Tahsinur Rahim, Grade 12
UWC-USA
The day has gone, and night has arrived. The 7-hour schoolday has perished, and to stand in its place, the nightlife. Some use the evening as the opportunity to relax after a long day of school, some have to keep going with their homework as if the schoolday never ended. Some would use this time to interact with their friends, and some would fall into their period of slumber, just to wake up hours later sweating, and stressed, because they have to cram that essay due the next day.
The magic hours of 7 hours past midday, to 6 hours past midnight, is where the wolf instincts in some of us arise. The howling of the wolf, and the hooting of the owl, are all equivalent to the shrieking cry of students running across dormitory hallways, with their friends, annoying the hell out of the students that are trying to study for their examinations. The dayroom, or the dormitory’s kitchen, is filled with hungry scholars looking for a quick fix of production flavoured ramen. Some do cook feasts to feed their stomach in preparation for all-nighters. My roommate would brew coffee at ten o’clock, and fill his large mason jar mug, that he takes with him to the library, with his blanket wrapped around him, and a pillow stuffed in his backpack as if he was headed out to war. The war that is the students vs. the International Baccalaureate.
Some of my cherishable moments are from these magic hours. I have specific memories of late-night, ramen cooking in the dayroom, alongside exploring abandoned parts of the campus with my friends. Several friendships have culminated out of me just laying down on the leather sofas of my dormitory’s dayroom. Some of our biggest dormitory traditions have been held in the dayroom during these magic hours. The biggest tradition is friendly boxing matches between two people in our dorms. One of my friends engaged in a sporty spar with another friend, who was bigger, taller, stronger, and also a second year. I would cheer on my friend’s heroic campaign against this tall, six-foot giant, as he kept on giving jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. But alas, he had to give in to surrendering, because his opponent’s punches were simply stronger than he had anticipated.
Another favourite evening moment was when me and my friends pranked a friend of ours, by stealing his mattress, hiding it in the janitor’s room of their dorm, and making a scavenger hunt out of it. We gave him clues that were inspired by J.K. Rowling’s hit series, Harry Potter. I cannot recall the clues, but I remember the rooms that we would hint these clues to and form a connection with the castle in our school. One such clue was to hint at the room of requirement, which in the Harry Potter series is the most mysterious room in all of Hogwarts. That room was to be the janitor’s closet in our school. Another clue would hint at our Chamber of Secrets, which in our case, would be the art basement in the school’s art centre. It was really fun just watching our friend, who was pretending to be Sherlock Holmes or L from Death Note, try to answer these clues to get back his mattress, just for him to fail and become flabbergasted and confounded. We walked around the castle with him, and we began to venture around the abandoned wing of the castle. The abandoned wing looks like the haunted part of our school. Its creepiness is equivalent to Timberline Lodge from The Shining or the farmhouse from the Conjuring. The abandoned wing was dark so we had to use flashlights. The floorboards were rusty and aged wood. There were hallways that were dark and just by the entrance, a red lightbulb is shining. There were doors that are locked off, some look rusty, with paint coming off of them. One of the doors had the colour red tainted all over it. The stairs were creaky as frogs, and this maze of a staircase creates a nauseating, dizzying feeling, as you walk up the steps. We, of course, did not find the mattress there, so we exited the abandoned wing. Creepy to say the least. Not to mention, the smell was dusty, airy, and almost sense like a cremation.
We would go down to the castle’s common areas and find a hallway that would lead to their laundry room and several doors that no one seems to go into. Some of the doors were shut, and the hallways were like mazes again. They all looked the same. Eventually we found ourselves getting into the engine rooms of the castle, and probably the entire campus. Of course, we did not find anything there. Eventually, our friend of ours gave up and asked us where it was. We told him, and he was rather impressed that we kept him on this 3-hour-long pursuit for his dearly missing mattress.
As I embark, on another and final year of United World College, I wish to have more of these joyous moments. These experiences are what shape your experience at UWC and makes you nostalgic. I know that I will have a very tough first semester in my final year, but I hope to still find the time to do stuff like these. Whether I box someone in my dorm, waste time on a scavenger hunt, or pull a caffeine-induced all-nighter with my friends, it is something that I hope to experience again, and form further memories of my UWC experience. Furthermore, it will result in great pictures that I would post on my Instagram page. Lastly, I just want to point out the irony of the dayroom being called the dayroom, when it is most lively at night.
