WWW: Anuradhapura Mosaic Trip

Week without Walls (WWW) is a trip in which we go to various places in Sri Lanka. The reason it is called “Week Without Walls” is because we still learn, despite being outside of the classroom (and thus having no “walls”). Moreover, these trips also serve as a CAS experience. The trip I went to, Anuradhapura, was primarily focused on Creativity, but also included elements of Action and Service

We firstly hiked to Yapahuwa rock. There, we saw various old architects and understood the historical significance of Yapahuwa, as it was once the capital of Sri Lanka. We then sat down and did a “See, Think, Wonder” to come up with insightful revelations. Some of us (including me) chose to hike further to reach the top. Thus, on our first day, we covered the Action and Creativity part of CAS.

On our second day, we visited a lot of different monuments and places in Anuradhapura. These include Thuparamaya, Ruwanwelisaya, and the Bodhi tree. All of these hold significance to Sri Lankan culture and heritage, with Thuparamaya being the first Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, Ruwanelisaya being an ancient stupa considered holy by Buddhists all around the world, and the Bodhi tree being grown from the tree under which Buddha got enlightenment. On this day, we used “Sense Perception” to record our experience, and thus noted the various things we saw, heard, smelled, touched and possibly tasted. We made various drawings, comics and wrote to capture said experiences. We also worked in groups to enhance the products we made whilst we recorded our experiences. Thus, we covered the “Creativity” part of CAS, and we also addressed Learning Outcome 1 by working together.

Our third day was very interesting. We went to SOS village, an orphanage for underprivileged kids. To get to know them better, we planned various icebreaker activities, along with various games to engage them and make them happy. We also taught them various key phrases in English. Moreover, we also planned a group activity including every SOS kid, in which they all made a self-portrait, featuring them and various hobbies or interests that were a part of their identity. We also physically joined all of them to show that we were together and there to help them. Thus, we addressed the “Service” part of CAS, and addressed learning outcomes 2, 3 and 6. This is because we undertook the challenge of planning out an entire session with the SOS village, and we had to be extremely coordinated and collaborated with each other to ensure the success of our village.

 

On our fourth day, we first hiked to Pidurangala , to admire the sunset. Then, we went to Back and Beyond, to explore the nature and the animals around us in Sri Lanka. I, along with a few others, went on a biking trip and saw ponds, a whole variety of different birds, and some beautiful houses. All of this was recorded in our journals, and all of us made a Haiku have an interesting change the way in which we record our experiences.

Our fifth day was the end of our amazing trip. Throughout this trip, we addressed all the parts of CAS, and we addressed Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 6 as addressed above. Thus, it was an exciting, engaging and extremely frutiful trip.