During Halloween our class collaborated with younger IB class and created Halloween event. It was great chance to better know each other and communicate with different people. The best part was to make scary decorations which requited creativity skills.

Last week in the Lithuania capital Vilnius I joined to charity activity. Before the Christmas tree lighting in city hall the multi-culture activity was created to collect money for charity. People from different countries sold their traditional products and I with Lithuanian group served a hot soup for people. It was wonderful to volunteer and join to charity activity.

Today I with my mum decided to make homemade Christmas tree toys. It was wonderful and productive time with my mum. Our toys was special – made up in Eco-friendly way. We take up materials from old clothes and created toys which will be used not only this winter but also in the future. The decoration required creativity and collaboration because to make toys from specific materials was not so easy.

Friday I with my team participated at volleyball “Christmas” tournament. Unfortunately, we took fourth place. However, we played as one self-confident team. It was a good chance to try out our strengths and collaborate with team members. It was the first tournament this school year so it was nice to play not only at training’s but also con-curate with other teams.

At our school was career day which aimed to promote students introduction and interest in future studies. A lot pf lithuanian universities presented studies programs and abilities available at their university. For me such day was beneficial because I make my mind what university best fits my wants and needs. Also, initiated students to look closely to specific studies branches, so I almost decided which one interest me.

October 11 I participated in exhibition “Rinkis prekę lietuvišką”. In exhibition participants sell lithuanian handmade goods. It was a good chance to see what kind of products lithuanian people make. Also, we promoted local craftsmans and tradesmand. I get acquainted closier with local traditions and culture which I was not known so closely before.

The main purpose of CAS is to promote activity, creativity and service of students. For individual it is hard to develop all this three areas. In my opinion, this year I developed activity skills the most, but the service and creativity was not left behind.

To begin with, International Baccalaureate convention of Lithuania students helped to initiate and plan CAS activities. The convention proceeds every year but this year the main purpose was to extend student knowledge about CAS. With other students we shared our experiences in CAS. The main idea was emphasized that IB students should connect all three areas creativity, activity and service in one entirety. It was easier for me to create my objectives without thinking about differentiation of goals. As a result, it was easier to fill my blog by using some advises which I get from contemporaries.

Moreover, I involved CAS experiences in the daily life regular. To be instance of perseverance and commitment for me was easiest in activity sphere. When the school year started I initiate my physical activity by going to volleyball trainings. I schedule my trainings two time a week because during the year I had a lot of tournaments for which the good preparation is needed. Our volleyball team had some losses which encourage us do not give and improve the skills. Also, I tried to service and create over the time but I was doing it with brakes. Therefore, I think that I should continue activity and create, service more regular.

What is more, some activities was really challenging because I never used to do them before. I had some activities which required organization. During the Chirstmas period I helped to organize the “Tea Day“ in my school. At first it looked easy but when we started to organize unexpected problems such as, lack of equipment come to the fore. Because of such problem I learnt that the collective assistance is needed to create successful event. Previously I tried to dodge from organization because I was afraid for responsibilities which are related with organization.

Furthermore, the main skill gained through CAS experiences is collaboration. I am glad that the vast majority of CAS activities was created in groups. As I mentioned before, I was playing volleyball with a team. In team sport it is impossible to achieve goals without team collaboration. Also, our class tried to operate as much as possible. With classmates we participated in bike hike for suicide prevention, run in solidary run, went to convention, made gifts for charity and so on. Collaboration helped to create cordial connections between classmates, strengthen relationships and sense of community. From the other side, sometimes it was hard to work in big group and make decisions because we are various personalities with different opinions, perspectives.

Also, I tackle with issues of global significance. Primary event of this year was participation in “Erasmus + “ project. The topic of project is “Movement”.  We was considering about mobility in the future and tried to find the ways how to solve problems related with pollution, refugees, infrastructure for people with disabilities. Also, I participated in activity where my group needed to find the way of traveling around our Erasmus project countries cities (Hamburg, Paris, Milan, Athens, Vilnius, Porto) which would be friendly for environment. During the visits in Paris and Taurage we was concentrated on ecofriendly footprint in movement. In this year I was not only tried to solve some problems theoretical but also practical. With classmates we participated in collective assistance and cleaned our school environment. When pollution is increasing in high rate all over the world we as a students helped to manage this problem. I think that all these problems are important in global scale and we made responsible decisions.

To sum up, CAS experiences help to develop my personality. I am active as much as possible and maintain my physical condition. Activity help me to develop cooperation, discipline and self-confidence. I am proud that I started to service more because it encourage me to good-natured and useful for society. The part of my life became creativity which help me to relax, understand my feelings and promote my imagination.

In April 19 our gymnasium organized collective assistance for nature cleaning. Our class also joined for this nature cleaning event. We cleaned our school territory. We collect rubbishes and natural waste such as leaves, twigs. I think it promotes our school community for collectives. The main point of this activity was to increase students awareness about their footprint and how to help for our Earth.

On April 21 our family celebrated the most beautiful spring festival Easter. But this year Easter was special because our family painted eggs. Always we had tradition that our grandmother painted eggs by specific tehnique. This year we adopt the same tehnique from our grandmother. We painted eggs with herbal method. Firstly, we pick up some herbals from our garden. Secondly, we tie round bandage with herbals on eggs. Lastly, we boiled the eggs in water with color. And that it! I’m glad that we did it all family together and developed our crearivity. I think it is important to continue family traditions and transmit customs to other generations

This time we received foreign students. I was receiving girl from Greece named Maria. She was staying in my home from March 25 to March 30. The visit started in our school hall where we played games which helped to get know each other. In Monday and Tuesday we had workshops related with movement and mobility. It was interesting to participate in workshops. I liked the most to explore infrasture of our city. We needed to evaluate how infrastructure is available for people with disabilities, moms with baby strollers and for bikes. We saw that infrastruce have some errors which we never noticed before. On Tuesday we had trip in capital city Vilnius. In Vilnius we was in infrastrcture museum, parlament and city centre. On Thursday we travelled with boat in Nida.

I am very satisfied of this visit because I was not only participating but also helped yo manage it. Also I improved my English language skills and meet new international students.