Anton and Dima Guertchev had been teaching at Adriatic College for thirteen years when they decided to swap Italy for Singapore, and took a two-year contract at UWCSEA.
"It was curiosity and the desire for new experience that made us do it," says Dima, who now teaches Chemistry Higher Level as well as coordinating the College's multicultural activities and social service in the Middle School, while Anton teaches Maths and Theory of Knowledge. "We wanted to reflect on our UWC experience so far from another, distant, point of view."

With a student body ten times the size of Adriatic's, the most obvious difference at UWCSEA was the scale of the community. "The facilities are another difference," says Dima. "With the notable exception of the science labs, the facilities here are much, much better. Adriatic does not even have a hall, so we used to organise our student conferences in a large day room at the biggest residence."

It took time to adjust to the structure of the school and to society in Singapore, but Anton and Dima emphasise the pleasure in meeting new colleagues and experiencing new cultures. "One of the most enjoyable things has been watching our eleven year old son make new friends and learn a new language. He is maturing fast."

So, is there really such a thing as a typical UWC student? "It's difficult to generalise," says Dima. "Both student communities, here and at Adriatic, consist of highly motivated people with impressive potential. In both colleges the level of commitment and the desire to organise things is strong. In Duino, everyone lives on campus and the community is much smaller, so contact is much closer. There, one knows almost every student and would have seen them perform, participate or organise something. That's probably what we miss most about Adriatic - we used to complain about it while we were there, but now we consider it a precious aspect of a UWC."

Some teachers choose to swap places with teachers at other colleges. Navin Dhakal and Narendra Mehotra were both Chemistry teachers, at Adriatic and Pearson respectively - and both are enjoying the adventure of their exchange. "Pearson isin a campus where deer come to graze just outside your house!" says Navin. "No public transport reaches the campus, so there is very little sulphur oxide or carbon monoxide in the air. As a chemist this is very appealing to me. But I do miss my friends and colleagues at Adriatic, and the homely feeling that anyone develops after being in a place for a long time."

 

"The student community does not differ much," says Navin. "Both Adriatic and Pearson have a full scholarship policy and students are very motivated and sincere. Keeping their motivation alive is the biggest challenge, just as it was at Adriatic." Narendra agrees: "1 find the same enthusiasm and vigour among the students here." Navin points to the teacher community as a difference: "The twenty five full time teachers at Adriatic were from thirteen different countries. Such geographical diversity among faculty members is probably hard to find in any other UWC."

Would they recommend the experience to others? "Yes. The exchange has been a very enriching one" says Navin, and Narendra agrees: "It might even be beneficial for teachers to take part in exchanges with other schools outside of UWC - it would be an effective way of spreading UWC ideals. This has been a great experience for me so far,  and I'm grateful to both Colleges for giving me this opportunity."