As I entered the SS auditorium with my lums guide booklet, I sat down and scanned the room and observed kids or well young adults who appeared and carried themselves as if they've already finished puberty. I was intimidated by their large size and kept to myself. We were given a tour of lums but sadly due to the fog, it wasn't very helpful since you couldn't even see any buildings. I tried to strike up a conversation but I was unable to do so during the tour. I am Zaynab Siddiqui, a student who attended winter school at lums and would like to talk about my experience at lums. After the orientation the question that popped up the most among all teacher was about the age range of students attending these lums classes. I was shocked as to how most of the teacher were unaware of the age range as their lessons should be prepared according to the age range. Putting that aside, our first class was “Happiness and the meaning of life” I found this class very intriguing as I often thought my future would consist of a boring routine I'd have to perform everyday to make a living, but if there was a way around it, I'd definitely be interested. This class mainly focused on using the ikigai model to help us find happiness as well as personality tests from bright side to international reliable personality analysis  tests that were designed to help us acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses, and to help us build on our weaknesses and market our strengths. I enjoyed this class a lot. 

“Speaking with passion,purpose and power” was my next class. I'm confident the teacher picked up a few pointers from her previous teachers as when she was talking, she seemed very friendly and easy to talk to. I enjoyed this class the most as the teacher made everyone feel involved and kept us interested. We had to present small speeches to the class and I found the teacher’s feedback to be very helpful. 

“Why do movies move us” was the class I dreaded the  most solely because we had to watch a movie before every lesson. In the beginning the teacher asked us to write about which scene (from the movie we watched before going to his lesson) was the most memorable or significant but over time, the teacher decided to explain significant science in the films and how they affected us, I could tell the teacher was passionate about his job and I enjoyed listening to his analysis of the scenes. “Introduction to entrepreneurship” was a class that involved group work. Due to the curved structure of the tables aligning as if they're half of a circle, you can imagine how hard it was to talk people on the other end of the table. Now imagine a 14 year old girl struggling to communicate with 17 year olds who laugh loudly and speak loudly with their friends. I found the teaching style of this teacher to be extremely boring as they were just listing down qualities an entrepreneur should have, however their personalities and jokes helped keep us interested and involved in the lesson. 

 I enjoyed my stay at lums however when walking to food destinations, I found many cats I had to stop and take photos with. So I wouldn't recommend lums to people scared or allergic to cats. Even though you may think I've criticised the teachers to harshly or too little, I believe the teachers created a fun and lively environment that the teachers in my school fail to achieve.

Many of the teachers were friendly and found different ways to peak our interest despite us having many lessons a day. Therefore if I was given the opportunity, I would definitely attend lums winter school again.