Liana Star, Grade 12
UWC Mostar
Back in mid April I got extremely ill during the middle of spring break. This meant that most of my friends were on vacation so I was left to take care of myself and my boredom. The majority of the people I usually spend my time with were in other countries, meaning I was left to my own devices. One evening I was feeling extremely ill and had spent the afternoon laying in bed staring at my ceiling. My roommates were all on vacation so I opened all of our windows and blasted music of my choice, as I am not often able to do sharing a room with three other people.
On this particularly unpleasant evening, I received a text from someone I am not extremely close with. He asked if he could come to my room for the evening. Despite my pain and discomfort, I thought “why not?” I wasn’t doing anything even slightly entertaining, and I hadn’t spent time with anyone for days. Once he arrived we spent the next several hours sitting on my bed, talking and playing Pokémon on my DS. He had just received a package from his parents that contained imported cheese that he spent the time snacking on, as I kept joking he was going to cut himself on the knife he was using to eat the cheese.
This is one of my favorite memories at UWC due to its simplicity. I could name endless exciting memories at UWC, each of which surround some sort of event or special occasion. But attempting to think of a “simple” less exciting experience that I genuinely found impactful and enjoyed is more of a feat. Being able to spend time with a person I rarely see and have a special moment together despite not having much in common is what I enjoy about UWC. We were able to take a common interest in a game and turn it into an hours-long conversation that we both thoroughly enjoyed. It also allowed me to feel more comfortable with this person in general as our relationship progressed over time. I wasn’t thinking or stressing about anything as we sat there playing a children’s game, it was a pure moment for both of us.
UWC has allowed me so many of these opportunities to bond with someone whose background is completely different from my own. I’ve had similar experiences like this with other students. One that sticks out in my mind was a chemistry class in which I sat next to someone I had not socialized with before. We ended up being partners for a lab and we suddenly had something in common. I spent the rest of the class period discussing anything and everything with her. We spent the next lunch period with each other and suddenly I had a new friend. I went almost the entire year without speaking to this person, and suddenly I felt comfortable in her presence, as I hope to with all of my peers. I’m hopeful that by the end of my second year, I will have explored my generation to the fullest extent and met with and learned new information about all of my co-years.
On this particularly unpleasant evening, I received a text from someone I am not extremely close with. He asked if he could come to my room for the evening. Despite my pain and discomfort, I thought “why not?” I wasn’t doing anything even slightly entertaining, and I hadn’t spent time with anyone for days. Once he arrived we spent the next several hours sitting on my bed, talking and playing Pokémon on my DS. He had just received a package from his parents that contained imported cheese that he spent the time snacking on, as I kept joking he was going to cut himself on the knife he was using to eat the cheese.
This is one of my favorite memories at UWC due to its simplicity. I could name endless exciting memories at UWC, each of which surround some sort of event or special occasion. But attempting to think of a “simple” less exciting experience that I genuinely found impactful and enjoyed is more of a feat. Being able to spend time with a person I rarely see and have a special moment together despite not having much in common is what I enjoy about UWC. We were able to take a common interest in a game and turn it into an hours-long conversation that we both thoroughly enjoyed. It also allowed me to feel more comfortable with this person in general as our relationship progressed over time. I wasn’t thinking or stressing about anything as we sat there playing a children’s game, it was a pure moment for both of us.
UWC has allowed me so many of these opportunities to bond with someone whose background is completely different from my own. I’ve had similar experiences like this with other students. One that sticks out in my mind was a chemistry class in which I sat next to someone I had not socialized with before. We ended up being partners for a lab and we suddenly had something in common. I spent the rest of the class period discussing anything and everything with her. We spent the next lunch period with each other and suddenly I had a new friend. I went almost the entire year without speaking to this person, and suddenly I felt comfortable in her presence, as I hope to with all of my peers. I’m hopeful that by the end of my second year, I will have explored my generation to the fullest extent and met with and learned new information about all of my co-years.
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