A Year of Firsts and Lasts

By Daniel Willoughby

For myself, the last two weeks have been a blur, a whirlwind of activities and travelling. 

On August 27th, just after 6:00 PM, we departed Dalat for Senior Sneak, with a long and tedious day of travelling ahead of us. After over ten hours on the busses, five hours waiting at a ferry terminal in Johor, and four hours on the boats, our arduous journey was over.

Was it worth the time it took to get there and back? That is questionable—but there is no doubt that staying at Telunas was an incredibly refreshing experience for most people. Many activities were planned for the days we were there, both on and off the beach, and there was plenty of time for swimming and playing various board and card games. 

The brevity of being a senior does not hit right away, or even at all, really; it trickles in slowly. The first day of school was certainly the first shock; seeing myself and my classmates in the iconic red shirts, as well as being now the oldest high school students. In Indonesia, spending time with the class was pretty fun. Still, it definitely began hitting home the idea that in a year, we’ll all be going our separate ways.

In as much, I appreciated being able to spend time with some people I hadn’t really been able to before. On the third evening, after a bonfire on the beach, Iyan Sandahl (12) pointed out to me a shadowy sky full of incredibly bright stars; in fact, the Milky Way itself was also visible. It was breathtaking; I had never seen such a clear night sky before. Myself and a few other students spent a good part of the evening lying down on the observation deck, pointing out stars and marveling at the extreme vastness of the universe. 

To quote Zeke Croft (12), “Looking out at the stars, staring out at God’s creation, was humbling.”

However, not four days after returning from Indonesia, I was off with nine other students on an airplane to Thailand for the Bangkok International Band Festival. This year, we had to go on an earlier flight than usual, so we got to spend an extra evening in Bangkok and go to a restaurant on the Chao Phraya River for dinner.

While it was awesome to be able to play our instruments all day, and meet up with friends we made on band trips in previous years, it was incredibly bittersweet. Knowing that this was the last time we would be at ISB, see these people, and go to these places, was indeed sobering. 

While senior year offers so many new opportunities as a student, connecting with other people, and exciting prospects for a future after Dalat, it is just as much poignantly marked with reminders that we will be leaving a much-loved life behind us when we leave.