Into the wild

We don't want any adventures around here, thank you. Well that was my first reaction to the wilderness trip!

 3 days with no shower, proper toilets or beds. I actually sort of enjoyed it! Surprising I know, especially since I wasn't exactly looking forward to it beforehand. It's not that i'm lazy or hate hiking; it's just that i'd just arrived at UWC and then suddenly i'm off to the wilderness with people I hadn't really talked to before. But as we starting the first leg I remembered just why i love being out there, I had some amazing conversations with people even on the first day. Ranging from religion to the compulsory 2 years of military service in Israel. Some parts were pretty tough going but we stopped off for a sort of lunch in what I thought at the time was the place with the best view, we could see everywhere for miles around!

Arriving at where we were going to camp was good because it meant no more walking... it also meant I saw the best view again.. but better. We were a lot higher up and so were able to see even further and my god... words for once failed me! It was raining over in the far distance over a volcano so it looked like the sky was sucking up water. then if I looked to my left the sun was shining over a comparatively smallish mountain, the two next to each other was breathtaking.

Then I needed the toilet. I won't go into too much detail but it wasn't the greatest moment of my life, although I was experiencing the true wilderness... I wouldn't pay to do that again!

I then had the greatest meal of my time here, quesadilla's with cheese.. then when we ran out of cheese... nutella, yes, nutella! If you haven't had it before you haven't lived! It was then lovely to talk to everyone while watching the sun set over the mountains.

Next day we were set to go on a half hour journey for more water, although upon arriving at the drip tank we discover there's no water, which means an 8 mile hike for 4 members of our group. Luckily that isn't me so I have time to teach everyone the card game Mao. Rule number 2 of the wilderness, don't play Mao with non-native english speakers. It's even more difficult than playing that game for the first time! I had to explain the rule without explicitly explaining the rule that you can't explain the rules...

The way back was the easiest part, all downhill basically and we're greeted with a late night eating contest, one of the more disgusting parts of 'murica. Honestly, how many twinkies someone can eat in 5 minutes should be their own business! 

So that was my wilderness trip! If anyone would like to send me a letter (or packages ;) ) i would love to receive them at 

United World College
PO box 331
Montezuma
NM 87731

Jake

Trans-atlantic differences

It's funny how two cultures who are so similar are so different in many ways. I'm constantly being shocked in both ways by america. So before I head off to the wild i've decided to write a little guide to help any brits coming to america.

1. The craziest thing to me so far is 16 year old drivers, seeing someone smaller and with voice that hasn't broken yet step out of a car is definitely most surprising.
2. Beans on toast. I haven't yet spoken to an america who has tasted that meal, some even think it sounds horrible.
3. The way streets are set up is very different to England, all of the streets are set in blocks, which i guess makes a lot more sense. It's easier to explain.. Although I still don't think i'll be able to understand it for a while!
4. Remember the different laws, you can drive when you're 16, vote and smoke tobacco when you're 18 and drink when you're 21. Except in certain states, in some states you can drive at 14 but can't smoke until 21. And then remember that Americans need to protect themselves from those who "need to protect themselves". This means they can legally buy certain guns in certain states at 18. Oh, one more thing, don't a kinder egg, they're banned in america... And for good reason, I know someone who was once killed by a gun so we better ban the kinder eggs!
5. Americans have created this game (some even claim it's a sport) and have plagiarised the british word 'football' in this activity. Thus so, every time you say you play 'football' they will automatically assume you like running into people for 20 seconds, stopping for 5 minutes and carrying this on for about 2 hours.
6. The one dollar note is brilliant, it packs out your wallet so you look like you have more money than you actually do.. Although I do think the quarter dollar coin is pretty useful in a lot of situations.
7. My favourite piece of irony (click here for a definition if you live across the atlantic from England) is thanksgiving and independence day. They are two national holidays almost directly contradictory to each other, thanksgiving is the celebration of when the english arrived in America, we were then a bit horrible to the people living there at the time... So they also celebrate kicking us out. Confused yet?
8. They say nothing in life is constant, well in 'murica there seems to be an abundance of flags, churches, and old men in a competition to see who can pull their trousers up the highest, trust me, you go to any airport and there will be at least more than one man with trousers high enough to put even simon cowell to shame.

The list goes on, I don't want to bore you however so i'll do an English/American dictionary later on.
Off to poo in a hole for the next 3 days but keep checking and i'll update this with how it all went.

