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07.01.10
Talent shows, tests and trees!

Time goes very fast here, in Canterbury, when you are studying and working hard. September and October passed very quickly and winter came to this beautiful town bringing with itself a lot of interesting and amazing events, tough assessment days and of course the three-week holidays! 

First of all, I took part in a projects organized by IB year 2 two students called “Talent Show”. Apart from learning a lot about modeling and fashion, which was my main role in this event, I also got a lot out of watching IB2s organizing, rehearsing and, finally, performing. There were a lot of different people who demonstrated their talents, which are really awesome, during the show: musicians, dancers, designers, singers and models. I have learnt a lot of new things about the people here in this school, about what things they are good at, how they work in a team and how surprisingly talented they are. There were a great number of people watching the show and in the end almost everyone told us that they liked it very much. 

Secondly, I went to a small charity shop located in the centre and had an interview with its owner after which I was employed as a stock sorter there. I have already been there two times, which really helped me a lot not only in terms of developing absolutely new skills, but also in terms of working outside the college, with new people and in an unknown environment. 

Thirdly, I have passed my last assessment in the Autumn Term, which, as for me, has been the most difficult one. The results were rather good, which made me very happy. 

Fourthly, I have taken part in the forest clean-up organized by our CAS coordinators. It was a great fun because we worked in a very beautiful forest together with my friends, took a lot of photos and realized how important it is to sustain the environment. 

The whole term was full of various events, plenty of hard work and absolutely amazing time I spent with my friends. Now, when I am leaving Canterbury for the winter holidays I look back at everything that happened during these three and a half months and understand that the Autumn Term of my first year in this college was just fantastic.

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10.11.09
My first two months at CATS Canterbury

Well, what can I say about the splendid times I have had in CATS Canterbury college, meeting a lot of new, interesting and very friendly people, experienced teachers and very pleasant staff?

First of all, I would like to say that it was rather difficult for me to adapt to the UK at the very beginning, as the country and people living here were an absolutely new thing for me. However, I gained a lot from the first week in school because I had a lot of time to get acquainted with the building (which was really interesting), staff, teachers and of course the very beautiful city-centre, full of various historical attractions, such as The Cathedral and Marlowe Theater. Personal Tutor hours were really helpful because I was explained and told about everything I needed to know to successfully and without any problems settle in the college.

The next week we went to the Bewl Water Centre, which was a part of our CAS programme (Creativity, Action, Service). I must say that it was fantastic because we got to know each other very well (I made a lot of friends there who are now helping me a lot and with whom I am spending my free time now). We carried out various sporting activities, such as kayaking and raft-building.

The next weeks were rather difficult: we started studying very hard. It was not very difficult for me to determine which subjects I wanted to study since I had already thought it out before. English, Russian and History were chosen by me as my Higher Level subjects, whereas Economics, Maths and Biology were chosen to be studied at standard level. I enjoyed and still am enjoying all the subjects, apart from Economics, which I decided to change and take Geography instead. I felt that Economics was not my thing at all. Geography is very interesting and does not take as much time as Economics so I am very happy now!

There have already been two assessments that I had to pass. It was not an easy job to prepare for them but I tried to do my best and the marks I got were rather good.

At the moment the programme is becoming more and more intensive and the amount of free time I have is becoming less and less, but it is very interesting and I am still enjoying my IB course.

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