Leisure time: RCN style!

Allow me to whine a little: Life at RCN is great, but it is also tough! From I get up in the morning until I go to sleep (...in the morning), I have something going on that is important to me. That is fantastic, but some weeks just feel like an endless array of swimming sessions, music rehearsals, volunteering activities, first aid training and math homework. Some weekends I just want to relax, but even relaxing is taken to a new level here.

The thing with RCN is that people just do things. If you have an idea, and are able to convince people that it is a good one, the endless human resources that the school has will take care of the rest. In a way, everything is available for us. A few weeks ago, for example, my two male danish co-years and I wanted to have a weekend of fun. At home, we would have probably gone to the nearest pub. The importance of nights out with the guys should definitely not be understated, but the alternative that we found was not all bad: We walked 20 kilometers to spend the weekend at a cabin somewhere in the mountains. Somewhere along the old byway, I realized that despite the fairly strict rules of the college campus, we have a lot of freedom here. And when that freedom comes from being who we are and where we are, it translates into a lot of great experiences.

Last weekend, after a few weeks of juggling Economics IAs, Literature Commentaries and physics revision, four of us decided to go fishing. None of us had much fishing experience, nor did we have a specific purpose with the trip. But let me paint a picture for you: Four guys on a big, flat rock by the water, where the sun is shining on what seems to be a continuous line of mountains, intakes and Forrest. Without a house in sight! Anyone not utilizing that they live in such a kind of nature, is waisting precious time, no matter how well organized their to-do-list is. I would like to quote my friend Per in that context: "After a day of fishing with the guys, relaxing in the sun and a game of cricket, I am wondering if I will ever start studying again..". Guess what? He did! And just in time for the first year exams.

Maybe we did not catch a lot of (or any) fish that day. And perhaps not every conversation during the weekend in the cabin was about distinguishing the Keynesian LRAS curve from the Neo-classical. But when you are living a life where you are constantly working on something, it is nice to sometimes take a bit of time just becoming who you are. I could not imagine being here without all the great people that I get to share my experiences with. Luckily, the UWC experience does not end at the last page of my math book: There are moments to work and then there are moments to do anything but work.