Second Term: Done!
So I have finally reopened my Tumblr after 3+ months of absence. Second term was a lot more time consuming than my first one, socially and academically. From reading my last post about first term, I have definitely come a long way since then.
I won’t sugar coat it, my second term has been long (so, so long), stressful and exhausting, physically and emotionally. The workload for the IB started to increase in preparation for the hellish third term, with IAs, end of year exams and the EE looming over us. I got even less sleep than in first term, due to a combination of lazy time management leading to late night work (and too much fun with people when I’m awake). The reality of having only a year left started to sink in, along with the fact that we will have to take the real IB. Friendships shifted along with the seasons, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. We got our hearts completely shattered saying good bye to our second years; the realisation that you won’t see some of these people for several years, or perhaps ever again, when you’re used to seeing them everyday, and of how much stuff you never said or did with your second years, is soul destroying.
However, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.
Yes, it has been a long term. But I realised that there’s no other people I’d rather spend that term with. Throughout the term I made so many new relationships with people, through project week (music production!!!) to joining new activities and councils, which made me realise it’s never too late to make new friends and find new friendship groups at UWC. Through all this I grew in confidence, to the point that I did things I never believed I could have done (wrote, recorded and released a song, became a leader for an activity, became a life guard...). I got to know my year group so much better, and over this term we grew into second years, ready to meet the standard set by our predecessors.
I learnt how to work harder and better, to meet my deadlines and the standard expected of me so I can tackle the hell of third term head on. I started to realise my full potential, and am now more confident in being able to meet it, in and outside of the classroom. My grades improved since first term because of this, and I also learnt that your classmates can be some of your most valuable study resources. (Oh yeah, and I can now function on an impressively small and concerning amount of sleep!)
Basically I grew up this term. I finally worked out how to balance my work and social life, and how to set boundaries with myself, which is a very important life skill. I celebrated birthdays and watched people legally become adults. I complained about university whilst working on revision timetables and budgeting plans. I did some boring adult feeling things. But I’m not even close to finishing growing up. Sure, I’m grown up compared to the start of the year. But in a year I’ll reread this post and probably think “wow I was young and naive”, ‘cause that’s life.
So yeah this is a long, rambling, kind of useless post to try and make up for my absence over the year. This term has been so time consuming, and I know the next one will be even more...
Until the next time; stay frantic!
