Sennockian 2017-2018 | Page 80

L ife in the IC Sometimes, our days need brightening as we deal with the rigours of the IB together. The material gets a lot more complex than in IGCSE, and time becomes a precious resource as coursework deadlines tighten. Quite a few of us do similar subject combinations, so we go through the difficult parts of our course together. Subjects like SL English tend to agitate everyone in the house – the moments of deepest regret for choosing the IB seems to coincide with the return of English essays. Yet the best part about living in a boarding house is our ability to collaborate on work with our friends. Midnight discussions on German Unification can sometimes be as productive as lessons. Problem sets get handed round, and the doors of our resident Maths geniuses get streams of uninterrupted visits around exam period. It’s not all stress and coursework though. We go on trips for an inter-year paintball fight and go-karting. We have inside jokes, musical evenings and cooking clubs. Saturday afternoons are spent laughing in the kitchen with great food cooked by Mrs Owen. I might be an optimist, but one great thing about gloomy British weather is how much you appreciate it when the weather is nice. The big windows in IC are perfect for watching the sky shade a million different types of turquoise, rose and amethyst as the sun sets. September is always an odd time for the IC. Beneath its red-brick exterior are 28 new boys from all over the world, replacing those whose only remains are name tags on the world maps across the house. We’re total strangers initially, and this is compounded by how different we seem at first. There are obvious signs, like somebody’s accent or tendency to swap into a different language with no warning, but also details like how they like their eggs done, or how often they make instant noodles. Yet we quickly become inseparable. Our bond manifests in the chants we shout at inter-house events, the colour schemes of our clothes and in the conversations and laughter that make our days a little brighter. 74 BOARDING There have been a few constants throughout my IC experience. Dr and Mrs Owen are one of them. We’re normal teenage boys – we have problems all the time, and they’ve always been willing to listen and be there for us when we need them. There are very few people I trust as much as my parents, and I count my housemaster and housemistress among them. Usually, when your children leave, parents suffer from a little bit of empty nest syndrome, but I know Doc O will be busy with 28 new strangers from all over the world. I also know that if I ever missed my time in boarding life, I could always go through the tunnel, up the hill and across the field to that (really big) red-brick house that I will always call my home. Yuan Wong, Upper Sixth SPOR T