Firstly I APOLOGIZE for how late this post is, (I know I know it’s been a very long time), but I have just had a lot going on (sort of). Don’t worry though you will see a bunch of new posts soon to be written 😁.

Now, where do I begin?

Well, let me start with an introduction to what Week Without Walls is, Week Without Walls (cool name isn’t it?) is a long-standing tradition at OSC where students from grades 8-11 travel to different parts of Sri Lanka to engage in five days of activities and experiential learning. This program helps us as students better understand our country and achieve our CAS learning outcomes. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to explore and learn about the diverse culture and history of Sri Lanka while participating in various activities that promote personal growth and development.

Day 1 – Every journey has to start somewhere and well mine started with the sound of my ANNOYING alarm at 5 am, and my half-asleep butt falling out of my bed. I was quite excited about this trip I didn’t know why but after my last Week Without Walls experience (it was super fun) I was looking forward to this Week Without Walls experience as well. As I started getting ready to leave home (I gave my mum a HUGEEE hug before I left) I got a call on my phone RING RING RING and to see it was Luka asking me for a ride (as usual), and so I picked up Luka and headed to school. Once we arrived at school, we were greeted by Mr.Hentz, Mr.Eagle, and Mr.Marlon. I was quite happy with all our teachers on the trip as they were all super chill and laid back throughout the whole trip.

On our first day, we traveled to Kandy by train which turned out to be a bumpy 3-hour ride with lots of ups, downs, and curves. I tried to sleep but Jed and Luka kept annoying me (thanks guys 🙄) so I couldn’t get any sleep at all. Once we arrived in Kandy, I was welcomed by the lush green mountains and fresher air than what we had in Colombo. I was feeling very hungry and was rummaging through my bag for some snacks. However, all I found were empty wrappers as I had already eaten everything I had on the train. As I was complaining about my hunger, my friend Jed told me we would have pizza on top of a mountain (he told me the same thing during the DP science trip and I fell for it). However, to my surprise, Ms. Eagle confirmed that we were indeed going to have pizza on the mountain. I am not even exaggerating when I say I was looking forward to this more than anything.

When we arrived at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic also referred to as Sri Dalada Maligawa, it was quite crowded with people, and whilst I was feeling my insides started to make noises (I was starving). I was excited to visit a temple that I had never been to before, despite having lived in Sri Lanka for 5 years. It was a new experience for me. and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Before entering the temple, we wore either sarongs or pants. Some of us wore sarongs. Jed and I thought we were going to have a peaceful visit to the temple, but sadly we were wrong, As soon as we stepped inside the sacred area to see the tooth, it was like being in the middle of a mosh pit. We were pushed and shoved around so much that I thought I was never going to make it out. But we managed to survive the chaos and escape with our lives. Once we were outside, we couldn’t believe we had made it out in one piece. After making it out we decided to walk around and explore the temple a bit more and so we went around looking for inspiration. Whilst having an adventure of our own we kind of got lost, thankfully we did figure out how to get back (with the greatest difficulty) and we met up with the rest of the group.

Now finally it was time to eat (my favorite thing to do), I would call myself somewhat of a foodie because I am always down to eat food no matter the occasion but my love for food is a conversation for another time. Back to what I was saying, we were on the way to the pizza place, and boy was I excited, as we reached the pizza place the aromatic smells of the woodfire pizza were making my mouth salivate. When we sat down Jed, Luka, Ben, and I were right at the front of the long table or as we called it “prime positioning”, let me explain what “prime positioning” is as it is a term that you will hear quite a bit throughout this blog. “Prime positioning” is when the 4 of us (Jed, Luka, Ben, and I) sit in the perfect spot where food is the most accessible that way we eat the most food over everyone else (it’s mean I know but we are hungry boys 🙃). The origin of the “prime positioning” started in the pizza place as we were right at the front of the table as mentioned before and so as the pizzas kept coming all I could say was it kept disappearing as we were eating it ALL (we did share too we aren’t that mean 🤪). Eating the pizza was one of the highlights of the trip for me as the pizza was just SOO GOOD (I think I had 10-15 pieces).

Once we finished that scrumptious of a meal we arrived at Helga’s Foley or as I would call it the “creepy hotel”, as we got there it was honestly mind-blowing how cool and creepy this place was and I was super excited to stay the night here regardless of how creepy it was when we got our rooms (Luka, Peter and I were roomies) I was so tired, I just took the best nap of all time (I am not even exaggerating) I was passed out cold for 3 hours and believe me when I tell you that nap was PERFECT. The sad part was I missed painting because I overslept and I was so bummed.

