The First Battle

Now that the first week of school is over with, might as well whine about it like any self-respecting IB Student ought to do.

Observations

Teachers belonging to the English Department are very enthusiastic about poetry. Very. Do NOT, under any circumstances, challenge their love for poetry as they may very well kill you. Analysing poetry is how they live. Would you tell a lion to stop hunting zebras? Yes, if you wanted to be their dinner.

Contrary to popular opinion, history teachers are not actually that dull. They are, in fact, very fond of arguments, especially if the topic up for debate is on the short and long term effects of whatever war their classes are studying. As such, do not expect to win if you happen to be caught in an argument with these people.

Midday is not a time to eat. It is a time to study/do homework. Eat when you are supposed to be doing homework.

Theory of Knowledge class really makes you think about…thinking! The famous “I think, therefore I am” quote of Descartes is, in this class, replaced with “I think, therefore IB.” Grammatically incorrect? Make sure the Lit teachers never get ahold of this information…we all know what that would entail…

Sleep deprivation (SD) + IB = Increased need for caffeine (INC). INC (IB Student + Cafe) = Broke.*

Who knew graphing calculators were such a great source of entertainment and distraction? Ah no, I don’t have games on my TI-84 Plus Silver Edition. I was referring to the rapture I experience when I see graphs of sine, cosine, tan overlapping graphs of polar coordinates and rose curves.

According to IB, water is very, very, very important to organisms and is not as mundane a substance as one would think. Hail thy Hydrogen-bonding properties, H20! Hail thy high specific heat!

*State of poverty as a consequence of caffeine addiction. Applicable to the sleep-deprived with an affinity for overpriced coffee. [Example: IB Student's lack of sleep, combined with their constant visits to overpriced cafes with overpriced coffee, has resulted in their being broke.]

The Bag

If I could only take a photograph of what the contents of my bag are, you would be able to see the burden with which my back feels pain. As a substitute for a photograph, I would recommend that you imagine three hefty textbooks, six pathetically labelled notebooks, six binders to complement said notebooks, one graphing calculator (TI-84 Plus silver edition PWNS you), four pens of varying colours (blue, black, red, and green; yes I use all of them), a sad little assignment book that has already proven to be rather useless (the sections are minuscule for the amount of work I must do), a wand, a file cabinet, one pillow (to catch up on sleep whilst pretending to use one’s study hall time effectively), and a time turner.

It’s as if I carried my entire study in my bag!

Other Notes

I need a time turner as I seem to be one of the most over-scheduled individuals in the IB Programme. Which is, of course, saying a lot as IB Students have about as much free time as they have sleep.

(But how are you finding time to post here??)

Answer 1: I have an assistant and his name is Time Management.

Answer 2: I have an ever-reliable companion and his name is Procrastination.

I’ve leave you to decide what the true answer is.

The Types of IB Students post is coming as soon as I meet with my friend, Prof. Fancischmancipantz, the eminent anthropologist with a speciality in the IB Population. I promise!