Hana Sato, Grade 12
UWC Costa Rica
“Hana, IB is hard”. That was the very first description I heard about the International Baccalaureate from my Guatemalan second year. I was terrified. Although being an indisputable humanities person, I decided to take two science subjects in higher level (HL), biology and chemistry; a decision that I do not regret at all but I do suffer with. Within all, biology was a huge challenge. In Biology HL class, or better known in UWC Costa Ricas as "Room 15", we learn in nature, freely, perhaps no textbooks no whiteboard, it is totally up to you. It was a shock for me to face this at the beginning; I thought teachers will explain me every single word from the syllabus; I found none of this. There was only a kind attitude, birds obsessed IB teacher who would be able to recognize birds by their songs. Basically, I was stressed with the unexpected Room 15 style.
At one of those Friday first block biology classes, the teacher was answering a question about cells. I was so grateful to the girl who asked the question, I had the same doubt and we had finally got an IB topics class. But as all UWC students know, most of the things do not run as wished. The teacher was explaining, with his clear and passionate voice, the class was captivated paying whole attention, zero disruption; until, suddenly, the teacher stopped in the middle of an explanation and hand-signed the class to be quiet. He was real quick, it took him nothing of time to grab his binoculars next to his desk and ran out the class shouting us to follow him. Unlike the teacher, we kept frozen for a while, probably confused as never before. When we finally started running to follow the teacher, the IBDP2 anthropology students having outdoor classes were extremely surprised that one whole class started running with seemingly no reason, they also started running following us that were following the teacher; none of us knew what was going on. My mind was blank.
We ran to the soccer field, and the only thing we saw was a black dot flying away. Apparently, it was a toucan, moreover, very rarely seen in our city. We were all out of breath, I did not know if I was confused, surprised, exhausted or excited. This will probably be my first and last time quitting classes to chase a toucan that I don't even know if it was really a toucan or any other common bird.
It was after it that I realized I was being too busy thinking about cells and atoms that I didn't even have room in my mind to laugh about those funny, unexpected incidents. Before getting into the IB system, I used to appreciate every laugher, but I was probably being too rigid with academics. I do still struggle with Room 15 biology, and I can not recognize any single bird species yet, but at least, now that I finished my second semester, I can laugh for the little jokes that teachers make and for my small past mistakes.
At one of those Friday first block biology classes, the teacher was answering a question about cells. I was so grateful to the girl who asked the question, I had the same doubt and we had finally got an IB topics class. But as all UWC students know, most of the things do not run as wished. The teacher was explaining, with his clear and passionate voice, the class was captivated paying whole attention, zero disruption; until, suddenly, the teacher stopped in the middle of an explanation and hand-signed the class to be quiet. He was real quick, it took him nothing of time to grab his binoculars next to his desk and ran out the class shouting us to follow him. Unlike the teacher, we kept frozen for a while, probably confused as never before. When we finally started running to follow the teacher, the IBDP2 anthropology students having outdoor classes were extremely surprised that one whole class started running with seemingly no reason, they also started running following us that were following the teacher; none of us knew what was going on. My mind was blank.
We ran to the soccer field, and the only thing we saw was a black dot flying away. Apparently, it was a toucan, moreover, very rarely seen in our city. We were all out of breath, I did not know if I was confused, surprised, exhausted or excited. This will probably be my first and last time quitting classes to chase a toucan that I don't even know if it was really a toucan or any other common bird.
It was after it that I realized I was being too busy thinking about cells and atoms that I didn't even have room in my mind to laugh about those funny, unexpected incidents. Before getting into the IB system, I used to appreciate every laugher, but I was probably being too rigid with academics. I do still struggle with Room 15 biology, and I can not recognize any single bird species yet, but at least, now that I finished my second semester, I can laugh for the little jokes that teachers make and for my small past mistakes.
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