Talking to you on your handy mobile phone is always nice, little S - but I figured it was difficult with the train dashing in the background, and so I am writing on here after a long period of silence.

As I have mentioned: I had my English Oral Commentary today where we got a random passage from Hamlet or a poem by the poets we have studied - Frost and Donne - and had to talk about it in detail. I was the first to go and I was very relieved once I got it over with. At the same time, I will miss Shakespeare's archaic and complex language, Donne's poems about platonic love and Frost's "The woods are lovely, dark and deep/But I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep...."

Time is passing so quickly while at the same time I find my self sitting in lessons counting down the minutes until the light blinks (we don't have a school bell). I am in my senior year and I enjoy all my courses. Yet sometimes I just cannot concentrate, perhaps due to dehydration or the fact that I spent lunch times revising.

After the mock exams in December there is very little to cover and so my IB life is coming to an end. TOK and extended essays will be done, Internal Assessments shall be completed and from then on it will be: reviewing, reviewing, reviewing. 

I have learned so much over this and last year. I expose myself to different perspectives on a daily basis and thus learn so much in such a short period of time. I have grown a lot while at the same time learned to stay young. I think at the end of this year I will have left my youthful self-centeredness and developed into a passionate learner. Hopefully I will have learned to fully accept my imperfections as well as those from the people around me. 

I still don't know where my future will bring me - or more precisely, what I want and expect it to bring. But that's ok. And I have become highly confident in my course choice - ain't no Psychology PhD necessary to help fellow human beings with their concerns when they ask for it. Just humanity and compassion. I have found a passion in watching documentaries - about Ghandi, John Lennon, Children in India....which reminds me: you should watch the documentary "Born into Brothels" sometime. It is excellent and something I would love to do sometime when I visit South Africa next. 

These are just a few thoughts. Of course, they might change...we constantly change and that is important. It would be a dull life if I still had the same style to dress or the same haircut, wouldn't it?

Hope you are well, S.

Mom took this without me knowing. I think she is an excellent photographer, don't you? xx