The magic hours of 7 hours past midday, to 6 hours past midnight, is where the wolf instincts in some of us arise. The howling of the wolf, and the hooting of the owl, are all equivalent to the shrieking cry of students running across dormitory hallways, with their friends, annoying the hell out of the students that are trying to study for their examinations. The dayroom, or the dormitory’s kitchen, is filled with hungry scholars looking for a quick fix of production flavoured ramen. Some do cook feasts to feed their stomach in preparation for all-nighters. My roommate would brew coffee at ten o’clock, and fill his large mason jar mug, that he takes with him to the library, with his blanket wrapped around him, and a pillow stuffed in his backpack as if he was headed out to war. The war that is the students vs. the International Baccalaureate.
Some of my cherishable moments are from these magic hours. I have specific memories of late-night, ramen cooking in the dayroom, alongside exploring abandoned parts of the campus with my friends. Several friendships have culminated out of me just laying down on the leather sofas of my dormitory’s dayroom. Some of our biggest dormitory traditions have been held in the dayroom during these magic hours. The biggest tradition is friendly boxing matches between two people in our dorms. One of my friends engaged in a sporty spar with another friend, who was bigger, taller, stronger, and also a second year. I would cheer on my friend’s heroic campaign against this tall, six-foot giant, as he kept on giving jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. But alas, he had to give in to surrendering, because his opponent’s punches were simply stronger than he had anticipated.
Another favourite evening moment was when me and my friends pranked a friend of ours, by stealing his mattress, hiding it in the janitor’s room of their dorm, and making a scavenger hunt out of it. We gave him clues that were inspired by J.K. Rowling’s hit series, Harry Potter. I cannot recall the clues, but I remember the rooms that we would hint these clues to and form a connection with the castle in our school. One such clue was to hint at the room of requirement, which in the Harry Potter series is the most mysterious room in all of Hogwarts. That room was to be the janitor’s closet in our school. Another clue would hint at our Chamber of Secrets, which in our case, would be the art basement in the school’s art centre. It was really fun just watching our friend, who was pretending to be Sherlock Holmes or L from Death Note, try to answer these clues to get back his mattress, just for him to fail and become flabbergasted and confounded. We walked around the castle with him, and we began to venture around the abandoned wing of the castle. The abandoned wing looks like the haunted part of our school. Its creepiness is equivalent to Timberline Lodge from The Shining or the farmhouse from the Conjuring. The abandoned wing was dark so we had to use flashlights. The floorboards were rusty and aged wood. There were hallways that were dark and just by the entrance, a red lightbulb is shining. There were doors that are locked off, some look rusty, with paint coming off of them. One of the doors had the colour red tainted all over it. The stairs were creaky as frogs, and this maze of a staircase creates a nauseating, dizzying feeling, as you walk up the steps. We, of course, did not find the mattress there, so we exited the abandoned wing. Creepy to say the least. Not to mention, the smell was dusty, airy, and almost sense like a cremation.
We would go down to the castle’s common areas and find a hallway that would lead to their laundry room and several doors that no one seems to go into. Some of the doors were shut, and the hallways were like mazes again. They all looked the same. Eventually we found ourselves getting into the engine rooms of the castle, and probably the entire campus. Of course, we did not find anything there. Eventually, our friend of ours gave up and asked us where it was. We told him, and he was rather impressed that we kept him on this 3-hour-long pursuit for his dearly missing mattress.
As I embark, on another and final year of United World College, I wish to have more of these joyous moments. These experiences are what shape your experience at UWC and makes you nostalgic. I know that I will have a very tough first semester in my final year, but I hope to still find the time to do stuff like these. Whether I box someone in my dorm, waste time on a scavenger hunt, or pull a caffeine-induced all-nighter with my friends, it is something that I hope to experience again, and form further memories of my UWC experience. Furthermore, it will result in great pictures that I would post on my Instagram page. Lastly, I just want to point out the irony of the dayroom being called the dayroom, when it is most lively at night.
www.unitedworldwide.co