After dinner, Ms.Eagle and the rest of our group all played Murder Mystery and it was SUPER FUN. I was assigned the killer, so my character was Rockie, a character created in the lab who is gorgeous but not very bright. As we started the murder mystery it was a bit confusing but it became super fun towards the end and everyone guessed I was the killer. Once we finished our eventful murder mystery I was still a bit hungry (as usual) so Luka and I sneaked into the kitchen and made our cup noodles which was honestly the best nighttime snack.

Day 2 – After a good night’s sleep we were ready to embark on the rest of our journey, on day 2 we had a very artsy day, we started the day by going to the Baba – batik factory. Before I get into the experience I had let me first tell you that I LOVE BATIK SARONGS as sarongs have just always been a part of my identity in some way and so when we went to this batik factory let me tell you that I was super excited to find out how they make the design on the sarongs that I so proudly wear. The process of making batiks that have been perfected over generations of Sri Lankans was truly amazing to see, as we started making our batiks I was trying to dig deep into my artistic self (I’m a science kid). Let me tell you that my artistic self did not fail me as I had created a work of art that everyone found astonishing (maybe I am exaggerating a little). But everyone who had been making batiks for years and years truly did love my design. I loved the overall process of making batiks as it was truly a new and interesting experience. I know I make Batik making look easy but believe me it requires a LOT of patience and energy too.

Once we finished our beautiful batiks, we visited Lakki Senanayake’s house which has been transformed into a boutique hotel called Diyabubula which translates to “bubbling fountain”. For more information about Lakki Senanayake’s artworks and life, you can find it on his website here. Once we arrived at Lakki Senanayake’s house I was truly surprised by the amount of inspiration and creativity this place had to offer. But for any creativity to happen for me, I need to eat and so that is exactly what we did, it was very basic Sri Lankan food (which is my favorite) and it was SOO GOOD. After eating so much that I couldn’t move, I was ready to get creative and so after we had a tour of Lakki Senanayake’s house which truly amazed me as the guide told us that he had planted all the trees that surrounded his house, I was ready to get artsy. Ms.Eagle told us to go anywhere around the hotel and to draw or paint a particular object or anything that we found interesting so I drew this cool door (weird I know but trust me it was a cool door). After all of us finished unleashing our artistic selves it was time to go to our new hotel which was Back and Beyond in Pidurangala. I stayed at this place last year’s WWW too when I went to Jaffna and honestly, I liked this place, it was like living in a treehouse with your friends. Once we arrived at Back and Beyond Ms.Eagle told us to choose our rooms and so our room was Jed, Luka, Ben, and I. I liked our group as it was really fun and we barely got any sleep at all the first night as we spent the first night talking about the most random of things but it was a nice bonding experience that I enjoyed (although we were a bit too loud and some people complained 😬).

Day 3 – On day 3 we biked around the Ancient City Of Polonnaruwa which is protected by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. I love biking, as I would say biking is a fun eco-friendly way to enjoy the scenery. Whilst we were biking, my bike BROKE DOWN twice and I had to go back twice to get my bike replaced and because of this, I found myself lost trying to find my group although, with my impressive biking skills and my speed, I caught up with the rest of my group in no time (it was a long time). After lots of biking and laughter, I was super tired and I was ready to go back to the hotel that was when Jed introduced us to the song which soon became the theme song to our WWW trip. The song was called “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, and I can wholeheartedly tell you that we listened to this song over 20 times and we never got sick of it for some odd reason. Whilst we were on the way back Ms.Eagle and Mr.Hentz said there was a surprise back at the place we were staying at, and to my surprise, we met the biking group. It was a nice experience seeing them as I met people like Amy whom I hadn’t seen for so long. After we said our goodbyes, right before dinner we created art using the materials we find in the wilderness I used a stick and a bunch of different types of leaves to create an abstract piece of art. After dinner, it was time to go to bed (but do you really think we went to bed?), the 4 of us were snacking like crazy and that was because before the trip Luka and I bought SOO many snacks (like a whole duffle bag full).

