words, no commentary, no "I love my UWC family because..." It's just a lot of faces. Faces that mean so very little to me, but I can tell mean the world to them. I just wanted to share the video, because it's such a wonderful piece, and one of very few I've found that draws any emotion whatsoever.
Also, I know that in two years, I'll be in a video like that, looking back upon the "grand adventure." We'll see whether Meheta was actually right, whether life will really be defined by one grand event, and whether UWC will be that event.
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