Jake

The arrival

After 3 days of Colorado I find myself once again on a plane (which, by the way doesn't offer a free drink). At the airport i'm greeted by possibly the most excitable person ever, and an American style pizza; American style meaning it's larger than the plane I came on. At the college people are even more excited and start cheering and banging on the bus windows. My dorm is Kosciuszko or kozzy, and I share my room with a Chilean guy called Ramiro. After being totally overwhelmed by the welcome we got, the size of campus and the vastness of cultures, languages and backgrounds... we head to Walmart.

If you haven't been to Walmart it's basically a building the size of a small town, but instead of houses, shops and schools it's filled with rows and rows of stuff you never realised you needed until you stepped foot in Walmart. Imagine ikea but not just furniture; clothes, food, pharmaceutical stuff... there was even a subway! It should be an olympic event just to get all the way round it. Even with a shopping list it took us about an hour and a half to fill 2 bags each. One thing you have to remember is that america has 3 sizes when it comes to Walmart; big, bigger and how the hell do you get that home? I tried to buy a small tub of hair gel, I barely use it, it's for a just in case. I ended up buying a tub that could fit a small child in it, and that's the smallest they had... Then, the one time I wanted to bulk buy something (earl grey teabags of course) they had a box of 20 for about $7, America, if you're trying to annoy Brits then I salute you! After an exhausting hour and a half we finally head home on school busses that wouldn't be out of place in a war zone with the metal being done in a way that it looks like fortified armour trucks.

I've just unpacked, something that makes my move seem all the more real.. But i'm so excited, tomorrow is an introduction to all the academic side of the IB and by saturday i'll be going on my first wilderness trip in New Mexico! So i'll try to update this before I go and after to say how it was.

Jake

Why UWC?

I've said my goodbyes, left England, so this is happening then? It's a strange sensation, sitting in the waiting area of an airport; a model of a bird eating a snake in front of me.. a burger king and starbucks behind and 2 years of (hopefully) pure excitement/shock ahead of me. 

But here I am, oldish music coming from the speakers, waiting 2 hours for my next flight. So I decided to update this blog. The main question I get asked is how did I find out about this college... Well it's sort of a chain reaction, my brother found out off a family friend who was researching the group of colleges.  So that's how I found out, but not why I went. In fact, had you asked me in december if I wanted to go abroad to do the IB I would have said you must be bloody joking (I actually did at one point).

It's difficult to say what finally made me apply; but if I had to put it down to something it would have to be the excitement, the thrill that you get from being somewhere new, experiencing different cultures, learning about the way other people live and sharing my own experiences. I applied pretty late and it took quite a while to get all my answers under 1500 characters... It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get an interview so I can remember exactly where I was. Funnily enough I was quite close to New Mexico then, on a school trip, we had stopped off in a little town on our way to our next hotel. It was red country, think breaking bad mixed with a few cowboys. Of course I still hadn't told anyone about me applying so I had no one to celebrate with at that point but I was so excited. 

The interviews were actually a lot more fun than expected; although it was a very tiring day it just made me all the more determined to get in. Nearly everyone in my interview group got in to a college, unfortunately none to mine. It was funny for me, the interviews, because I knew 3 people there, 2 of them being my best friends. But I got through the interviews without trouble and, when the yes came I was overjoyed. 

So yes, it's a very difficult process but in no way should that put anyone off, i'm sure this will be one of the greatest experiences of my life. Another reason why I applied was that you never know until you try, so give it a shot.

Bring it on america! 

Jake

20 minutes, 38 seconds..

Hey,

My name's Jake Tyne, I've lived in Newcastle all my life but now... well now i'm moving half way across the world. I'm going to live in New Mexico in America after being accepted to go to college there. The college is part of a group of international colleges around the world called United World Colleges. Ill be studying the international baccalaureate and living on campus with around 200 people from all over the world. If you want to check it out, here's the website for any britains thinking about it:
http://www.uwcgb.org

In 19 minutes and 45 seconds i'll leave my house, friends, school and city behind and head to london where i'll be flying to colarado to stay with a friend for a few days. This is where my 2 year journey begins, sitting at the table in my kitchen, a cool breeze blowing as I write this. All my life is in 35kg worth of suitcases and I don't really know what to think. It's terrifying and exciting at the same time. I can't wait.

This is my first time blogging so it might not be the best but i'll try and do it regularly and keep it updated. If you enjoy my blogs feel free to share it with your friends and stuff.

To quote The Hobbit "i'm going on an adventure!"

Jake