Day 4 – Now day 4 was probably my favorite day, although the day started with all of us waking up at 4 am and Mr.Hentz specifically making sure I was awake because I am a very hard person to wake up 😅. Once all of us were geared up and ready, we were ready to get our hike on. I am a person who truly enjoys hiking, I love escaping from buildings and pollution and just becoming one with nature, but I am not a fan of morning hikes as that requires me to wake up super early (I love sleeping). Although I wasn’t super excited about this hike and that is because when I did this same hike last year all of it was covered by clouds, but this time to my surprise was truly different. When we made it to the top initially it was beautiful, the skies were a blueish purple and it felt like I was in one of those movie sets. I truly enjoyed this experience as it felt surreal when I was just sitting there looking at the sky and all the colors were changing it was truly a perfect sight and its beauty is something I can’t put into words.

After an eventful hike, we went back to Back and Beyond to shower and pack all our bags as we were staying our last night at Habarana also known as the other corner. Now this is where Jed, Luka, Ben, and I were attacked by monkeys, you see we had an hour to pack up and chill before we left Back and Beyond and so whilst Luka and I were sitting on the hammock minding our business and talking about life and while Jed was sleeping, we saw a monkey crawling right next to Jed and so like the good friends we are we told Jed (Jed is super scared of monkeys), and so we called Ben to scare the monkey off (big mistake), now this is where it escalates because when Ben did that, the monkey called 5 of its monkey friends and next thing you know the 4 of us are under attack by monkeys. Luka tried hissing at the monkey but the monkey hissed back at him and he came running into the bed with Jed and me, now the 3 of us were trapped as monkeys were fighting under the bed we were on and all we had to protect us were pillows. Ben tried scaring off the rest but there were too many it was scary and so we did the manly thing, we screamed for Mr.Hentz to come to save us. We made it out alive barely and all of us laughed about it, but it was truly a top 5 scary experience for me.

Once we all got on the bus we were off to the next stop in our journey which was the Heritance Kandalama, the architectural beauty of this hotel was beautiful as it is such a camouflaged hotel, although so grand and fancy. We were welcomed with a variety of juices and so I chose mixed fruit juice which felt so refreshing as it was super hot outside. Once we got acquainted we were greeted by our tour guide and he gave us a tour of this hotel that was designed by the famous Sri Lankan architect Jeffrey Bawa, it was cool knowing the creative process behind the construction of this hotel as it gave me a source of inspiration to draw and unleash my creative side more. I truly appreciated the architectural beauty of the hotel as it was so unique and out of the box, although it also fit the aesthetic of the environment surrounding the hotel. Once we finished our tour Jed and I patiently waited until they opened the doors for the lunch buffet so we could secure our “prime position” and so to waste time we played chess which I lost TWICE 😔. Finally, the doors to the buffet, or heaven as I would call it opened, and without any thought Jed and I took our plates put various food on our plates, and started gobbling it all up. 4 plates later I was so full that I felt as if I was going to explode, but I couldn’t give up as I had to eat one more plate so I went back for a second plate of dessert which was a concoction that Ben and I came up with which was curd and treacle with crushed up chocolate fudge on top, I know it doesn’t sound as appetizing but each bite was truly extraordinary and with every bite my tummy kept getting bigger.

Once we finished up our delicious meal, Ms.Eagle thought it would be a good idea for us to draw so I drew the vines hanging from the trees I saw outside as they looked like snakes. After our therapeutic drawing session, we were all sleepy (especially me) so we went to the Habarana, this hotel was cool as we had to cross a wooden bridge over a river to make it to the other side. I liked the rooming arrangement that we had in this hotel as all the guys were in one big villa which was super fun sadly we did not have enough energy to stay up all night as we all went into deep sleep right after dinner.

Day 5 – On day 5 we did not do much as we were traveling back to Colombo although we did cook which was a really fun experience as I grated the coconut and broke the coconut (I was the second best at grating the coconut after Mr.Marlon). After we ate the lunch that we cooked we said our thank you’s and headed back to Colombo.

Lastly, I just wanted to appreciate the 3 teachers who came on the trip with us (Ms.Eagle, Mr.Hentz, and Mr.Marlon), and Mr.Lockwood as well (although he did not come on the trip), I want to thank all of you for the effort and planning you put into making this trip a truly enjoyable trip for my last WWW and next year when I’m doing my mocks (I am not prepared) I will look back at this trip and be thankful to all of you for making this WWW a special one.

Also if you read the whole thing up to here, thank you, I know it was a lot but I hope you enjoyed reading my WWW experience.