In June 2018 I first heard about the United World Colleges through a friend that was applying there. I researched a little bit more about it on the internet and knew immediately that I want to go there as well! With a lot of questions, ideas and suggestions I filled in the online application. After filling in the formal part, dealing with philosophic questions like „What animal would you be?“, I handed in the application. Now the waiting game began.
I checked my emails several times a day, I was laying in my bed at night thinking about my application: I could have answered every question better and I could have written the essays more beautiful. I was convinced that my application wouldn’t go far.
Mid January I suddenly got the longed for email:
„Congratulations, we invite you to our application-weekend in Wiesbaden from Jan. 22nd to Jan. 2th 2019.“
Even though I felt relieved, the tension and excitement didn't stop. I packed my bag and traveled to Wiesbaden.
I entered the youth hostel and new right away that the weekend would be a great experience, no matter what the outcome was.
I met the other participants and the atmosphere was very open and relaxed. We played some games to get to know each other and then the first formal appointment of the day awaited us: the UWC team, the „choosers“ and the so-called „Frischlinge“ (“fresh” graduates from the RBC) introduced themselves. Again, the atmosphere was really easy going.
After that we got to our rooms, where I met some pretty cool girls, they really helped me through the weekend.
We spend the evenings playing „Werwolf“ and other games, it felt like I knew the people much longer than only a few days.
Even though we had a lot of fun we also focused on our choosing procedure. We started with group discussions and had one group crafting activity.
My one-on-one conversation with the „choosers“ was on Sunday. The first one was focused on scenarios. „What if…?“ was the hot topic. „What if your roommate gets homesick? „What if you dislike people at your new college? - we talked about this for about 15 minutes. Since these interviews are created to not let you think long about your answers I just said what was on my mind that second.
The second interview was all about me. They asked about my C.V, about my voluntary work in school and why I wanted to go to an UWC. Again, I just said what ran through my mind and again I had no idea if my answers were „right“.
After lunch I had to say goodbye, it was quite hard since our friendships really developed over the few days.
I got home and played the waiting game again, but this time it was even harder. I texted my new friends trying to spread good hopes. I really wished for everybody that I met to be accepted, those guys are amazing.
After some time I was sure that I wouldn’t be accepted, but then there was the email:
„Dear Anna Wischnewski,
Congratulations! Because of your results of the application-weekend we want to offer you a place at one United World College.(...)
We decided to suggest you to the College UWC South East Asia, Singapore.
I remember the exact moment in which I received the email: I was sitting in the underground with a friend of mine, we just drove home from the „Fridays for Future“ demonstration in Hamburg. She talked about some stuff, I looked at my phone and suddenly my eyes turned big. I started crying and laughing, I didn’t know what to do with myself. She didn’t either so she just cried and laughed with me.
Immediately all of the WhatsApp groups started and I got many private messages if I got accepted. New UWC 2019-21 groups were established before I could even realize what was going on.
The weekend was full of calls with my family and friends, everybody was very excited and happy for me. I still hadn’t realized the situation completely.
On May 14th I received the final confirmation Email from my Head of School from Singapore.
And since then the Emails and paper work haven’t stopped.
We worked through all the papers, bought everything I needed, prepared a lot and faster then I could imagine I was starting to pack my bag.