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ORIENTATION WEEK

3 September, 2016

Hard to believe I’ve only been here for two weeks as it feels like everything but that. Time at MUWCI is not anything like time anywhere else. It advances differently and in different paces, whether it is at night where it moves rapidly and you never feel like you got enough sleep, or whether you have a four-hour conversation with people, not realizing how much time has passed! 

It’s so surreal to be here, and grasping what is happening is nearly impossible. What happens when 240 teens with the most diverse backgrounds come to live and learn and grow together, on the top of a hill in India is difficult to describe.

Orientation week was filled with activities, discussions, presentations, and integrating ourselves into this community. We spent our days trying to get to the MPH without getting lost on campus, taking part in the planned activities, and drinking tea to attempt getting to know each other during our free time. On the third day, we were officially welcomed by a MUWCI tradition called ‘Mud Games’. Second years were urging the importance of wearing old clothes we wouldn’t mind ruining. First and Second years then made their way to the football field to run, wrestle, slip and play games in the mud. After about an hour of brawling and completely soaked in mud, the games were officially ended. 

 

The rest of orientation was just as intense. Vehement second years were giving us advice for the years ahead of us and often contradicted each other, making it difficult to identify whom to follow.

Now to the more practical side of my life here. I live in wada 4. Wada is a Hindi term and stands for a group of houses around a common courtyard. Each Wada is separated in uptown and downtown, and smaller houses. I understand how this is rather confusing for people who aren’t familiar with the campus, so to summarize: 5 wadas, two sections in each, three houses in each section in addition to several faculty houses, two rooms in each house and four students in each room. Furthermore, every student is assigned an advisor, a teacher in their wada. Each advisor has about four first and four second years. This is meant to be your ‘family’ during your time here. After two late nights accompanied by tea and long conversations, I really do feel like it is. 

There are so many cliches and stereotypical activities that come with the UWC life, and despite only having been here for a week, I can already confirm many of them. From making pasta at 3AM in the common room to having deep conversations about the world with an unfamiliar person, or just the pleasures of showering alongside 3 frogs, life here is what I expected, but also so much more.

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