After coming back from Singapore, I didn't feel the need for a final blog post, as I could talk in person about my experiences with family and friends that I finally met again. However, now that I have been back for over half a year and fully submerged in the new part of my life in university, I feel a slight need for closure. Closing off this blog, as it captured all my experiences in Singapore, will be another step towards comprehending and reflecting upon my journey.
So, here it is. 6 months too late. But as I like to say, better late than never :) There's a little info at the end about my future in online presentation/communication, so do read until the end!
I ended the last blog entry by saying that there 'are only the IB exams left'. I was very wrong in saying 'only'. Contrary to the German A levels where you write only a hand full of exams, but therefore they are about 5 hours long, sometimes even longer, IB splits the lengths of their exams into blocks, 2 or 3 depending on whether the subject is higher level or standard level. Although it sounds easier to sit several smaller exams of a maximum of 2.5 hours, it was tough. Because the IB exams only take place over three weeks, the schedule is very tightly regulated to fit in all of its subjects, as some are international standards, but others, such as specific arts or languages, are on a local scale. My exams turned out to be all within seven consecutive days, with no more than a weekend between them. The scheduling of the IB meant that most days, I had two exams, one in the morning and the other one in the afternoon. While some days I had two exams of one subject in a day, on others I had English in the morning and economics in the afternoon, or Mathematics in the morning and Computer Science in the afternoon. That is what makes the exams' structure so tricky. Instead of focusing on one subject or at least one field of thinking for the day, we had to switch between literary interpretation in the morning and economic analysis in the afternoon, which turned out to be not very easy. Especially if both exams require you to write, I think that day with English and Economics, I wrote a total of 50 pages; my right hand was definitely tired after that.
Nevertheless, after those seven very stressful and draining days, I was done, and I felt very relieved. I spent my last few days before our graduation with my friends, Singapore, and the school. And then graduation came sooner than expected. We didn't know how we could celebrate due to the everchanging Covid regulations, but in the end, we had, I believe, six ceremonies, each with a small number of students. The event was live-streamed, so our families and friends from other ceremonies could watch us walk across the stage, take a picture with our head of campus holding our diploma, and elbow bump our mentors, teachers, and other school staff who supported us throughout the last two years. Although I was more concerned about not stumbling on the stairs, falling on stage or how my hair and dress looked, afterwards, I was ready to comprehend what just happened. The journey that the 16-year-old me embarked on in the summer of 2019, long before covid and other events, had ended. It felt like yesterday that I got the email that I was accepted, that I first flew to Singapore, and sat in my first class. It seemed and still seems very surreal that I was done, done with UWCSEA, in an educational sense, done with being in school, something that was probably the only constant for the last 12 years, and done with being the 16-year old that came to Singapore.
One thing that I am most grateful for is, next to the academic, my personal journey. Being outside of the environment I grew up and lived in for 16 years allowed me to find other paths. I made tremendous progress in recognising who I am and therefore liking who I am, how I interact with others and how I can keep being me in different circumstances. I didn't like the stereotypical saying of 'UWC changes you!' as I didn't believe it before, now I 100% agree with it. Being on your own at an age where many of your peers do not think about moving to the other side of the world, being able to travel to countries and experience cultures you never had the chance to see before and taking up so much responsibility of your personal and academic progress truly changes you. I don't think that I am the most responsible yet or truly know how being an adult works, but I can see the differences between my friends at Uni and myself. I have met many people trying to figure out what they want in life and what drives them, looking for ways to 'improve' their character, intellect or interactions with others. I guess you could say they are trying to 'find themselves', although I am not the biggest fan of that phrasing. While going to Uni is the first big step of their life, I am very fortunate to have had that experience early and to have figured out at least partial answers to those questions. It allows me to focus on things I actually like instead of having the urge to fit in, it influences my decisions and motivations and enables me to have very good conversations with friends and family. Through my two years in Singapore, I was able to reflect on myself, my family, my goals for the future, the significance of few but solid friendships and a robust support system and what position I want to have in those. As I said, I don't think I have found all the answers, and I am definitely not yet the person I strive to be, but I have made great progress over the last two years, at an age where it is not too typical to search for such answers. I am excited to see what the next three years in Utrecht bear :)
Okay, enough reflection and sentiment! After graduation and trying to comprehend all the big feelings we felt, we said goodbye. I had another 1.5 weeks before I left, so I got to say goodbye to most of my peers. Every time someone was leaving for the airport, we met on our highest balcony so that no neighbours could catch us hugging, and we would cry, laugh, celebrate and cry; we definitely cried a lot. It was very difficult letting people go with whom you had lived together the past two years, the people that were there for you when you needed them and never judged you for anything. When it was my time to leave, only a few of us were left. I left the boarding house early to stay with my best friend Izzy. Although we had previously planned to go on a cruise, it was cancelled due to covid. Instead, they invited me to stay in Marina Bay Sands for my last night before flying out, which was a fantastic experience!!! We went to the infinity pool at sunset, the view over Singapore was the greatest I ever had. I am very happy to have called this place my home, and I still feel like it is a home for me. I cannot wait to go back there at some point; I genuinely feel connected to that place.
Then, it was time to leave. After a 12 hour flight to Frankfurt and then another to Hamburg, I was back! That was around the beginning of June, it is bizarre to think that at the beginning of this year, I was in Singapore studying for my IB exams. It seems like ages ago and yet so close.
Now I have to get back to my Maths homework, although I like reminiscing about Singapore, I should definitely think about Uni as well! I am thrilled to be working with UWC Germany on next year's selection weekend in February; I keep finding ways to be involved in the UWC community and hope to be as active in the future!
So now to the little info in the beginning. I have thought about how I can keep up my online presence, as I liked this blog as a tool for communication. I decided to make a website, it includes my CV with past experiences and a blog about my current projects here in Utrecht. I bought a domain, annawischnewski.com , which is not yet connected to the website as it takes some time. For now, it's https://annawischnewski03.wixsite.com/my-site-1 . If you want to stay updated on all the cool things I do in my life, you can subscribe to that blog, as this one is officially finished after this blog post.
I hope you liked this blog and enjoyed being part of this journey :) Thanks for reading my posts and interacting with them; I hope it will become a good catalogue for future UWCers and applicants and a place to always come back to when I do feel like procrastinating on Uni and reminiscing!