Well, I’ve been doing the IB (International Baccalaureate) course for over a year now, and I must say, my social life has officially become an amazing substitute for toilet paper. The IB began FORTY years ago. Yes, 40 years of torture, pain, blood, gore, suffering and murder. Actually just a lot of work, but hey, exaggeration is every IB students’ best friend. Suddenly, we begin to notice things we never would have even if they slapped us in the face and called us a pig. Or should I say Sus Scrofa Domesticus (that’s the scientific name for a pig). See what I mean?

Now moving on to the specifics, I haven’t slept a wink in 2 days, and my summer vacations just began yesterday. I spent today working on my “Extended Essay”, a necessary component of the IB, or just an excuse to write 4000 pieces of feces on a topic chosen by the student (thank God they gave us that choice). The rest of the time, I’ve been working on my TOK essay, or my Theory of Knowledge essay, another compulsion in the IB. TOK basically proves its own inexistence, along with that of you, me and the rest of our planet. We learn that the things we touch don’t really touch us, that’s just what we “think”. Really all the electrons are just bouncing off each other. Also, everything around you is possibly a figment of your imagination and that you’re schizophrenic and probably have a severe case of multiple personality disorder. And hey, that’s just one of a billion- no, wait, trillion other possibilities. We also begin to say the same sentence over and over sometimes without realizing we’ve already said it before.

Now out of the six subjects we must pick, it is compulsory to pick one science (biology/chemistry/physics), math, English, a foreign language and humanity subject (economics/business studies/psychology/etc.). So that already covers five of your six subjects, leaving you one open spot to pick whatever you wish! How nice (read: NOT)! Now amongst these six subjects, three must be of a higher level (greater challenge) and three must be of a standard level (just a challenge). We also begin to say the same sentence over and over sometimes without realizing we’ve already said it before. Besides this, there is also the CAS component (Creativity, Action, and Service). We basically need to complete 50 hours of each, making it a total of 150 hours devoted to CAS. In creativity, we usually work on an activity such as art, craft, pottery, woodwork, music (or beat boxing), photography, animation, etc. In action, we work on our sports or physical activity. And in service, we work on making the environment a better place or helping the general society in some way or the other. Agreed that this is probably the only part of the IB that actually makes sense considering it balances everything. We also begin to say the same sentence over and over sometimes without realizing we’ve already said it before.

Well, overall, even though I do read articles on Wikipedia now rather than going out for a fun-filled Saturday night with my friends, I can proudly say that I’ll probably get into a better college than half the other people who applied to the same place!