Creativity - Hiraeth

A couple weeks ago, me and my classmate - Adrian, decided to set up a band. Both of us really like music; I sing and he plays the piano, so we thought that a music band will be a great way to develop our talents, hobbies and become more creative.
A month ago there was our first serious rehearsal, so we met in his house and began to work.
As we're going to paticipate in a band competition in November, at first we decided which two songs we want to perform. It turned out we will cover "Can't help falling in love" by Elvis Presley and "Stay with me" by Sam Smith.
After that, we divided the parts of every song, decided about the arrange and... started to sing!
After a moment I thought to myself; "What a disaster, we will never work it out.". But I didn't say a thing and kept trying. It was really hard. It turns out that singing together is way harder than doing it all alone.
Happily, we decided not to give up and practice regularly. After a couple of rehersals I can say that we sound like a real band and I'm proud of it! Of course there's much work in front of us, but we're motivated enough to keep on working and developing ourselves.
I've learned that you should never give up without putting much effort into something you really want, even if at first you're convinced it's not going to work.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

4. Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences

5. Demonstarte the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Service - A man with a dog

You know those little containers in a car, made to store cups in them? They are also in my mother's car. And she literally always put there some money left from a trolley. It's almost a tradition that everytime I get in the car - I take them for myself. After a couple of weeks I have a quite big sum of money which I usually spend on coffee.
Some time ago I was walking to school through Stawowa Street and I noticed a man sitting on a wheelchair with a dog cowering by his side. I see him almost everyday while walking to school but this time I looked at him in a different way. I had one hand in my pocked and suddenly I touched some money I took from my mom's car. In that moment I thought - how about not spending that much trolley money on coffee and just share it with the man?
I walked over to him and handed him that small sum but he looked so grateful. We had a small talk, I stroked his dog - a beautiful German Shepherd - and then I just went to school.
But I decided to make a tradition of that small act of kindness.
Everytime I go through Stawowa Street and I see that man - I give him some money from my mom's car. But if I don't see him (because he's not always there) I simply save money for my coffee.
There was one week when I haven't seen the man, not even once, so I saved about 6 zloty just for me. But finally, I spent them on something else and it was a good decision. I bought some dog's food in a can and gave to the man's dog as soon as he appeared on Stawowa again.
He was very grateful again and I realized that despite the fact he can't give me anything in return - helping him makes me really happy.
I don't even know he's name, but I think we're friends now.

Learning Outcomes:

4. Show commitment and persevarance in CAS experiences  6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global importance
7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Activity - Running

A couple months ago I've taken up jogging with my mum.
I was convinced that it's going to be really dull and tiring but it turned out that this activity is great!
Me and my mum started with short distances but now we can run abot 8 kilometres without even stopping which is a huge achievement, at least in my opinion.
Unfortunately, my workouts weren't very regular at first. That's why my goal for the last month was to do jogging as regularly as possible. I was running at least twice a week and I see a huge difference already; my weight went down and my form is better than ever.
Now, jogging makes me feel really relaxed and free. I've got some time to think, listen to music or have just a small talk with my mum.
I've learned that self-discipline and regularity are really important when it comes to any sport, especially jogging, because the more I push myself to run - the more I actually CAN run without feeling that tired.
Here is the track from a couple days ago.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
4. Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experience