The Journey After My UWCM Acceptance

SO, I start at UWCM within the next few days, and I'm incredibly excited. I've already done all the paperwork, packing and farewells, now it's just a matter of waiting and taming this out of control excitement.

Here are the main things that have happened after I've been accepted:

I did my CXCs. Sint Maarten has a few different systems of education operating within it, for example: the Dutch system, the Canadian, the American, the British Caribbean, we also offer International programs, such as the I.B. program, and on the French side there's the French system. I did my primary school in Dutch, and my high school in the British Caribbean system. CXCs are the examinations that I took after five years of high school (1st through 5th form). We recently got our CXC results, and I'm pretty happy with mine. I saw finishing these years of high school as a big step, and getting my results just amplifies the realization that it's over. Time to move on to more challenging territory: the I.B. program.

Seniors during our last St. Dominic High School assembly as 5th formers.

I said goodbye to my friends and to the place I've called home all of my life. It was pretty sudden because I had to come to the Netherlands to attend my scholarship ceremony and a few other important events. So I left two weeks after my exams finished, which caused me to go into overload when it came to managing packing, spending time with friends, going to the beach, partying and just making the most out of my last few days in Sint Maarten. The day I left, a few of my friends came to the airport with me and I knew I was going to cry, but it didn't happen until I was about to go up that escalator and get on my flight. That's when it became real that I was going to leave all of the familiar and go into brand new, and unknown territory for me.

My friends and I at the airport in Sint Maarten before I left.

I flew to the Netherlands with my parents, and we did some exploring for the time that they were here. Man, was I happy that my parents came with me. My parents helped me out a lot in adjusting to my new country, my mom's reminders to make sure I always have my phone, money, etc, are now grilled into my mind, which is exactly what I needed. We stayed in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Maastricht while they were here. It was good to get a more general view of the country before I settled down in Maastricht. I got to experience the more modern looking, Rotterdam, the older, Amsterdam, and the culturally rich, Maastricht.

My parents in Amsterdam for their 24th anniversary.

I met my Dutch year group. The year-group of 2014-2016 included 26 students who have received partial scholarships and will be heading over to 13 of the 14 United World Colleges worldwide. I had already known 2 of the other students (Marko and Jady) because they were from Aruba and Curaçao, and we had already met at the day of the interview. We were the only ones who hadn't actually met the rest of the year-group, and we flew up to Holland so that we can take part in the ceremonies alongside the rest of our year-group. I met the first few members of the group (Mar, Mathilde and Wouter) the night before our year-group sleepover with everyone, and we all slept by Mar in Amsterdam. It was quite a night of exploring Amsterdam together, with Mar as our tour guide, from 10 pm to 1 am, by foot (by the way, Dutch people walk so quickly, I on the other hand, love strolling, so imagine walking around for 3 hours straight at top speed for a lazy person like me, pretty exhausting). It was a really awesome night, nevertheless. I met the rest of my year-group the next day for a practice we had for the ALV (Algemene Leden Vergadering) where we met a few other people who had gone to UWCs through the Dutch National Committee (current students and alumni) and those who worked for the Dutch National Committee and supported the movement, without these people and the sponsors we wouldn't be able to these UWCs. We gave everyone our presentation of how our acceptance phone calls went, and everything that we needed to know about how the Dutch National Committee works, and afterward we became official members of UWC international. All of our year-group then went to Den Bosch and had an awesome sleepover, bonfire and music included. Lastly, we all went to our scholarship ceremony, at which we met the sponsors and were able to thank them, and we got to meet a lot of other people who are a part of making this journey possible, like parents, members of the Dutch National Committee, and a lot of other supporter of the Dutch NC.

My year group at our scholarship ceremony.

Most of us at the sleepover in Den Bosch.

We visited Maastricht and my future school. UWCM was actually still open, so I went there for two of the afternoons that I was in Maastricht. I met some of the day students who will be my co-years this school year, and I also met some of my second years. One of my Dutch second years gave my mom and I a tour of the school. The school was pretty big, with two main buildings for academics, and three dorm buildings (one of which isn't yet in use, but will be this school year). I also met a few of my other second years, like my Caribbean second years from Jamaica, Trinidad and Aruba, also my Sierra Leonean and Ugandan second years. In the two days that I visited, I got to meet quite a few people, and I don't remember all of the names or where they came from, but luckily I have a lot of time to get to know everyone. I think it's safe to say that I look forward to spending the next two years with these people.

My future school: United World College Maastricht.

My parents left, and went back to Sint Maarten. My parents have always been my number one supporters growing up, they've helped me through a lot growing up, and if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be who I am today and wouldn't be able to live this dream of going to a UWC. Tears flowed like crazy right before they left, and saying goodbye to them has got to have been the hardest part of starting this new journey. Going from waking up in the same house as them everyday, to not seeing them at all for the next few months is going to be a major change, but it's a part of growing up and moving on to greater things and more opportunities. All I have do now is keep moving forward, make them and myself proud, and learn from all of the experiences life is throwing at me along the way.

Home is where mis padres are. Sint Maarten (no filter ever needed).

I've done some exploring of the Netherlands for myself, and made some new friends, some new memories and learned a lot along the way. After my parents left, I went on to stay by family in Rotterdam, and then went to Nijmegen for a few days where I attended the 'KickOff Day: Zomer van Dienstbaarheid' and met a lot of the Bahá'í youth living in the Netherlands. I took part in a 'karavaan' where some of us went around to some of the cities in our cluster (Maastricht, Eindhoven, Elsloo and Den Bosch) and served in those communities for a week, which was a really great learning experience. Afterward I went to Brussels, and have been staying by my cousins for the last 2 weeks, and being able to spend time with family has been amazing.

With a friend from Sint Maarten in Het Park, Rotterdam.

Jam session with Marie in Maastricht.

Playing cards with these guys in Beek Elsloo.

Den Bosch

Sunny day in Brussels.

Road trip to the beautiful city of Lille, France, for the day.

I'm sitting here in a café in Brussels, writing this blog post, and looking forward to what there is to come. My future co-years and my second-years are probably packing (or procrastinating), spending their last few days of summer vacation with their loved ones and readying themselves to begin at the school we will call home for the next two years, or to return to the school they've called home for a year already. We have an adventure ahead of us, full of surprises, challenges, a new lifestyle and new friendships, and I'm more than ready to make the most out of the following two years.

Sahar (UWCM, '14-'16)